the remoras
07 March 2007 | st.thomas
The first time we stayed at water bay in St.Thomas (U.S.V.I) our boat was perfectly clean and had hardly any parasites. Then came February. In February many animals mate and reproduce, so there's lots of stuff floating around. Our boat was suddenly an "all you can SCRUB buffet."
In the harbor we noticed a turtle that had also made its home there, and had a parasite on its back. This parasite was a remora. When our boat was suddenly so full of "food" the remora decided to make the bottom of our boat its new home.
One day when dad thought it might be time to check the hull. What he found was (as I described earlier) an, "all you can SCRUB buffet". But then he noticed yet another thing. It was a customer! This "customer", surprisingly was not alone. It had brought over a friend. I told dad over and over that the remoras won't bite, but he was convinced that he could not scrub the bottom as long as they were there. (Personally I think he is just trying to get himself out of scrubbing the hull.)
My sister ad I decided to name the remoras "Jack" and "Jill". Now anytime something falls of gets tossed over board... (Example a close pin, they fall of all the time.) Both remoras come shooting from under the boat to see if it is edible. It's funny to watch other people see them when they sprint from under the boat. Usually, because of the surprise, they jump and do a little scream to go with it. And now because dad is scared to go in the water whenever we jump of our boat we swim as fast as we can to the ladder. The only problem with that is me and my sister are too scared to jump in alone so when we jump in at the same time it's a very vicious race to the one and only way back on the boat. The Ladder.
Lately we have been swimming in the pool at the resort my dad works at because of our unreal theory that the remoras are dangerous. I have read and heard many times that remoras aren't dangerous, but because the biggest person on our boat is scared, we all are. One of our favorite fish books, "Guide to Corals & Fish of the Caribbean" said only one little sentence about remoras. I was a little disappointed. I needed some kind of solution to make dad scrub the bottom before we become part of the reef. I suggested to leave now for the day to a different harbor but mom and dad where stuck in the bar. You know cruisers! I'm guessing we will just have to wait until we make way again.