Snorkeling with a companion
30 March 2011
Steve
As I swam along, I noticed a 10 Inch yellow and brown striped fish with a unusual flat head following me. I pointed it out to Sylvain who recognized it as a whitefin sharksucker. At first I was concerned as to the whereabouts of the shark that the fish had previously been attached too, but soon I was preoccupied with a fish that had taken me as it’s companion. It would swim under my chest and try to attach itself to my shirt. With my goggles on I would lose track of it because of the tunnel vision and would think the fish was gone, but then it would bump up against my chest trying to attach itself to me or would snatch the loose skin from my ear lobes cased by a recent sunburn. It made it hard to concentrate on the the spear fishing.
I spot a good size snapper (fish) swimming in and out from under a ledge about 20 feet down. My companion and I dove through hundreds of colorful feeder fish as we descended toward the ledge. On the way down I spot an eagle ray drifting by out of the corner of my eye.. As we approach the ledge the the snapper makes its swing out from under the ledge and I take my shot. Its a miss. As I head for the surface, my companion takes another bite at my ear. It’s more about the journey than the snapper. I hope my companion doesn't swim up the leg of my bathing!