Garden Eels live in the sand. They are long, skinny, active and fascinating, as well as ubiquitous at our current spot near Isla Cerralvo. We dropped our anchor here and then looked into the water to find thousands of Garden Eels waving gently back and forth on the sandy bottom below Magic.

Of course, we soon went scuba diving under the boat to get a closer look. I mean, these eels were everywhere, how hard would it be to see them?

We descended about 20 feet. The water was clear and calm. Webs of light danced on the bottom just like a swimming pool. But there were no eels. This was very strange. Why would they be everywhere else but not right here? I swam toward a large group, waving gently in the water. When I got there they were gone.

“Oh wait, there’s a bunch of them over there”, I thought, and swam in the other direction. When I got closer every single one of them slowly withdrew into the sand. When I arrived all I saw was a field of dime sized, empty holes.

We lay on the sand at the bottom, waiting for them to end the tease and finally show themselves. We waited several minutes. Some eels were braver than others, and tiny heads began to emerge. They were still at least 6 feet away. By crawling on my hands I was able to get a little closer, but they soon retreated. Any fin kicks would send them right back into the sand immediately.

We surfaced and a couple minutes later saw them again waving wildly all around the boat, back out of their holes again, celebrating that we were gone.

Determined to get a close look at these little teases of the sea, Brian set up our GoPro camera with a scuba weight and pointed it right at one of the little holes under the boat. He got all the photos you see here, plus a great video of a puffer fish surprising the eels! Check it out here:

About the Author

Hi, I’m Lisa.
I’m a tall, blonde superhero and I live in a van. I do it all. I rappel big waterfalls, drive from Idaho to Alaska solo, live and work in a van in the wilderness and dodge encounters with wolves and bears. Seriously. More

About the Author

Hi, I’m Lisa.
I’m a tall, blonde superhero and I live in a van and on a sailboat with my superhero husband, Brian. I do it all. I rappel big waterfalls, scuba dive with sharks, dodge encounters with bears and wolves, and work remotely as a full time computer programmer.Read more

About the Van

Hi, I’m Vanifest.
I’m a big, 4x4, off-the-grid van complete with solar panel for power. I'm a 2000 Dodge Ram Van and Lisa has had me since 2009.
Read more about me here.