Jelly Fish

I was going to wait for Julia to do this blog, but it is hot outside and I am looking for reasons to stay in the blissful A/C. So here I am.

We have been in Omoa for...I dunno, 6 days maybe and I pretty much love it here. I have yet to determine if it is the place or the fact that I am once again on the Caribbean sea. I suspect that any town on the Caribbean coast I would be in love with, but that is neither here nor there. Today I am going to talk to you about the sea itself, not my love of it.

The first two days were pure bliss in the warm blue water of the sea. Julia and I would go to the beach simply to float in the water and let the sun beat down on us. The sea is particularly thrilling to Julia as the poor girl is cursed with the inability to float in fresh water. Seeing her newly bouyant body in the water is peculiar at times as she has yet to master the art of relaxation and I can often here her momentary panic and feel the usually calm water ripple with her jerky and uncoordinated movements as she struggles to remain afloat. Forgetting of course that she was just floating a brief moment ago and there is no need for the panic...but I digress.

We had just gotten used to our daily water routine of doing virtually nothing but play around in the salty bathwater when it was brought to our visual attention that we had some friends in the form of jelly fish. Not one or two, because of course jelly fish swim in schools, but a dozen of them or so in the immediate vicinity of us. I dont know how many there were in total as for the duration of their visit (about 2 days) we kept our frolicking to the warm shallow waters instead of the cool depths just slightly farther out. It was interesting the watch these globes of jelli (say it like its spelled. Its funnier that way. Jell-I) float about the water without a direction or purpose. However no matter where we went they seemed highly attracted to us and would change course to better follow our retreat. They didnt effect our stay in the sea too much however and for the couple days they were there we made a game of finding them and identifying the different colours. People standing on the peer and gazing into the water had a better view and could see just how many there were, but we felt that our swimming would stop entirely if we knew the truth and we continued to delude ourselves that there were only a bakers dozen or so. I should also mention that Julia had a momentary brush with death (as she likes to think of it) as a jelly fish collided with her clothed side and they made quick but definite contact with each other. Wow.

On day two of our visitation to the Jelli we discovered that there was a poor deceased soul floating in the water. The underneath part had been removed (I dont know how or why) and just the jelly bowl was floating along in the water. Julia picked it up and placed it on her head (what is the name for the Jewish hat thingy? It looked a lil like that). We spent a few minutes touching it and feeling the jelly. It is a rather thick membrane for those that dont know. And while it is soft, and in fact jelly-like the membrane is about an inch to an inch and a half thick making it difficult to penetrate without a sharp object on hand. Julia tired of the bowl quickly and left me to play with it. We had already filled it with water and worn it on our heads...there didnt seem to be much else to do with it, so I hurled it at Julia. It did not hit her, but she was vex nonetheless and picked it up to launch at me. This lasted for a few moments until we realized that we were essentially throwing a dead carcass at each other, and the playing stopped.

We searched but could not find one jelly fish. Our Jelli friends had left to go haunt another beach town Im sure and Julia and I have gone back to our daily frolicking. They will be missed.

Janelle