Today my family I went out on a boat to visit 3 different snorkel locations. We caught our guide waiting on the beach, ready to motor us on the water and back. The boat was old, painted a flaky white with a sun roof and two red, blue and yellow pontoons floating on either side. We started off driving left and heading southeast towards a different island. The 15 mins travel time ended and we found ourselves looking at rugged island covered in trees, shrubs – simply, a whole lot of green. But there were no buildings on this ‘Eco’ island. My dad told me that there could be a reason why you don’t see anyone living here. For instance, it would be really hard to clear or even make room to build because of its ruggedness. And secondly, there could be no running water that people could use to irrigate crops. On the island of Bali, there was a whole water system that ran by gravity down the mountain that people used to irrigate rice fields and to bathe in. This place was called Crystal Bay. The snorkeling was fantastic. The water was nice and deep with lots of fish, colorful coral, and clear. Oh the water! Blue-greens and purples colored the water in such a way, you’d think you were stuck inside a post card advertising “the best and most beautiful beaches, snorkeling, and diving you have ever seen” at some remote tropical island resort. Our second stop was much like the first and a lot closer than our final destination. Dad found a fist-sized cowrie and showed us all. Mom called it her anniversary present, even though he put the living snail back. Our final snorkel spot was called Mangrove. The Mangrove snorkeling was a coral wonderland. It’s was deep enough so that we weren’t stepping on and killing the coral, but shallow enough that we could see everything with having to dive down and look around. A guide at another boat threw in some bread, and within 30 seconds a vortex of colorful little fish swarmed around and devoured all the food. I was smart enough to get some for myself, so when I held out my hand I could feel and see the fish nibbling my hand. What an experience! We continued looking around and exploring until we were too tired to swim anymore. We hopped back in the boat and started the return journey back to our guest house in Mushroom Bay on Lembongan Island.