i've done a few more dives since my last post, including today, even though i had planned on spending the day packing and taking care of errands and laundry. but john knocked on my door at 9am and said we're going back to see the sharks, and that he brought an extra dive watch for me, so how could i say no?
we also did a nite dive a couple days ago which was spectacular, so much stuff comes alive in the dark. the corals were feeding, lobsters and crabs were on the march, and the really giant fish are hanging around. shrimp were guarding their territory, the conchs digging holes, there were clams, eels, slugs, sleeping turtles, so many weird things crawling around that i can't name. shine your lite in a hole and somethings staring out at you. i thought the grouper were huge but then i saw a parrot fish that must have been close to 4 feet long hiding in the rocks.
all you can see is what's in your dive lite beam and its a bit creepy wondering what might be swimming behind you. and then there are the blood worms swarming the lite, and the little fish picking them off. the nite dive was definitely a highlite on this trip.
i got to watch a little bit of shark week in the bars last nite with chuckie. they were only showing great whites so it didn't freak me out too much when i went back in the water today. we went back to shark & ray alley in between dives and i remembered to take my camera this time. actually i took my camera on all the dives today, its only rated to 30 feet but i took it to 90, the only thing that happened was that it shut down below 60 feet. and when it did work the pressure mashed in all of the buttons so i couldn't change settings or zoom. but it still seems to be working ok.
shark & ray alley was fun with a camera, the rays seemed to think i was holding food and they kept trying to eat it. they would glide up and at the last moment they'd move upward and open their slimy little mouths on their undersides and suck on the camera. it was really cute.
since its my last day john and i went on a final crocodile hunt on the south side of the island, we went north last time. we heard there was a place to see them just off the road so we jogged to the water tower, i was dying, that's the furthest i've run in weeks, and in the blazing afternoon sun, then took the side roads by the lagoon. we knew we were in the right place when we saw the 'do not feed the crocodiles' sign, and we saw one briefly before he went under. feeding the crocs is apparently a $1000 fine or 6 months jail time.
we didn't see any more so we kept walking, and nothing. stopped into a store for a drink and i asked where the best place to see them was and that was it, right where we were. disappointing. but the store had frozen chicken legs so we bought a couple pounds and went back. the frozen chicken felt so good on the back of my neck, it was worth it to buy regardless of whether a croc wanted it or not.
the plan was to thaw the chicken in the water near the edge so we could break it up, tie the individual legs on long pieces of vine, and go 'fishing'. we made sure to get off the main road so we wouldn't get caught. but as we're waiting for the chicken to thaw a monster croc swam up and sat there staring at us. he was inches from the chicken but he didn't seem to know exactly where it was since it was in a patch of sea grass. john picked up a stick, not a very long one, and pushed the chicken towards the big guy and instantly the croc lunges at it and swallows it whole. it was quite disturbing, actually, seeing how fast this thing moved. and so many teeth! i was a little nervous when he swam up but seeing him eat kinda terrified me.
i didn't really consider what would happen if we saw one since we had such bad luck the other day. the chicken wrappers and john's water bottle were sitting where we left them on the ground a few feet from the water and the croc could smell it. slowly he started climbing out of the water to investigate and that's when we got to see all his claws. and its instantly way more terrifying than when he was just sitting in the water. his eyes were tracking every move we made and if we walked to one side he'd shift his body to point at us. no wonder they don't want you to feed them.
croc moved to check out the chicken garbage and picked up john's water bottle instead, mashing it several times in his jaws before spitting it out. terror level spikes. for me, i'm not sure john was even a bit worried. all i could think about was that moments before i was holding partially defrosted chicken at the edge of the water trying to pry the pieces apart, and how much i probably smelled like his last dinner. i slowly began backing away.
i turned my camera on to video at this point, thinking that if the croc charged john we'd have some footage for his darwin award.
the video is interesting but pretty unusable since my hands were shaking so badly.
as we're walking home john asked what i would have thought if a croc that size had come swimming up to us in the kayak the other day. and now i have to admit that i didn't really think that plan through very well.
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| um... john? |
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