The following day we were taken to the other side of the pass, a little later in the day, to see the Grouper getting ready to mate. This involves much showing off and fighting by the males who further compete on who has built the most attractive nest. To the human eye the nests look like shallow bowls in the sand however no doubt Mrs Grouper can be more discerning and has certain exacting standards.
There is a lot of clobber to sort out before you get anywhere near the water. Note that there are no photographs of either of us fighting our way into our wetsuits. This would be as painful to watch as it is to execute.
We had arranged for the husband of our lovely divemaster, Melo, to come and take some photographs. He had a professional diving camera rig and so was able to capture the colours of the coral much more successfully than we ever could. Oh, and a passing shark overhead. Yes, that is real. Carol, trying hard not to disturb the very well disguised Grouper looking straight at the camera in the middle of the picture near the bottom…… |
Our friend Harry (Malua) made the whole thing even more fun by paddling out in his sea kayak and then snorkelling overhead taking pictures and videos of us from above.
|
Towards the end of the dive Vincent launches the ‘safety sausage’ that shows anyone on the surface that there are divers below. |
Carol, Mike and Vincent (with his back to Harry’s camera). One last attempt by Vincent to get a half decent photograph of both of us……………………. |
|
Back on the surface you wrestle your way out of the kit and back on to the dive boat……..
……………… then back to the dive shop to sort out all the clobber again. |
Vincent and his amazing underwater camera…………………..
