Have you ever done something stupid? Something on hind site that you know is stupid? And you know you aren't supposed to do something as stupid as the thing that you just did, because you know that God gave you a great brain and your parents gave you such a great education that you know better than to do the inane thing you just did??? No, No, I'm not referring to quitting a good job and selling it all to sail away with your family for a few years. That may be insane but certainly not stupid! I'm referring of course to NOT sticking your finger into a dark hole while snorkeling in tropical waters. I knew that you knew what I knew that I forgot I knew.

I quote from A Comprehensive Guide to Marine Medicine, "Sharp-toothed moray eels can inflict deep puncture wounds. If a bite victim pulls away abruptly, underlying structures (nerves, blood vessels, tendons and ligaments), can be cut. If bitten, try to let the eel open its mouth by itself (which it will usually do), to prevent deep laceration."

Riiiiiiiight. When bitten, hold still and don't pull away while waiting for the eel to let go. Like that's going to happen.

To paraphrase, when bitten in the *** by a pit bull, be sure to hold still while you wait for him to let go, as running screaming to mama will surely result in bits of your 'you know what' being ripped out for said Fido to savor later for desert.

Surely I'll remember such sage advise for next time. ASSuming of course that I could possibly be dumb enough to stick a digit where it don't belong, again! It's a darn good thing it was a bitty 'lil eel rather than one the size you might see in a Discovery Channel special on 'Digit Consuming Carnivores of The Deep'. And no, I won't be their next guest celebrity as I am already booked on Letterman's next episode of Stupid Human tricks.

I did not loose a finger tip, and nor did Rennie get to dig into the Major Laceration section of the immense first aid kit in order to perform minor surgery. She hid her disappointment well and did a fine job of band-aid application. As it was an infantile thing I did we topped it off with a Sesame Street band-aid.

Needless to say I learned my lesson. I think.

PS: The aforementioned attacked occurred at 16 21.28N 086 26.58W in French Harbour, Roatan, Honduras
We are now in Utila Bay, Utila, Honduras at 16 05.53N 086 53.75W