|
One
in ten thousand |
|||
|
Part 2: A brief briefing Danny was our instructor, divemaster and speed-diving expert for the week. Before each dive we assembled in the briefing area to hear about the highlights of the forthcoming dive. "Make sure you keep your eyes open. Look up, look down, look left, look right," he said. "If you look up you may see the bumphead parrotfish or a school of swirling jacks." These words were greeted with many smiles and an eagerness to jump in the water and discover the marine delights that were awaiting us. Bumphead parrotfish and jacks, you say. Well, they kept getting mentioned in the briefings, but unfortunately they were playing a rather obstinate game of hide and seek which we seemed to be losing – rather too often for our liking. And then the words were omitted from the briefing. Hmmm, maybe we would have to drop those two from our wishlist and enjoy the many other splendours that the sea had to offer. However, I don't think the bumpheads or the jacks were too pleased at being left out, because lo and behold, they made their appearance - and what an appearance it was. There we were, happily diving along admiring some turtles and a batfish or two, when we spotted a mass of swirling jacks up above us. We, ahem, slowly ascended (I'm sure it was at a rate of about 18m/min) to inspect them a little more closely. The word 'breathtaking' must have been invented for this phenomenon. It was absolutely out of this world. Hundreds of jacks, tightly packed together, swirling around in a tornado formation. You could swim up into the middle of this teeming bundle of life and be completely surrounded by the jacks and then look up skyward to see sunlight shining down on them. It really was amazing. And to top it off, Kris, the lovely videographer, had chosen that dive to record our group video and so the whole scene was captured on film. And the dive wasn't yet over. After the jacks had finally finished their ostentatious display and swum off, we continued along our way, encountering quite a strong current in the shallow waters - a current that led us right to a massive school of bumphead parrotfish. This was the first time I'd seen a bumphead and to see so many at once was phenomenal. Whichever way you looked, there they were with their beak-like mouths protruding forwards as if to compete with the bumps on their heads. From that dive on, we simply crossed our fingers that neither bumpheads nor jacks would make it into the dive briefings. |
|
|
|
