I descended slowly with Maya as she was underweighted due to which she had some trouble descending. Later Amrita came back up to help and we went down together.
This time I saw 4 Aluterus scriptus at around 6m near the line! They were pecking at a single jellyfish from all 4 sides forming a cross. They were all around 30cm big.
The vis at the surface was worse due to tiny particles in the water but the vis at the bottom was a lot better than the previous days (8-10m). As soon as we came down Amrita’s 1st stage started to bubble. She immediately went to the instructor who was nearby to see what’s wrong and if it could be fixed underwater although he didn’t understand and pointed to the boat. Amrita decided to go back up and change her tank as the pressure was already 60 bars. She asked us to stay close and ascended.
Maya spotted a shrimpgoby with a shrimp taking sand out of its hole. They were one of the most adorable things I ever saw. As I approached to film it though, the shrimp backed off into its hole and the goby also tensed up. I remained prone on the sand patiently with the camera. Slowly the two relaxed and the shrimp continued with its work.
From one of the openings among the debris I could see a portion of the big honeycomb moray and while I was trying to film the partially visible body, the massive head loomed out from the hole on the other end of its den. I looked at it and filmed it for a while taking circles around it and so did Amrita.
We went to the beer garden and then to the parking lot. While I was taking rounds near the parking lot, Amrita signaled to come. Maya and Amrita had found a ghost net stuck into the metal structure. There were many Odonus niger and another brown species of triggerfish stuck in it. I took out my knife and began cutting the nets while Amrita tore with her hands. As for the triggerfish, Maya and Amrita held the fish for me while I carefully cut off the strings. We released 5 to 6 of them.
While releasing one of them alone as the other two were busy removing the nets but I was holding the camera in one hand so it was pretty difficult. I ended up cutting my finger slightly. I didn’t pay much attention to it but all of a sudden I was taken aback by a blackish green gash where I got the cut. Immediately I realised that it was just blood that appeared green due to the absorption of colour and I was relieved.
We wanted to release one last fish but Maya was at 60 bars so we decided to ascend and release it at the stop.
As planned we released the triggerfish at the stop and then ascended.
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