Day 68 - Wed - Reef ID Point dives

My first real dives today. I'm in Group 2, Reef ID, and these are 'point dives' meaning ID training, not survey. I was very nervous, diving with Freddie (new OW) and Emma (second in command). We had the small dive boat today, an ex-fishing boat, 'a long tail' (because the propellor is way off the back, just as I saw at the floating village). First we went left of Koh Koun into large swell. Emma decided it was too rough in the small boat so we headed to the right of the island. We jumped off the boat and put our BCDs on in the water. I was carrying 5-6 kilos of weight. 

Dive one, with Freddie and Emma, was very good. We saw 'Fusiliers' (small, blue fish, yellow tail, very numerous) and a Great Barracuda!  I must admit I only caught the movement of that one.

A Great Barracuda (google).

Google image.

We came back for new tanks. (I got in the boat ok!) and had a break. Met Alina, from Germany, our new roommate, here for three months. 

Dive two was just me and Emma as Freddie had a sore ear. And then there was one! This dive was even better. At one point there was good visibility over a sort of moonscape. We were still fairly shallow, only about 2-3m. Here we saw corals, including a purple gonipora, which is a hard coral that has retractable soft polyps. So we waved at it and it retracted them! (Soft corals don't retract fronds). 

A purple gonipora. Google.

Everything was very green and foggy, but I spotted a bight flash of yellow. What was it? A crisp packet! I got Emma's attention and she picked it up. After that she showed me fishing line that coral had grown over and we together removed a large brown fishing net, Emma showed me how to balance myself when tugging underwater.

Sergeant fish (black and white stripes, slender, about 5 cm), black and white eight-banded butterfly fish (similar but rounder shape) and a squirrelfish (red and black or white, slender, about 7cm, hides itself away in coral, hence the name). I also saw a larger electric blue fish about 9cm that while it could have been a damselfish, might also have been a parrot fish. I also saw a small black fish with yellow fins, from above. 

Sargent fish (google)

Butterfly fish. (Google)

Squirrelfish. (Google).

Damselfish (Google)

Schools of translucent fish moved in and out of the coral as we swooshed past very slowly. It was just as on TV and I had a huge grin on my face that I kept wanting to share. I did so enjoy this gentle pace.

Coral on the reef, what it looks like in good visibility. Image from google. We also swam over the top of a number of 'cones' of brown coral, about a foot wide, that I can only describe as looking like volcanoes! I can't find a decent photo of them, however this is close to a side view:

Schools of (buterfly) fish if visibility was truly good. (Google).