After the shark episode we continued. Spectacular experience if you take into account what we saw:
Peacock Rockcod
Sea Star
Spotted Ragged Tooth Shark
Crown Squirrelfish
Dead Mans Fingers (Soft Coral)
Natal Catfish (Venomous)
Cute little Slug
Ladder Wrasse
Cluster Finger Coral
Young Sea Turtle
Black Cheek Moray Eel
Lobster
There was also a HUMONGOUS Potato Bass, but the pictures didnt come out clearly enough.
All the time while diving, the songs of the whales and dolphins echoed through the waters, but they kept their distance (for the time being). On our ascend they decided to show themselves in spectacular splendor. A pod of roughly 30 50 dolphins came over us as and started circling and darting through the crowd of divers. As they moved we followed them (carefully keeping an eye on our depth and air of cause). I have never experienced something like this. One of the guys had a camcorder and captured it all on DvD for us. When I get an application that can rip it movie file Ill be sure to post the link for you to see.
Eventually we had to surface and the skipper pointed out that the Manta Rays had decided to pay us a visit too. I jumped in with snorkel gear before they could extend the invite J I saw 2 Mantas, a mother and her baby, and what I would like to think as the father
The mother was about 1,5m from tip to tip and the little baby (not more than 30cm) floating close to her. She moved with grace and ease through the water and the little baby stayed centre with her movement the whole time. The shark-chasing-daredevil diver pulled a true redneck tri trying to jump onto the rays from the boat. When I confronted him on this, his response was ITs my boat You can swim back if you want. Needless to say it was my last dive them.
The rest of my dives was with Quo Vadis. The respect these people have for the sea as well as their divers are not only heartwarming, but also inspiring. It was our second dive on Saturday. The Natal Sharks board is doing a project with a group of Black tipped Reef sharks (new to the area). They feed these sharks ion a weekly basis and study them. Since Jean has a good relationship with the sharks board, they allowed us to snorkel a few meters away from the feeding spot. WHAT A TRIP !!!!
Being in the water only meters away of the feeding sharks, watching them dart with the speed of light for the food, their grace, their elegance, their awesome ability and presence. We floated about for about an hour. Around 30 sharks about, Black tips, Ragged tooth and Tiger sharks. I will never forget that