Now back to our regularly scheduled blog. Brook Taylor, author of, Undone, is as good at telling fish stories as she is writing about fate and friendship. Check out her story of girl meets fish!
Brooke: I love scuba diving, but am scared of fish--especially big and ugly fish. This is usually not a big problem for me as most fish stay out of the way. Then I went diving in Vanuatu, an island in the South Pacific where there is an amazing wreck dive of the S.S. President Coolidge. The Hottie Diver Boys teased me the entire time about “Boris” a Goliath grouper that was known to hang out at the site. They talked a big game about this fish. He’s 200kg they said. A 500lb fish? Yeah, right! That was a good one. I kept my eye out though, and the entire dive I didn’t see any fish that was bigger than my hand. Those crazy dive boys! At the end of the dive we stopped at an underwater sandy ledge to decompress, and because of the current there was this nice little metal bar installed where you could hold on and not be pulled off the ledge. I’m the last one there, so I’m right at the drop off and am hanging onto the bar and trying to get situated and comfortable when out of the corner of my eye I see something. A 500lb fish you ask? No. The dive boy pulling something big and bloody out of his dive sack. He waved it around, turning the water red. I got a little sick to my stomach. And then the water around me changed, turned darker, shadowed. I swallowed and turned as best I could. There it was—as big as a Volkswagen Bug. The largest, ugliest fish I’d ever seen coming right at me. His slimy grey lips parted, his jaw hinged open. I could easily just get sucked inside and be swallowed whole. I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped down on the bar. He was not going to take me! As he got closer, I could feel him brush against me. He was more like two Volkswagen Bugs and then finally his tail. It was almost over. He was going to pass right by me. I was going to live. And then Wham! His tail slapped me hard, ripping my grip from the bar and send me flailing off the ledge. The Hottie Dive Boys had a good laugh about that.
Boris!
5 comments:
I am amazed at how big groupers can get! They are super freaky.
I figured the guys were just messing with me. They liked to do that kind of stuff--which was fine with me because they were Australian dive boys and super hot. I was not prepared to meet Boris face to tail as it were.
Sadly he's not returned to the dive site in awhile--since 2003 I think.
Thanks for the link! :)
OMG! Is that really the freakin' fish? Eek.
Ah, Boris! After the morning dive, I'd move away from the Coral Garden and wait - Boris would come over for some gloveless gentle touching and stroking under the chin, no food necessary. Boris disappeared in 2003, and I miss the big lug - my strangest dive buddy!
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