Poseidon's Parlour: Day 4 - Oh The Shark Has Pretty Teeth Dear

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Day 4 - Oh The Shark Has Pretty Teeth Dear – 21/11/2014

So today's dives were over three epic reefs:

Shark & Yolanda reef
Jackfish Alley
Gordon Reef

I won’t lie, at the start of the day I had lost heart. One turtle, a couple of moray eels but little else – other than the myriad of life one comes to spectacularly ignore. The Zookeeper and I wanted sharks, dolphins and or more turtles. And as I said, we’ve only had one turtle.

Shark & Yolanda passed with just more of the same stuff (although the cargo of cludgies spread over the sea bed when the Yolanda sank is impressive). Jackfish Alley had a nice short stretch of cavern penetration but little else. In essence, I was sweeping by some of the finest reefs on the planet and was bored. Then came Gordon Reef.

Getting swept along with the current I finally relented and said a prayer. Here is what I prayed:

“God, I’d really like to see a shark in a non-threatening, exciting, safe way. Can you do that?”

No sooner had I thought the prayer when I heard the Zookeeper’s furious rattle. I looked round thinking “Turtle”, only to see her signalling shark. My brain instantly thought “Turtle Shark?! Wait that’s not even a real shark.” Afterwards, the Zookeeper revealed she too had been "asking the Universe for something big".

Then I saw it. First, I saw the main body followed by white tipped fin. A white tip reef shark. After that the dive was over mentally . I couldn't think of anything else. Even as I went down for my night dive, I knew the day was complete.

I've attached both the Zookeeper and I's videos of the encounter. You'll notice I kept the Zookeeper and myself between the shark - my video is entirely rubbish, but when you see the Zookeepers bubbles you'll realise how strong the current was we were fighting. Smart thinking.