Underwater photos

[TDDA]

Beautiful pics!!  Thanks for sharing!

BTW - The Moray isn't really "poisonous", but it does have a mouthful of really nasty bacteria which absolutely WILL get infected if you tangle with one of those badboys!  I've seen some monster morays too, as big around as your thigh!  I saw one so big one day I didn't even think it was real...until it moved.  I was like...WHOA!!  They're grouchy bastards too!

Dove with lots and lots of sharks, many times.  Never worried about them too much, except some of those big hammerheads; they were pretty crusty bastards too.  The only fish that I ever really worried about were the Barracuda's, and they were all over in the Andaman.  They'd come out of nowhere like a missile and hit you right in the face!  I knew 4-5 people that had that happen to them.  Smashed the tempered glass on one guy's mask even!  Tinting the glass wouldn't help either, but they make coatings now for it.

(For those unfamiliar - Barracuda's see the flash of reflected sunlight off a diver's mask and they go after it like prey, just like fish go after a fishing lure...except it's your FACE!  Most divers will get hit shortly after they jump in the water.  And Barracuda's look like a bullet traveling underwater they're so damn fast, just a blur, and then BAM!!)

ETA - Got a couple good stories about those guys too!  LOL!

Yeah I forget to say that every time! Just like with some reptiles like the comodo dragon. And the worst is, these little pointy suckers go right through 7mm Neopren. The pressure will inject the infectious saliva even deeper into the skin. They won't bite instantly though, at least those in the Red Sea, one scared the ghost out of me once coming right at me. Yes I have seen some huge ones too and also videos chasing one while snorkeling. When I say chasing I mean, spot, and dive down and get closer from behind. Not like harrasing them.

Sharks it seems I used up all my luck with the whale shark that early. I had like 50 dives at that time, 12 of those were training dives in pools and fresh water lakes. I saw silouette of a hammer head shark once. I was distracted by a little snail on a coral rock and heard a clicker, looked around and saw it it vanishing into the deep blue.

I saw barracuda at "Shark Reef" in Ras Mohammed. It's kind of creepy when they ley eye on you and move around you, too.. That was spooky, because I was not sure about it's intention because I heard nasty things about them. It was staying just under the surface and was hard to see because of the waves reflection. A pusher fish once went after me and bit into my right fin! It must have had babies nearby and extra annoyed by me. I felt the snap up to my ankles, the impact. They can bite of coral pieces with their beaks even.

Once saw a giant dusky grouper. You have them in Florida too! At first I thought it's a bull shark but then it came up going for a turtle I was watching. It opened the mouth but aborted, a child would easy fit into it. I bet one could ride these like horses underwater if you had means to hold on :D. Yeahaaa. I wouldn't want to have them bite me though. I read on wikipedia when I went for the english name, that they can get up tp 450kg in weight.