As a dive site, Littlehails laird has an abundance of marine life. There were quite few grunts of various species. But while it is know for a variety of grunts we were fortunate to see a turtle swim through the site within minutes of getting to the bottom. Like most hawksbill turtles he reminded me of a grumpy old man. In my mind I could hear him saying: ‘oh bother another diver trying to follow me, quick I will show him I can out swim him in a matter of moments.” And, of course he was right, but not before I shot about a thirty second video climp of him swimming over the reef.
Moments later, a gray reef shark swam by as if to say welcome to the reef. I did not manage to get the video light on before he had disappeared over the reef. It must be nice to go up in down in the water column without worrying if you have exceeded a maximum ascent rate. In something under 10 seconds he had gone up and back down 30 feet in the water column. It must be nice to be able to do that. Divers are limited to 30 feet up in a minute. So there is no way of safely trying to follow a shark, we can just wait for them to make another pass. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but the anticipation is what makes it fun– at least for me. I’m usually thinking, is there a way to position my self so that if the shark or turtle or other wildlife that has just passed me will come back just to see me, at least out of curiousity.
Anyone who has been around animals for long probably realizes that it is just when we think that we can predict what any particular animal will do that they surprise us. Not long ago when I was in the Bahamas, I was watching a large group of grey sharks swimming in amongst our dive group. After watching the sharks circle and swim through our group for about 10 minutes, I had one shark zig towards me rather unexpectedly. I managed to get the camera in position and shoot but also managed to get my fin in the picture. Now the shark was maybe only a foot a way from my fin, but because he had changed course rather suddenly to get to where I saw him, it was unexpected, unsettling and had me thinking: Did I leave bait in my pocket? Well I hadn’t, but it was the thought that ran through my mind.
Most of the time the surprise adds an element of freshness to the encounter. Sometimes the event makes us laugh or at least smile. Sometimes things get a little to close for comfort. And, yet it is in those moments of the unexpected that we see the one thing that we often are looking for — it is the untamed aspect of how animals behave. For me it’s those moments that I realize I may never see that particular behaviour replicated in my lifetime. But, at least for me it is the adventure and the hope that one of these great moments will re-appear that keeps me coming back.
Coming at you
I hope 2016 brings you many moments of spectacular animal behaviour.
