saturday's chick dive i did my first beach dive off of hibiscus street in fort lauderdale on saturday. since it was free, i figured it would be too much of a good thing to actually have it be interesting (using the same reasoning as when i refuse to buy something fat-free as i'm sure it'll taste awful). when we were swimming out, i saw a shoe. "oh, i'd better remember that shoe since it'll probably be the only thing to add to my "species seen" list in my divelog." yes, i'm an optimist.

much to my surprise, though, it was actually a good time. the reefs were covered in sand and looked more like rocks made of concrete than anything else. i guess this is thanks to our lovely hurricanes this season. but there was some coral left exposed and the fish that live in the corals. i saw the biggest, prettiest parrotfish i've seen yet.. lots of little pretty aquarium-worthy fish.. lots of boxfish (hi, goofy looking).. and the dive's highlight? a HUGE, adorable porcupinefish! it had to have been two feet long. i saw its back half disappear behind a rock so followed it, finding it tucked under a ledge. i got down on the sand and saw it, looking at me with eyes worthy of a japanese cartoon puppy. i stayed until i realized i could only see one of my fellow two divers.

we were down for about 45 minutes before we swam back to shore, intending to go out again in a bit. unfortunately, the clouds covered the morning's perfect sky and the blue, flat ocean became green and rough. however, the day wasn't wasted -- a small group of divers and i sat around talking until 5 in the afternoon. pretty nice day. :)  ¶ 12:11 PM