By Fyllis Hockman

I've always envied my scuba-diving friends who describe their colorful underwater world full of coral reefs and various inhabitants of the sea as "magical." I've snorkeled, but it's not the same. Now, although I remain uncertified as a diver, I have an idea of what the majesty is all about, thanks to my SNUBA experience at Aruba's De Palm Island.

For the uninitiated — mostly everyone — SNUBA, not surprisingly, is a cross between scuba and snorkeling. Unencumbered by the heavy accoutrements of scuba divers who have air tanks on their backs allowing them to access depths of 60 feet below the surface, SNUBA participants simply have fins and a mask similar to snorkelers. This is attached to an outside oxygen supply that allows them to dive 10 to 20 feet below the surface and see way more than is usually accessible to the average snorkeler.

I was up-close and personal with the coral moonscape and the many multicolored residents who call it home: triggerfish, trumpetfish, sergeant major fish, blue parrotfish, butterflyfish and more.

"The list is so long it would take me a whole day to tell you," my instructor claimed.

At one point he directed me to the bottom to look underneath a big coral formation where a puffer fish was happily hiding. You can't do that when you're snorkeling!

And that barely touches the surface — so to speak — of what De Palm Island has to offer. An all-inclusive day trip a five-minute ferry ride away from the mainland (but worlds away in terms of excitement), De Palm offers a smorgasbord of food and activities.

An affordable $109 per adult buys you unlimited snorkeling tours with free snorkel gear, an impressive water park for the kids, exhilarating waterslides for the kid in you, banana-boat rides galore, as much food and drink as you can handle, and, of course, salsa dancing lessons. And, oh yes, a variety of sandy beaches with chaise lounges and palapas to relax upon if you can find the time. And that's just for starters.

You see a lot of flamingos in the Caribbean, often in the form of mailboxes, lawn decorations or home decor. On De Palm, they're there to entertain you in the flesh. The stately, pretty, light pink, long-legged birds happily roam their own sandy habitat at their leisure for you to interact with at yours.

So, not only does De Palm Island offer SNUBA, of which there are only about 56 operations worldwide, but also Sea Trek, with the same number of opportunities around the globe, but to have them both in the same place is highly rare.

So, what's Sea Trek, you ask? I donned a huge helmet with breathing apparatus and walked along a cushioned sea bottom 10 to 15 feet below the surface, always following certain caveats: Remain vertical at all times, walk and breathe, yawn to equalize pressure, hold on to the handrails and never look down.

Forget flapping flippers or your snorkel mask filling with water. Here you just have to focus on the multitudes of fish swarming around you. Admittedly, the thought of a 72-pound helmet on my 90-pound frame initially sounded a little daunting, but once in the water it was manageable, and the diver-guide helped adjust it to fit my face.

OK, so the divers accompanying our small group were spreading food everywhere we went, but still — I was petting fish. Lots of fish. Yellowtail snapper, blue parrot, filefish, grouper, sea cucumber, sea star, sea urchin, damselfish — not that I could actually identify any of them.

Of course, they took a video to be sold later. For the sake of said video, we had to pretend to drink a bottle of wine, drive an underwater vehicle, and actually stroke a sea cucumber and a very scaly sea star. But I was in it for the fish. At times there were so many of them that I felt an integral part of their school, which I suspect was more fun for me than for them.

Among other SNUBA and Sea Trek add-ons, you can opt for a well-stocked private cabana, a back or foot massage, a DIY craft-shop experience or a henna tattoo, but the pickup basketball game is free, as is so much else. The kids' water park with age-appropriate slides and the ever-present bucket of water on high that spills over at unexpected intervals elicits the de rigueur squeals of joy every time. A number of snorkeling areas consistently populated by bouncing, snorkel-masked heads would have beckoned to me had I not just experienced other fish-enhanced realms of a much higher order. Add in the always-inviting chaise lounges that enable visitors to listen to the surf hitting the rocks — sheer heaven!

WHEN YOU GO

For more information:www.depalmisland.com

Water slides entertain visitors of all ages on De Palm Island, Aruba. Photo courtesy of Victor Block.

Flamingos roam freely and interact with guests on Aruba's De Palm Island. Photo courtesy of Victor Block.

The author explores the bottom of the sea off Aruba's De Palm Island. Photo courtesy of De Palm Island.

Fyllis Hockman is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.