Snorkelling off South Button

As it becomes light here soon after 5am it is generally an early start with breakfast at 6.30am consisting of porridge, 4 slices of toast, omelette and coffee J (also known as a western breakfast)… However, this morning there was a difference in that I was informed that I had a space on the snorkelling trip to South Button island - I was so excited and rushed that I plain forgot my malaria meds!!
The boat trip to the island took 2 hours much of which was under a full on downpour of tropical monsoon proportions, however, the rain was warm by the UK standards and although the staff were cold us hardened Brits were at home ;) The heavy rain limited visibility but when it ended suddenly you were granted a magnificent vista of islands covered in virgin tropical rain forest gently steaming off the recent downpour - simply amazing to see nature in all its glory.
South Button came into view as a tiny island in the middle of the ocean… and it turned out to be a tiny island encrusted with hardy trees clinging to the various nooks and crannies of the outcrop - strangely there was a red and white mast here!! (you can never really escape the communications superhighway) However ignoring that it was a pristine island with no beach, so in order to snorkel you just put your flippers and mask on and jumped in :)
The island was small enough for us to swim around it and meet the boat on the other side - so head down and flippers pushing we made our way slowly around the coral reef of the island - it was gorgeously kaleidoscopic with visibility beyond 10m and fish in abundance, you could even see where the coral reef dropped off descending into the dark blue depths beneath you!! Below us the divers were descending, leaving a trail of rising bubbles in their wake and larger fish were on the move…
Snorkelling highlights for me included; swimming through shoals of blue/yellow and silvery blue fish the size of your hand and having them swarm around and look at you as if to say “What are you?”, the long and angular needle fish, which resemble barracuda in many ways, the wonderful and exotic angel fish with their dance along the coral trailing their dorsal fin, a huge groper with escort and the shear range of multi-coloured fish (many of them with parrot like bills to feed on the coral). Amazing.
At the end of the trip we also witnessed a sea snake with white and black bands taking a breath at the surface before diving back to hunt among the coral of this isolated island.
Returning from the island we catch glimpses of dolphins and flying fish. Overall a wonderful day trip with truly memorable snorkelling.