As the days sailed by, our sunburns peeled and our skin got used to the sun. Our nails bleached white from the hours of saltwater. The number of different sea turtles we swam with reached six before we lost count. We borrowed Ebby’s books and learned the names of the corals: the box fire coral with its myriad square slots, the grooved brain coral, looking exactly like its name, the elegant, perfectly round massive star coral, the size of a Volkswagen, and the stag horn and the elk horn.

We also learned how to look. Instead of swimming from coral to coral, seeking ever-brighter fish or bigger turtles, we took Ebby’s advice and floated above just one stand of coral for a while, giving it focused attention. Slowly we noticed hidden creatures and entire communities going about their daily business; a spotted eel flickering in a crevice of box coral, and how the sunny yellow and blue damselfish “farm” the coral, nipping off a tiny bit of each one so that algae would grow on it.

We watched the nearly transparent vertical rods called trumpetfish hunt on the backs of parrotfish, blending innocuously into the herbivorous host before darting off for a kill. We got to know and regularly visit a coral rock where a pair of octopus lurked, and watched us back, changing color before our eyes from red to green to gray. And every day we saw the same three parrotfish, vermilion and emerald giants, half as long as us, nipping at invisible food on the corals.

One day I floated lazily above a large Gorgonian coral with long, flexible strands shaped like snaky ferns. I hovered, half-hypnotized, as it swayed back and forth in sync with the water. A pair of French angel fish, resembling indigo dinner plates streaked with yellow, came within inches of my face, and stayed there, curious and unafraid. I gazed back, wondering lazily, like Alice nodding into her Wonderland, what they thought of this cumbersome giant trapped in plastic and without natural fins, alien visitor from the same planet.

IF YOU GO

Where to stay: We stayed in two different Airbnbs, both lovely and cheap, ranging from $ 69 to $89 per night, with kitchens and plunge pools.

Getting around: Car rental is better than scooter rental, as the roads are narrow and many are unpaved.