{"id":500,"date":"2013-09-22T01:09:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T05:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/2013\/09\/22\/snorkeling-on-pacific-coral-reefs\/"},"modified":"2013-09-22T01:09:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T05:09:14","slug":"snorkeling-on-pacific-coral-reefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/snorkeling-on-pacific-coral-reefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Snorkeling on Pacific Coral Reefs"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had a chance to go along on a snor=
\nkeling trip. It was a snorkeling and diving tour boat that operates out=
\n of the Madang Resort<\/a>. The boat that took us out anchored about=
\n at about 05=C2=B008=E2=80=B206.5=E2=80=B3=
\nS 145=C2=B049=E2=80=B217.9=E2=80=B3E<\/a>. Check it out. … <\/p>\n

It was great! lots of colorful fish and lots of really interesting c=
\noral. We didn't have a marine biologist handy so nobody was there t=
\no give us the Latin names of the various critters. We just swam, and wa=
\ntched in silence. A couple of interesting thoughts came to mind. First=
\n, of course you see the most fish right down at the coral, darting in an=
\nd out. Mostly, that was about a foot beyond arm's reach, sometimes =
\ncloser, sometimes farther. But if you looked up and out into the distan=
\nce you could usually see a great cloud of tropical fish just milling abo=
\nut out to about twenty yards. Yes, the water was that clear so you coul=
\nd see that far.<\/p>\n

The water was also so warm and salty that float=
\ning and swimming were really, really easy. We were in the water for abo=
\nut two hours but I didn't really get all that tired. If I completel=
\ny stopped swimming, I floated with the water line right about at my eyes=
\n. With a mask and snorkel, I could see and breathe in that position, so=
\n I could have done it for a lot longer. The water was usually about 85 =
\ndegrees Fahrenheit. But interestingly, sometimes you'd feel current=
\ns of really warm, or really cool water wash over you. The temperature d=
\nifference was as much as 15-20 F at times. One certainly did notice tha=
\nt.<\/p>\n

We did, however, get some sun. Go figure: we are at 5 degre=
\nes south latitude and we spent a couple of hours outdoors while the sun =
\nwas right over the equator (autumnal equinox). I was surprised that we =
\ndid get sunburn on skin that was under water almost all of the time … =
\nokay, maybe three or four inches below water, but still. I would have g=
\nuessed on the face and shoulders, maybe, but on the back or backs of leg=
\ns which were underwater.<\/p>\n

You also meet the most interesting peo=
\nple every time you do one of these. Our next door neighbors got us invo=
\nlved. They are volunteer A&E doctors from Australia who are here fo=
\nr few months to train PNG A&E staff at the local hospital. (Austral=
\nian English: A&E for Accident and Emergency; American English: ER fo=
\nr Emergency Room). Another A&E doctor who wass here for only two we=
\neks he is a scuba diver and he set up the tree. We just tagged along. =
\nWe had a really interesting conversations with the A&E surgeon and h=
\nis wife. After the boat docked we four had lunch together at the Madang=
\n Resort.<\/p>\n

Anyways, had a great time looking at the little fishie=
\ns and the coral and thought about how much you would enjoy it too. Ever=
\ny bit as missing as that marine biologist was our underwater camera of w=
\nhich we don't own one, so we didn't take any pictures. Working =
\nfrom Wikipedia we feel pretty confident we saw things like the following=
\n, and many others as well.<\/p>\n

Pictures here:
http=
\ns:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Centropyge_multifasciata<\/a>
h=
\nttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Apolemichthys_xanthurus<\/a>
https=
\n:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chaetodon_falcula<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikiped=
\nia.org\/wiki\/Chromis_cyanea<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/=
\nAmphiprion_percula<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Amb=
\nlyglyphidodon_aureus<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ps=
\neudochromis_fridmani<\/a>
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cir=
\nrhilabrus_lubbocki<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:A_Thousand_Hungry_Mouths_to_F=
\need_(2110755960).jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wi=
\nkimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Assorted_living_corals.jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Coral,_Wrexham_Museum.J=
\nPG<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/F=
\nile:Pink_Acan_(4692760102).jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Pink_Starburst_Firework_(18=
\n1549126).jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/co=
\nmmons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Reef0597_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg=
\n<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikime=
\ndia.org\/wiki\/File:Sanc1314_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki=
\n\/File:Sanc1319_-_Flickr_-_NOAA_Photo_Library.jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Staghorn_coral_in_=
\nseagrass.jpg<\/a>
https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File=
\n:Zoanthid_.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a chance to go along on a snor= keling trip. It was a snorkeling and diving tour boat that operates out= of the Madang Resort. The boat that took us out anchored about= at about 05=C2=B008=E2=80=B206.5=E2=80=B3= S 145=C2=B049=E2=80=B217.9=E2=80=B3E. Check it out. … It was great! lots of colorful fish and lots of really … Continue reading Snorkeling on Pacific Coral Reefs<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oUw6-84","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwilliamcupp.name\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}