Season 1, episode 28
The Mesoamerican Reef system is the second largest in the world. Located in the Caribbean Sea, the most beautiful section of this reef is accessible through the island of Roatán in Honduras. Here you can see the plant and animal life that call this tropical paradise home.
This simple story is told in the present tense and focuses on the words island, fish, coral reef, film, and scuba dive.
Under the Sea
There is a man named Michael. Michael likes water a lot. When he was a child, Michael played in the water all the time. He swam in lakes and rivers. He was particularly fascinated by animals in the water. He liked watching fish when they swam.
Now, Michael is an adult and he works in the water. Michael’s work is very fun. Michael makes videos of animals that live in the water. Michael is an aquatic cameraman.
Michael travels to the coasts of several nations. He goes out in boats and goes in the water to make his videos. One day, Michael goes to the island of Roatán. Roatán is part of Honduras. Honduras is located in Central America and it has a long coast on the Caribbean Sea. The island of Roatán, Honduras is popular with underwater filming because of its coral reefs. The coral reefs of Honduras are spectacular and part of the second biggest reef in the world. They have crystal waters so it is very easy to see all the marine life, the plants, and the coral.
Michael wants to scuba dive in the Caribbean Sea to film the aquatic life. First, Michael goes in a boat to the coral reef. Michael is going to scuba dive for a long time in the water and he wears a wetsuit. He also puts on a mask. The mask gives protection to Michael’s eyes. Michael needs to swim with his eyes open, so he uses the mask to see while he swims.
Michael puts fins on his feet to swim better. The fins give a lot of movement with little energy. Furthermore, when Michael uses the fins to swim, he doesn’t need to use his hands to swim, so he can use his hands to film.
Michael is human, so he needs oxygen to breathe. The oxygen is in a tank. Michael wears the oxygen tank in a vest on his back. Michael breathes the oxygen from the tank through a regulator. The regulator is connected to the tank with a tube.
With the mask, fins, regulator, and oxygen tank, Michael is ready to to scuba dive and film the aquatic life. Michael takes his camera and dives in the water. In the water, Michael sees a lot of fish. The fish are all the colors of the rainbow. There are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple fish. The fish swim in groups in the crystal water
Michael films the fish. They swim among the coral in the reef. There are more than 60 species of coral in the waters of Honduras. Like the fish, the coral also comes in many colors. Michael’s favorites are the pink coral. There are a lot of fish among the coral. Some fish have camouflage. It is impossible to see some fish in the coral!
Michael uses his fins to explore the reef more. He sees a movement and investigates. It is a sea turtle! The sea turtle is big. There are six species of sea turtles in the Caribbean. Michael films the turtle while it swims. Turtles are slow and clumsy on land, but they are very elegant in the water.
The turtle leaves and Michael keeps exploring the coral reef. He sees some blue crabs. The crabs don’t swim, they walk. Crabs like spaces in the rocks. They use their pincers for protection. There are many crabs in Honduras and crab soup is a very delicious local dish. Michael thinks that he wants to eat crab soup after his scuba diving trip.
Michael continues on his adventure. He sees a very big animal. It is a whale shark, the biggest fish in the Caribbean. The whale shark is huge, but Michael is not scared. Michael is not scared because the whale shark is not vicious like other sharks. The whale shark is docile. It eats plankton and it doesn’t attack people. Michael films the whale shark on his camera. The whale shark is bigger than Michael!
Michael is very satisfied with his trip in the coral reef. He decides to return to the boat. He moves his fins and swims in the direction of the boat. Suddenly, there is movement. There are other people scuba diving in the sea. These people are looking for a particular kind of fish. It is a lion fish. The lion fish is not native to the Caribbean Sea and causes a lot of destruction to the coral reef. The lion fish eats animals that take care of the reef. That’s why there are people that capture lion fish.
Michael sees the lion fish. It is a very pretty fish because it has an elegant appearance with its many fins and stripes of brown and white. But Michael understands that the lion fish causes destruction. He films a little bit of the lion fish on his camera and then he alerts the people looking for the lion fish. They come and capture it.
Michael returns to the boat. Getting back on the boat is a little complicated with his scuba equipment. In the boat he takes off his mask, the fins, the regulator, and the vest with the oxygen tank. The boat driver is careful in the water because of the presence of other boats and scuba divers.
Michael looks at the Caribbean Sea. The water is very pretty. Suddenly, a dolphin jumps out of the water. Then another dolphin jumps out of the water. The dolphins swim next to the boat for a time and then they return to the sea.
Michael is very happy. The Caribbean Sea is magical with all its incredible animals.
The end.
You can also watch a video of this story on YouTube!
Today’s episode was inspired by @Diver23. Check out his videos of animals from the story: Schools of fish, Sea turtle, Crab, Whale shark, Dolphin
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