In April I took a cruise from Fort Lauderdale to eight Caribbean islands. The first day in Fort Lauderdale I lost my camera. It was the second CoolPIx which I had lost and was quite disappointed not only to be without a camera but also I had taken some neat photos of my sister and her friends that were on my digital.

On the ship they were selling cameras (duty and tax free), one of them a Cool Pix. I felt like I wanted to upgrade and I hemmed and hawed not knowing quite what kind of upgrade I wanted.

It was my second time snorkling and I had the good luck to meet two expert snorklers, Joe from Manchester, England and Claire from New Mexico who sort of took me under their wing as I followed them through narrow reefs and learned how to stay in place to watch the fish.

At one point I ran into Joe on deck and she showed me the photos which she had taken underwater. I at once knew what my upgrade would be.

I bought myself an Olympus underwater camera. And really it was a good thing that I lost my CoolPix in Fort Lauderdale for I never would have taken these photos of such wonderful fish. Snorkling opened up a new world for me.

Bonaire Island is known as the Paridise of snorkling and deep sea diving.