The Aquarium

This winter we have been feeding the mangrove snappers from the bridge to Mouth of the Harbour Cay, which is a short walk from where we live on this side of Hope Town. The creek runs through to the pond where we keep our boats and at high tide, the fish all come out as soon as they detect that we are walking out on the bridge.

Usually we feed them bread, but they also like cooked rice and hamburger. They were a little cautious when I sprinkled the burger in the water, but once they tasted it and realized it was meat, they went crazy, jumping out of the water. Cooked spaghetti is a real treat for them too, and funny for us to watch as they grab it in the middle and swim off, making it look like they have whiskers. The needle fish that hang out on the surface of the water love the bread and have no trouble eating it with their long snouts.

There is always a curious barracuda that tries to get in on the action, but the snappers get so excited that they ignore him and pretty much push him out of the way.

It's a fun little pastime when the wind blows from the easterly quadrant, but not so much when it blows from the west, since it is wide open to the Sea of Abaco. Today was perfect and almost makes me not want to go home.

Then again, we will soon have our goldfish pond at home!