Underwater Voyeurism Part IV: Raiders of the lost Reef

For those of you reading this on Facebook notes, the original blog-post with pictures, hyperlinks and hyper-media, can be found at:

www.henrickinoman.blogspot.com


In honor of everyone's upcoming departure, and (some of our) permanent leaving of this place, myself and a few friends decided to go out snorkeling one last time. We went out yesterday morning (Thurs, is our Sat. The Arabic weekend is Thurs. and Fri.) from Al Suadi beach resort (about 45 min. drive from my flat). Myself, uncle Don, and George set off for Al Suadi at 7:00 am.

It was a nice morning. At the beach club, we bumped into another two co-workers, who were also planning a 'last hoorah'. We got on the boat, and took the 45 min. boat-ride out to the usual snorkeling site, 'June Island'.

The water was nice; the temperature was pleasant. The reef itself was very quite though. It was not teeming with a multitude of various species of aquatic life as it normally is. It was, quite tame, actually. There were tons of surgeon fish, Arabic reef fish, trigger fish and the like. There was a definite lack of the more exotic, rare, and dangerous variety of marine life that's usually present. The neighborhood was quiet that day. Oh well, it was indeed beautiful. The coral looked like an underwater forest, and many of the organic structures can be quite impressive, because of there size and construction. No matter, we were happy anyway.

So after having a bit of a go at this site, the boat's driver was going to take us to another place, where he said there would be turtles, sharks and such. I was actually quite sceptical. I mean, the place was quite. It could be the water temperature, the time of year etc. I didn't believe we were going to see much that day. It didn't matter, it was very pretty.

We got to the second site a small group of mini-Islands, about 700 meters from where we were at June Island. It was also quite quiet. We did however see a sea-turtle float by in the water while we were still on the boat. That was quite pleasant. We got in, and swam around. We spotted a juvenile honey-comb Moray eel, always very cool. The larger group of snorkelers spread out around the greater vicinity of the site. Within minutes my friend George swam back. "Dude I just saw three Black-tip reef sharks and some other bigger shark (turned out later to be a white/grayitp shark). One of them circled me!" That was it! Everyone headed off in the direction he just came from. He got back on the boat, and stayed there for a bit, while we all went off in search of finned-danger!

I don't know if you've ever been in the same body of water with a shark. If you had and didn't know about it, you would probably not want to know. I have seen sharks here before, but always on the horizon of your vision. They usually stay out of the way of divers and snorkelers. Preferring to be stay on the side of caution. Today, this was not the case! There were three of them, two that swam together, and one that was solo. They were each between 1 1/2-2 meters long (which is big for reef sharks, but these are protected waters, so there's lots to eat, and no one tries to catch them). I will say this about the experience, I have never seen these creatures so at ease with our presence. It was very disconcerting how comfortable they were with us, and how close to us they were swimming.

The first thing I will say on this matter, is that being in the water with Sharks, no matter what species, or what size is scary! The most notable thing you realize when watching them is how perfect they are in there environment. How majestic, how graceful. One big, toned, muscle slicing through the water with such power and grace. Their sleek lines, like that of a high-end sports car. I think this is what a submarine designed by Ferrari would look like! You are also acutely aware of how not suited to this environment you are. You can't help but feel vulnerable after watching these things glide effortlessly through the reef, cruising the coral. Every time they passed near us (usually under us, which is terrifying in itself), I would get a rush of fear and adrenaline. We were in the water with them for maybe 45 min-1hour. Going out to where they were, swimming back to the boat, telling others what we just saw, and then returning. It was a hell of an experience! I never want to be that close to a carnivorous underwater predator again! But, I must say, this was the perfect note to 'go out on'. The perfect end to a great season of snorkeling.

Fish On!