Big eel in roatan

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abdelhub

Registered
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Location
puget sound
# of dives
500 - 999
For those of you that have dove on the aguila in Roatan there is a friendly "large" eel on the wreck....scared the heck out of me but very cool to see...


http://youtu.be/i5gwawPpswI
I have and HD copy somewhere....shot with a gopro3...Im diving in a full face guardian so you can hear me giggling....

Mike
 
Beautiful animal and very nice footage; neat interaction.

It's easy to not credit just how large it is, until you compare it to somebodies leg.

My concern is that people feeding morays (not saying any of you did) will lead to this sort of thing happening to divers who don't have an idea how to handle it, and suddenly see a very large green moray with big teeth coming right at them, or even just suddenly in their personal space.

I hope I'd handle it appropriately, but it would spook me. Like the time I looked back & a modest barracuda was coming up behind me & off to the side a bit; it was like 'Uh, Buddy, what do you want?'

Richard.
 
That's what happens when people "befriend" and feed a resident eel on a popular site. Sooner or later it may bite someone mistakenly and it will be put down by the local DM's. I hate seeing people stroke and feed these beautiful eels.
 
I don't mean to be a wet blanket on a beautiful video and obviously a very fun time. I imagine it this way:

1.) Someday I'm diving and a big green like that swims right up to me, catching me by surprise. I hope that I could stop, think, act rather than freak out. Because I've spent time reading posts on ScubaBoard, and have seen some of these guys fairly close resting on the bottom on dives, I know it probably won't tear into me, unless I grasp or strike it, and that if I can just hold still, it might poke around a bit, but either leave or let me swim away.

2.) My wife, who is afraid of snakes (we know eels are fish, not snakes) and more skittish than I am, a casual vacation diver who doesn't spend time on ScubaBoard and has, oh, maybe 40 life time dives, give or take? Let's say she feels someone nudge her arm or leg, glances over and there's a 6 foot big green moray looking at her, teeth in plain site?

The potential to panic and crash into something, or bolt for the surface without exhaling, is there. So is the potential to try to violently shove the eel away, or kick it. If the eel retaliates...

Richard.

P.S.: Mike, I'm glad you got your footage. It's beautiful and if I'd been there I'd have treasured that memory for life.
 
I'm not sure if the dive outfits in the area feed the critters out there. It is very possible. The DM just prior to the dive mentioned the eel and actually had a name for him (the eel). I assume that the eel has seen divers for many years and is curious about them. That said it is still a wild creature and may bite someone in the future. I put that down as a possible hazard in this activity. Diving here in puget sound we have quite a few critters here and seeing them suddenly can be alarming. (six gills-very rare, seals, sea lions, giant pacific octopus)

Be safe out there.
 
I have done that dive 3 times. Each time the eel comes out for a visit. I have not see anyone feed him but I suppose someone could be doing so.

It is a big eel, on one dive the eel came out from his hole under the wreck and swam right between my legs. Scared me some but it was a great encounter. Nice video of it.
 
For those of you that have dove on the aguila in Roatan there is a friendly "large" eel on the wreck....scared the heck out of me but very cool to see...


swimming with a big eel - YouTube
I have and HD copy somewhere....shot with a gopro3...Im diving in a full face guardian so you can hear me giggling....

Mike

Nice video. Thanks. What model go pro did you use and did you have a filter?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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