UNDER SEA WITH HELMET AND CAMERA 



Alice caught one small Bone fish. Soon we were overtaken by darkness 

 and abandoned our efforts. 



Next morning, after a swim and breakfast, we turned Northward, hav- 

 ing learned to our disappointment that it would take two more days to 

 go to the nesting place of the flamingoes, which is near the Southern ex- 

 tremity of the island and several miles inland. Our destination was Mastic 

 Cay, a good anchorage and a point well situated for taking off next morn- 

 ing on the run to Nassau. The distance was not great; we took plenty of 

 time fishing and spearing crawfish when we found likely places. The lat- 

 ter is good fun, by the way, and requires practice and natural agiUty. Ac- 

 cording to conditions, it is done from a small boat or walking in water 

 about waist deep. The hunter is provided with a water glass and a grains or 

 spear with two or three barbed points. The crawfish, which are larger than 

 the average lobsters found in Northern waters, differ essentially from those 

 in the absence of claws. They are not quite as tender as lobsters but make 

 very good eating. They can be seen by searching the bottom and the sides 

 of coral formations with the glass. A sharp eye is required, for usually only 

 the "whiskers" are seen protruding from some refuge into which the craw- 

 fish can retire backwards with great speed. The spear must be brought as 

 close to him as possible without scaring him and this must be done with 

 a steady, slow motion, bearing in mind that the arm must have enough re- 

 maining forward motion to accomplish the final thrust. This, of course, 

 must be made with the utmost speed and accuracy. Often a piece of over- 

 hanging coral will shield the crawfish from the fatal thrust. His disappear- 

 ance is permanent and the forked spear is bent so that it has to be straight- 

 ened before the hunting can be continued. Moreover, the eye must be 

 trained to allow for refraction. A thrust does not come near the quarry 

 until one has learned to make this allowance. We were not very success- 

 ful with our attempts at this sport, and realizing that the contemplated 



