Passing notes. Underwater.

I did not realize that it was possible to revert to the 6th grade without speaking, but that's why they made dive slates, I guess.  Spent quite a bit of my diving time passing notes back & forth with the ever-so-charming divemaster, who also enjoyed practical jokes such as swimming up above me, then suddenly waving his hands in front of my mask, followed by much (mimed) pointing and laughing.   Then there was the empty lobster shell utilized as a finger puppet, which he reached into a giant barrel sponge one day and then SURPRISE popped right in my face.  That was amusing, but I had steeled myself for another such attack a few minutes later.  I was taken aback when the barrel sponge revealed not another lobster head peering at me, but instead the middle finger.  I laughed so hard I spit out my regulator, swallowed about a lungful of seawater, and had half the group approaching me to see why I was attempting to avoid choking to death.  I had a hard time collecting my wits for the rest of the dive.  As soon as we surfaced and made it into the boat, I started cracking up and promptly punched Mr. Funny Guy.

He managed to redeem himself during my last dive at Glover's, though.  Despite the fact that the fishermen's nightly cleaning ritual at the end of the dock attracted nurse sharks & stingrays by the dozen, I had been whining for two weeks that I had yet to see a shark while underwater.  The guys badgered me to try out the shark cage attached to the dock, but the sun was so low in the sky at that point in the day that the underwater lighting was rather dismal, even with the flash on my camera.

So on the penultimate day of my atoll adventure, I scoffed when the divemaster waved excitedly at me and showed the hand signal for shark.  I nodded at him, shrugging it off as more good-natured teasing.  He continued to wave me over in a very perturbed fashion.  I shuddered at what surprise lay in store, but dutifully swam in his direction.  All of a sudden, in a flash of sand and a flip of grey, a nurse shark flounced off, clearly annoyed at having his afternoon nap disturbed.  If it's possible to smile through your reg, I certainly did that day.  Sadly, I wasn't quick enough for photos.

The other remarkable diving event of this week was a big loggerhead turtle swimming near our group who headed up to the surface for air at the same time we did - very cool to watch.