Busy, busy, busy!

Wednesday was a public holiday here (ANZAC Day; similar to Veterans' Day in the US) so the boat was busier than normal this week.  I went out on lots of dives and got to see some really great things, especially in the last couple of days.

On Weds, the wind was really strong and on our first dive, there was a rip current on the surface.  We dropped into about 60 feet of water and started swimming headfirst into the current, which was still quite strong at that depth.  I ended up getting pulled away from the group since I was carrying the line to our dive flag floating on the surface.  I waited for a few minutes to see if they might swim back in my direction, then prepared to ascend and return to the boat.    I turned around just in time to see a huge manta ray* gliding gracefully past me!!!  Surprise!    I was so thrilled that I didn't even mind missing the rest of the dive, especially since the rest of the group didn't get lucky enough to see mantas.  This one had three sharksucker remoras under it, two attached and one just swimming along.  The free-swimming fish ventured closer to me and started giving me the eye.  I got the feeling that he had heard about me from his cousins in Belize.**

Remoras:  lazy little bastards.

*For those of you who don't dive, mantas (and whale sharks) are one of the most exciting, elusive things you can hope to find underwater.  Mantas can grow up to 20+ feet across and do not sting or bite.  Click here for more info & pics!
**Backstory here