The Coral Gables Times

Underwater Paradise

Skin divers in the world they love best, where fish fly through the water, coral glows like hills of gems, and an octopus could be waiting for you just around the next bend. Burton McNeeley—FPG You can camp in a superb sheltered beachcomber setting in the Virgin Islands National Park, and offshore you've got an Underwater Paradise BY MICHAEL FROME FOR A SPLIT SECOND the octopus and I stared each other in the eye through clear sunlit waters. He was a small, unhappy-looking fellow, no larger than my hand, and not very fearsome. Then he showed the unmistakable sign of fright, changing color from brown to yellow to blushing crimson, and scurried off to cover. He left me in an underwater forest of fragile perfection. Coral of many hues arose like trees, mountains, and spires. Schools of brilliant fish perched lazily on stony branches or swam past like birds in flight. Lacy purple sea fans, swaying in a gentle current, and delicate anemones carpeted the reef-like flowering shrubbery in full aquatic bloom. I was swimming along the first and only underwater nature trail in the world, in the Virgin Islands National Park, a marvel to compare with Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. In fifteen minutes, I rubbed shoulders and fins with bizarre trumpet fish and the yellow-specked French angel fish, watched a giant green turtle at lunch in a pasture of lush turtle grass, and yelped loudly in the quiet underseas world when I stepped on a sharp, spiny sea urchin. Also, by reading the labels etched on the inside of submerged glass plates, I learned about the majesty and mystery of the exquisite Ray Manley—Shostal A long, quiet stroll on the whitest white sand along the bluest blue water in the world, and then dinner (caught by you that same morning). 10 Suburbia Today, August 1961