A snorkelling we will go, a snorkelling we will go, hey ho, hey ho, a snorkelling we will go. Equalize the pressure, that's what I remember my instructor telling me many years ago when I went diving in Majorca. These words initially echoed in my mind as I snorkelled deeper and deeper into the inky depths below. I could feel the pressure from the water push against my ear drums. It's quite incredible how much weight water produces even at a shallow depth. Ju had thought that after I had read my SAS survival book I had developed a nervous disposition in the water. This was partly true - I had read a whole section on sea life and in particular a colourful section on poisonous sea creatures. According to the 'survival book' almost all of the Worlds poisonous lifeforms are found in the sea near to land. Understandably this wasn't my natural habitat and I had to respect that fact with limited knowledge. This kingdom belonged to all things aquatic - and I was there to observe and not touch. Some fish are poisonous to the touch or have toxic barbs like on the puffer fish which subsequently isn't deadly but will give you a painful sting.

As I dived I turned to look at the boat and wait for Ju who was taking her time. As I waited in the water our taxi boat driver decided to throw pieces of chicken into the water next to me. This attracted more fish and in particular a type of blue fish that was around two inches long with black stripes. I wasn't sure what type of fish it was or whether it was dangerous - so I tried to keep my distance. Interspersed amongst the school of blue fish were rainbow coloured fish that were around 4 inches long. I had thought that there couldn't be much in here that was poisonous why would the driver take a risk by attracting them with food? The fish devoured the pieces of chicken pretty quickly then turned their attention to me. They circled around me, inches from my face. One even nibbled at my back. I didn't feel comfortable so I dived down about 5 to 6 metres and looked back up. There were at least 100 fish circling the boat. Ju had now joined me in the water. It was amusing to hear her scream as she too was nipped by a fish.

We quickly put some distance between us as we made our way nearer the shore. Large boulders lay submerged underwater with plant life growing all over them. Some of the plant life had a textured surface which made it look like large brains. Embedded in the 'brain plants' were clams with blue mouths which opened partially before shutting quickly only to repeat the cycle over and over again. We could see and hear huge parrot fish nibbling at the coral. In the distance we could hear multiple nibbling sounds and as we drew near we could see a school of yellowish fish kicking up particles of coral and sand as they harvested their way along the sea bed. We hadn't managed to escape the blue fish, they had tracked us down and were moving in slowly and cautiously, like a cat about to pounce on it's prey. We found ourselves following a school of silver fish no bigger than an inch in length which led us into another school of larger silver fish which looked like baby Barracudas. I wasn't sure they were friendly and we found ourselves slowly trying to back out of our predicament all the while being pursued by blue zebra chicken eating fish. Perhaps they had got a taste for Julia and me after their little nibble earlier - they say human flesh tastes like chicken!

After a few hours in the water we headed to Naan-yuan island for a spot of lunch. We ordered some over priced food and enjoyed a refreshing milkshake. We were both sun kissed and welcomed the shade of the restaurant. It was now 2.45pm - sun cream on we led on a small beach before taking a dip in the sea with our snorkelling gear. There were a few more parrot fish and various other sea fish swimming around to observe. Feeling hot and tired we boarded the taxi boat for the short trip back home. Later that evening we led on the beach pillows outside Fizz - our regular dinning haunt.