Animal Encounters

[KeithG]

Last year while reef diving, there was a Remora that wanted to keep attaching to my buddy and I. It wouldn't leave us from the moment it saw us. We would shoe it away, it would just playfully dodge and keep trying to swim up to our legs or fins, etc.

I don't even want to know how bad that would hurt if that little guy latched on.

No pain at all. None. Zip. Zero. Not a sausage.

Remoras are fun. Especially if you can coax one to come back to the dive ladder of the boat. Then they become BIG FUN. They rank right up there after Pederson Cleaner shrimp and Damsel fish as my interactive sealife candidates (ok, please add octopus in there somewhere too).

I am not sure of the exact attachment mechanism, but there is no pain or discomfort at all, no lingering marks or scars. So not really worthy of a bar story. DAMN!

I wear a shorty and once was the host for a small remora on my bare leg for the last 20 minutes of a dive. The little sucker latched onto me before I even knew it were there, sneaky bugger! The dive guide laughed (lots of bubbles) and gave the loser sign as they pointed at me, so I was sure I was not in any immediate mortal danger. I dutifully ignored the remora and continued my dive with the freeloader attached to my leg. For the first few minutes I was constantly checking to make sure I was not being "leeched" to death. No faintness, no sign of blood letting. A quick underwater consultation with the DG revealed that the remora can be easily detached by lightly grasping their body just ahead of the tail and pushing forwards slightly. They detach easily and them immediately go into hunt mode. Look out dive buddy!

The grand entertainment portion came when we cut the dive short, headed back to the boat and then just hung around the dive ladder at 15 feet (yes I was thinking ahead...). A slight nudge released the remora who then targeted one of the incoming divers. Most of them blew their 500 psi limit right at the ladder. Lots o bubbles, lots o back peddling, laughter, underwater screeches and big smiley faces once people fingered it out. In general it seemed to target peoples chests, but could not latch onto the neoprene. So no harm done, no new hosts established.

Most recently I was in Jamaica snorkling on a corporate trip and a lone remora terrorized 30 snorkelers. It was a BIG ONE, about 12 inches long. I won a bravery award for sticking it out in the water. I was just trying to get some photos of it...