Isobel gets a tow through the school after snorkeling for 30 seconds.

We came here to snorkel the reef, 50 yards off shore. we didn't get 10 feet. The minute we put our masks in the water we were amazed to see 100s of thousands of little fish, a little more than an inch long, schooling in the most indescribable symphony in front of our eyes. Drawn into columns by some invisible force, then changing leaders and forming a fishy wall, the depth of the water and as far as we could see... then converting into mini tornadoes... then into a mass with holes in it. As we drifted along, like palm fronds fallen from an over hanging palm tree, the fish move around us following some unwritten rule for setting distance from a floating object.

Suddenly bigger fish enter our field of vision, they dart into the school of smaller ones... we can't see it happen, but we are quite sure there are less little fish out there now. The bigger fish are maybe 10" long and move in a pack of 5 or 10 fish, moving into feed individually.

Of course, the predator becomes the prey as the Pelican drops out of the sky like a dart, nabbing one of the bigger fish. He bobs there on the surface for a moment, letting the water drain out of his bill and sac, then points his bill to the sky so the wriggling fish slides down his gullet.