matt_unique
Guest
It is amazing to me the number of "firsts" we can experience in this sport even after several years.
I was diving Paddock Rock solo this evening. Got there after work about an hour before sunset. I had a buddy topside of course and I planned for a nice easy 45 min dive. The dive was fantastic - seas were calm, nice topography as we know, tons of lobster (one really large one - carapace the size of a football), and all kinds of fish including Cunner and Cod.
So I make my way up to the base of the mooring at 20' for a safety stop after a nice 40min dive and to hang out with the curious Cunner - forever known to me going forward as "Massachusetts Piranhas". Sometimes Cunner can be very curious and will nip at your mask lens. This was the case tonight as well. Except I had several Cunner nipping at my mask at once. So as I sometimes do to watch a group of fish I broke open a Green Sea Urchin. Fish frenzy like you see on a warm water trip. A few minutes later the Cunner return to nip my mask once again. This larger Cunner comes in close - which up to this point I have always enjoyed - and slowly floats a bit to the left of my mask. There were others around the front of my mask. All of a sudden this particular Cunner moves in and bites down HARD on my lower lip on the left side of my regulator! This thing bit down and was wiggling hard to get a good chunk of meat. I immediately swatted the thing away and covered my lip for fear of bleeding and perhaps attracting other "piranhas" for a bite. I had spent 5 minutes at this depth after an NDL dive so I immediately ascended.
When I surfaced my buddy immediately noticed I had blood running down my chin! This little b*stard broke the skin good and it was a while before I stopped the bleeding. My buddy found great humor in this and took a picture before I even got out of the water. Of course I see the humor in this as well but I just could not believe it. I have enjoyed close encounters with Cunner for years but this was a first for them to try to take a bite.
Lesson learned - protect your lips if you want to have close encounters with "Massachusetts Piranha".
--Matt
I was diving Paddock Rock solo this evening. Got there after work about an hour before sunset. I had a buddy topside of course and I planned for a nice easy 45 min dive. The dive was fantastic - seas were calm, nice topography as we know, tons of lobster (one really large one - carapace the size of a football), and all kinds of fish including Cunner and Cod.
So I make my way up to the base of the mooring at 20' for a safety stop after a nice 40min dive and to hang out with the curious Cunner - forever known to me going forward as "Massachusetts Piranhas". Sometimes Cunner can be very curious and will nip at your mask lens. This was the case tonight as well. Except I had several Cunner nipping at my mask at once. So as I sometimes do to watch a group of fish I broke open a Green Sea Urchin. Fish frenzy like you see on a warm water trip. A few minutes later the Cunner return to nip my mask once again. This larger Cunner comes in close - which up to this point I have always enjoyed - and slowly floats a bit to the left of my mask. There were others around the front of my mask. All of a sudden this particular Cunner moves in and bites down HARD on my lower lip on the left side of my regulator! This thing bit down and was wiggling hard to get a good chunk of meat. I immediately swatted the thing away and covered my lip for fear of bleeding and perhaps attracting other "piranhas" for a bite. I had spent 5 minutes at this depth after an NDL dive so I immediately ascended.
When I surfaced my buddy immediately noticed I had blood running down my chin! This little b*stard broke the skin good and it was a while before I stopped the bleeding. My buddy found great humor in this and took a picture before I even got out of the water. Of course I see the humor in this as well but I just could not believe it. I have enjoyed close encounters with Cunner for years but this was a first for them to try to take a bite.
Lesson learned - protect your lips if you want to have close encounters with "Massachusetts Piranha".
--Matt
