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

Restraining order, stat!!!

There was some high quality entertainment one afternoon during my stay at Off The Wall when a pair of remoras were stalking me like they were paparazzi!  At the end of my very first dive in Belize, a small remora followed us up to the boat and tried to nibble on a fellow diver's toes, so I was already understandably wary of these unusual fish.

In case you're not familiar with them, remoras have a large flat head with a sucker disc which they use to attach themselves to sharks, turtles, boats, divers...you name it.  Basically, they're lazy bastards looking for a free ride.  They feed off the larger animal's leftovers.  I've heard conflicting accounts as to how painful it can be to remove a remora that has attached to your skin.  I was not particularly interested in finding out firsthand!

I noticed that a pair of remoras seemed to be circling me.  I tried to swim in a different direction - they followed.  I tried ignoring them - they came closer.  I tried kicking water at them with my fins.  Evidently they interpret this as aggressive behavior and want to investigate even more closely.  Needless to say, I was on the verge of a minor (underwater!!!) panic attack at this point, when my divemaster swam up behind me & grabbed the back of my tank.  He motioned that I should calm down.  I frantically pointed at the mean scary fish that were chasing me and got a nice glare in return.  Somehow he managed to convey "just ignore them" with no words, and I tried to focus on keeping my eyes forward for the rest of the dive and just breathe.  

The damn things still ended up trailing me all the way to the boat, which I was promptly teased and laughed at by every single member of our group for the rest of the day.  Even my parents joined in on the mocking - my father suggested that 'it might be the tattoos,' and my mother concurred with 'watch out, they might try to eat them off you.'  Wishful thinking, Mom - I made it to the next island in one piece!!!