Enemy Anemone

I hope that all of you readers have enjoyed hearing about my frailties and illnesses. I just couldn’t let this week go by without sharing with you one more calamity that has infiltrated my life here in Grand Turk. We had the lucky opportunity earlier this week to go Sea Trekking with some friends. For those of you not familiar with this activity here is what it is. You put on a gigantic space helmet as you descend a ladder into the ocean. You go down about 20 feet to the sea floor and walk around looking at the marine life. The helmet has a tube hooked to it which hooks to a pump on the surface that continually pumps air into your helmet. The sound of the air in your helmet is ridiculously loud and if you tilt your head back or forth, your helmet fills with water. As long as you keep your head level the water level stays below your chin and you are able to breathe easily. The experience is actually quite fun and you can jump about 7-10 feet in the air if you really push hard. It supposedly feels similar to being on the moon. We had a good time and saw some nice fish and then climbed back up into the boat. I noticed I had a few little bumps on my arms and figured I must have been bitten by something. Oh well, no worries. The next morning I woke up with a burning, itching sensation all over my body and looked in the mirror and saw that I was covered from head to toe with a horrible rash. I looked ridiculous, like I had the worst case of chickenpox ever. Off to work we went and all day when I would show people shirts and things I would notice them staring at my diseased hands, arms, and face. Why me, I wondered, why me. We have done some internet research and believe that it was probably caused by sea lice, or some other little parasite or anemone that lives in the ocean. My skin is now starting to clear up, just in time for Hurricane Chris.