Snorkelling in Bonito

Equipment
Piraputanga
Inspection
Crystal clear

Now in Bonito - land of crystal clear rivers that is teaming with vegetation and fish. Headed off to the Balneario Municipal Rio Formoso and went snorkelling for the first time. It was a strange experience hearing nothing but your own laboured breathing. I did my best to relax but it was difficult as the snorkel kept filling with water and trying to drown me - on inspection the guys figured I had a crappy snorkel. Never-the-less I struggled on and was blowing copious amounts of water out of the snorkel that afternoon. Got to see loads of fish such as the Piraputanga, Dourado and Pacu, the latter of which belongs to the same family as Piranhas.

With my practice run behind me, I headed off on a 1.5km float down the Sucuri river (Barro do Sucuri). We had to wear shorty wetsuits and were not allowed to apply suncream as it would pollute the water. It goes without saying that that evening I was sporting some spectacular sunburn on the backs of my legs. It looked as though I was wearing red stockings as all my clothes are shorter than the burn line from the wetsuit - I even contemplated drawing in suspender marks to make it look less ridiculous! :-p

But back to the river; we were split into three small groups so as to reduce the amount of soil disturbance. Being in the 'sun sensitive' category I got to go down the river first and was warned by the others not to put feet on the bottom and thus stir up the ground. This was not a difficult request to fulfil as with the wetsuit and life jacket I had no problem floating aimlessly along. Unfortunately none of our group had a waterproof camera so I've had to acquire some photos to show what we saw. Honestly I was glad that I didn't have a camera as I just put my hands behind my back and floated along peacefully enjoying the view.

My snorkelling experience this time was much better, the equipment was far superior and I didn't have to do much blowing out. The water was so clear, the fishes were plentiful and swam right by your nose, although the majority just hung, floating statically by the reeds on either side of the river. The current was strong enough that you rarely had to move your hands in order to propel yourself forward, but at the same time was gentle enough that you didn't zip by everything in a blur. The face masks were very deceptive as on more than one occasion I grimaced and held my breath in anticipation of colliding my knees with jagged rocks and wooden logs. It was quite a serene outing and nothing I have experienced before. Still not sure if I'm entirely comfortable snorkelling, but with each session I seem to be getting into the swing of it. By the time I get back, I'll probably be an old hat at it!