Qnape
Contributor
We had an extremely unusual experience last week while diving in the marine park at Little Cayman. I am not certain if this is the correct place to post this but it seemed appropriate, as others may benefit from the lesson.
I was diving with my daughter at Jackson's Wall, part of the Bloody Bay Wall on Friday, 8/27. The dive plan was for a maximum of 60' for 60 minutes. This was the second dive of the morning, with the first dive a deep one to 110', at Coconut Walk. For the second dive we were joined with a third buddy from the dive boat. The plan was to dive a prescribed route on our own as a team of three while the DM in the water led others along the same route, and still other divers proceeded in pairs. All three divers in our buddy team were Rescue Certified, with my daughter and I having completed the course approximately a month ago.
We had completed the deeper portion of the planned route, and were heading back towards the boat at about 35' to 40', at 42 minutes into the dive when the unexpected occurred.
We had seen fairly large numbers of Nassau groupers throughout our dives in Little Cayman. They are clearly used to the presence of divers and will frequently bump and rub up against you, sometimes swimming right in front of your camera as you try to shoot whatever. Often they swim against your legs just out of sight, or directly under you. They will often accompany you wherever you swim, until you cross their territorial boundary and they back away. We certainly had not seen nor expected aggressive behavior from them. We had observed other divers rubbing them under their chins, although I certainly felt no desire to do that nor observed my daughter doing it at any time. She later told me she had not.
A large tiger-striped Nassau grouper started swimming alongside my daughter, and she motioned for me to photograph her. After taking a moment or 2 to set my camera, I took a photo. Something did not seem right, and I looked up as I heard a scream in the water. The grouper was actively bumping / biting at my daughter's head, and, as she raised her arm to block, at her hand and arm as well. Her mask was pulled off, and as I approached she was putting it back on and clearing while still defending herself and screaming into her regulator. Very, very, scary. I approached from one side and got between the grouper and my daughter; it continued to dart rapidly towards her and I blocked it with my camera arm; then pushed it with both hands to drive it away. Our third buddy approached from the other side and we sandwiched my daughter between us. She was scared and breathing very hard, but did not bolt for the surface, so we both motioned for her to calm down, stayed very close and continued to guard against the grouper, who backed off as we led my daughter away - one at each elbow.
After swimming perhaps 50' away my daughter regained some composure and shrank away from our hold - there were now several divers around at least 6 of which had seen or heard part or all of the situation. She motioned to me for her safety stop, and we swam to the boat and ended the dive.
She needed treatment of minor cuts on her palm at the base of her thumb, on her arm, and a bit more seriously on the side of her head. Fortunately, I carry a kit and treated her with a saline rinse supplied by the boat, and neosporin with pain relief from my bag. She was badly shaken, and needed a few minutes to regain her composure completely.
She did make the third dive of the day that afternoon, and stayed a bit closer to me than she otherwise might have. That dive was pleasant and without incident, as were the last dives of our trip the following day. On our final dive she swam up to me and motioned for me to allow her to write something on my wrist slate - she wrote "a grouper just chased me - he Knew!!" We shared a big smile and laugh underwater and finished our last dive. I will post a trip report and some more photos elsewhere on a different thread after I have a chance to review all the photos.
On the last night we briefly reviewed some of the 700 photos I took during our 20 dives. We were surprised to find the photo I took just before realizing something was wrong. It shows the beginning of the attack, with my daughter's mask strap in front of her head as she is trying to replace it and the grouper above and behind her in a swift turn - so not clearly shown. The look of fear is easy to see in her face. We are fortunate that the situation resolved safely, and certain that our training gave us the skills to deal successfully with the unexpected. I have posted the photo with my daughter's permission.
I firmly believe it is not wise to interact freely with even the most persistant and friendly seeming grouper or other fish / animal
. I am not necessarily suggesting that such behavior was the cause of this incident, and throw that up for discussion. I welcome your comments / questions.
Dive Safely!
I was diving with my daughter at Jackson's Wall, part of the Bloody Bay Wall on Friday, 8/27. The dive plan was for a maximum of 60' for 60 minutes. This was the second dive of the morning, with the first dive a deep one to 110', at Coconut Walk. For the second dive we were joined with a third buddy from the dive boat. The plan was to dive a prescribed route on our own as a team of three while the DM in the water led others along the same route, and still other divers proceeded in pairs. All three divers in our buddy team were Rescue Certified, with my daughter and I having completed the course approximately a month ago.
We had completed the deeper portion of the planned route, and were heading back towards the boat at about 35' to 40', at 42 minutes into the dive when the unexpected occurred.
We had seen fairly large numbers of Nassau groupers throughout our dives in Little Cayman. They are clearly used to the presence of divers and will frequently bump and rub up against you, sometimes swimming right in front of your camera as you try to shoot whatever. Often they swim against your legs just out of sight, or directly under you. They will often accompany you wherever you swim, until you cross their territorial boundary and they back away. We certainly had not seen nor expected aggressive behavior from them. We had observed other divers rubbing them under their chins, although I certainly felt no desire to do that nor observed my daughter doing it at any time. She later told me she had not.
A large tiger-striped Nassau grouper started swimming alongside my daughter, and she motioned for me to photograph her. After taking a moment or 2 to set my camera, I took a photo. Something did not seem right, and I looked up as I heard a scream in the water. The grouper was actively bumping / biting at my daughter's head, and, as she raised her arm to block, at her hand and arm as well. Her mask was pulled off, and as I approached she was putting it back on and clearing while still defending herself and screaming into her regulator. Very, very, scary. I approached from one side and got between the grouper and my daughter; it continued to dart rapidly towards her and I blocked it with my camera arm; then pushed it with both hands to drive it away. Our third buddy approached from the other side and we sandwiched my daughter between us. She was scared and breathing very hard, but did not bolt for the surface, so we both motioned for her to calm down, stayed very close and continued to guard against the grouper, who backed off as we led my daughter away - one at each elbow.
After swimming perhaps 50' away my daughter regained some composure and shrank away from our hold - there were now several divers around at least 6 of which had seen or heard part or all of the situation. She motioned to me for her safety stop, and we swam to the boat and ended the dive.
She needed treatment of minor cuts on her palm at the base of her thumb, on her arm, and a bit more seriously on the side of her head. Fortunately, I carry a kit and treated her with a saline rinse supplied by the boat, and neosporin with pain relief from my bag. She was badly shaken, and needed a few minutes to regain her composure completely.
She did make the third dive of the day that afternoon, and stayed a bit closer to me than she otherwise might have. That dive was pleasant and without incident, as were the last dives of our trip the following day. On our final dive she swam up to me and motioned for me to allow her to write something on my wrist slate - she wrote "a grouper just chased me - he Knew!!" We shared a big smile and laugh underwater and finished our last dive. I will post a trip report and some more photos elsewhere on a different thread after I have a chance to review all the photos.
On the last night we briefly reviewed some of the 700 photos I took during our 20 dives. We were surprised to find the photo I took just before realizing something was wrong. It shows the beginning of the attack, with my daughter's mask strap in front of her head as she is trying to replace it and the grouper above and behind her in a swift turn - so not clearly shown. The look of fear is easy to see in her face. We are fortunate that the situation resolved safely, and certain that our training gave us the skills to deal successfully with the unexpected. I have posted the photo with my daughter's permission.
I firmly believe it is not wise to interact freely with even the most persistant and friendly seeming grouper or other fish / animal
. I am not necessarily suggesting that such behavior was the cause of this incident, and throw that up for discussion. I welcome your comments / questions. Dive Safely!
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
