My Changing View

I live on the eastern side of Isla Mujeres. We directly face the Caribbean Ocean. You would think that the ocean is the ocean; never changing, always the same. You would be wrong. The view from my front porch changes every day. Sometimes within the same day. I never grow tired of just looking at the water. The emerald greens, the deep cobalt blues, the whites of the waves as they break, all give me great pleasure. Here then are some of the changes I have witnessed.

This is a normal day. Probably in August. No wind. No waves. You can see through the water to the dead reef just offshore. Sometimes you can see colorful fish milling around. This is the kind of water that brings out the snorkelers and lobster divers.







Another normal day. Just a bit of wind. Sun shining brightly, intensifying the colors. Waves forming white caps as they break on the rocks on their way to shore.

But we also have stormy days. We can see storms coming from way out to sea. Sometimes they are just darkness in the sky; sometimes they are wall clouds such as this. They don't all make landfall. Lots of times they veer off for whatever climatological reason.

When the rain comes, it is usually in sheets. I know when to time it to get indoors and get the windows shut. I can see it changing the surface of the water as it moves inland.



Once a storm has passed, we are usually left with greenish colored water, lots of white capped waves and lots of seaweed floating on the top. Just waiting to gather in vast brown heaps on the beach across from my house.







And then we have my least favorite water of all. This is "hurricane coming" water. Not pretty and not fun. Just plain damn scary. Especially if you are only 50 yards or so in front of it!