When Shilpin writes ‘very very clear,’ we know it’s going to be very very clear. I couldn’t suppress my excitement as I was wearing my fins and could see the sand so clearly! On the way up, my mind was still not able to grasp why it was being able to see the bottom. I had gotten too used to seeing a murky nothingness all through until you almost bumped into a pillar or a jellyfish.
There was a bottle floating tied to a few branches. I searched into it and there were two brown fish camouflaging inside it. I went ahead as Ameya was waiting. I don’t know why he insisted on staying close when it was so clear, calm and there were no jellyfish in sight.
On the way up I was so surprised when the barge was in full view from the surface (at least what is remaining of it, which is the tip). There were a lot of Abudefduf bengalensis around it, that are not usually seen around the pier. Further up there was another piece of the barge and to my surprise there was a species of blue triggerfish! 6 to 7 of them were lingering there and they didn’t shy away when we got closer. I have never seen these ones before, they have probably migrated from somewhere.
When I went in between the pillars and saw my left (center portion of pier) I couldn’t believe my eyes. In the shadowy bottom I saw long shadows. Barracuda! I dived and swam along the pillars, parallel to them. I could see them so clearly and they didn’t seem to get away. On the contrary they seem to follow you but maintain just enough distance as though they’re keeping watch over their territory. Sometimes 2-3 of them even came and swam under me.The experience was spectacular, like none I’ve had before. I went to the center portion of the pier where they all lingered and from above, I counted 8 of them.
We went to the ring and inspected the area. There were a lot of juvenile moray eels popping their heads out of the holes. I counted 5 in total. At the blocks near the pillars there were groupers hiding. There was black and white one (of which the white was pretty prominent, not a brownish white). Later we found groupers at the blocks near the southern pillars too. Normally during the year, I haven’t seen any groupers. I’m not sure whether they’re actually not there or they’re hard to spot simply because it’s murky. The groupers were extremely shy and as soon as they noticed us coming they either backed away or scurried behind the blocks.
When we went to the rings further east, we found a ghost net hanging from the tip of the metal rod, extending across to the internal pillars. Shocked, I followed it and found that it wrapped around several of the outer pillars. There was an Abudefduf vaigiensis stuck in it and some older fish that were rotting and losing colour. It saddened me a lot but I didn’t have a knife and Ameya had lost his. So we didn’t touch the nets.
When we were diving near the eastern pillars, we noticed that the barracuda were swimming below here too. They had followed us! What a feeling it is to see these 0.8-1m big fish have kept an eye on you, were curious about you and have followed you for so long! It was a little chilly and exciting at the same time.
I found a piece of cement, near the central pillars and when I went near it to see if anything was under it, I found a honeycomb moray eel! It was a big one. It probably was the one that we had seen last year. We hadn’t found that one again though maybe because the water hadn’t cleared up and the eel kept changing its spot. But here it was, popping out its head from underneath the block, accompanied by another adult eel.
It was a pity that the battery of SJ Cam died in no time at all on such a good day. We got a few videos but we didn’t get to take the honeycomb moray that day.
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