Snorkelling in Cocos and Sisters' Islands

The seas were choppy and the speed boat was literally tossed around by the waves as we headed out from La Digue to its uninhabited satellite islands, Sisters' and Cocos for some snorkelling. The sooty terns and the fairy terns were flying around as we saw the white-tailed tropic birds as well. But it is the world below the surface of water that was enchanting. The sea turtles swam along with the ace swimmers in the group and I attempted snorkelling with the help of the skipper, Hyacinth.

At Cocos Island which was part of a marine park, we stopped at a beach with granite formations standing tall. And as I looked down with my snorkel gear below the turquoise blue waters, the marine life came alive as we were surrounded by a myriad of colours with coral reefs and shoals of fish swimming around us. Hyacinth pointed out to the butterfly fish, the angel fish, the parrot fish, the lionfish, the squirrel fish and probably many others but I was just lost in a riot of colours. There were octopus, turtles, eagle rays, whale sharks waiting to be spotted as well if you were lucky. I floated around, learning to breathe underwater but it was too tempting to come back to land.