THE RAPTURE OF THE DEEP - 100 word story

The Friday Fictioneers photo prompt this week reminded me of places where I've dived and made me want to tell a scuba diving story. As I'm short on time I've rewritten a story to make it fit the word count. Nitrogen Narcosis exists - but recreational divers aren't at risk if they keep within maximum depths!

PHOTO PROMPT © JS Brand

THE RAPTURE OF THE DEEP

‘Nitrogen narcosis, The Rapture of the Deep. It changes your reality.' Tom looked into Ella's eyes. 'The Rapture is intoxicating, seductive and potentially deadly.’

‘Blimey,’ said Ella.

They descended amidst a pageant of marine life. Corals glowed and pulsed. Impossibly hued fish shimmied and salsa’d, saying, ‘look at us, Ella.’

Was this it? The Rapture? But it was glorious. Ella pirouetted, beckoning to the fish to be stroked.

She swooped down, following them. Tom caught her. She giggled and twisted in his arms. Tom's eyes dilated. He laughed.

They spat out their mouthpieces and swam, enraptured, into the abyss.

I'm going vagabonding for a few weeks so this is my last story for a little while. I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to reading your comments. 

If you wish to read more Friday Fictioneers stories, you can find them listed HERE

If you'd like to join in the challenge, you'll find all the information posted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields 

- her blog is listed on 'My Blog List' on the right hand side of this page.

On a final note - I always try to visit the blogs of everyone who comments on mine. If I haven't commented on yours it's either because I haven't been able to find your blog when I've clicked on your name or because you have a wordpress account that requires me to sign in first. 

U IS FOR UNICORNFISH : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 21 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

'Wildlife Encounters'

Amended version of a 2015 blog post titled Touching the Unicorn

The first time someone mentioned unicornfish I was intrigued. Unicornfish? 
Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales! 
Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.  I have to confess to feeling somewhat disappointed when I identified my first unicornfish. Visions of endearing fish in My Little Pony colours were shattered. Generally drab coloured, it is the ‘horn’ that makes the unicornfish instantly recognisable rather than its ‘plumage’.

So, I ignored unicornfish in favour of the flamboyant and flirtatious strumpets of the fish world.

Yet, the unicornfish had something up their metaphoric fishy sleeves that would knock the others’ behaviour into a cocked hat… their curiosity of divers and our bubbles.

Pause for any length of time around unicornfish and they’ll hover above you in your stream of bubbles. There is something enormously appealing about any wild creature that is willing to interact.

Now, whenever I spotted unicornfish on a dive, I would wait to see whether they would approach and hang out in my bubbles.

On the last two occasions that I went diving in The Maldives I enjoyed close encounters with unicornfish. 

The first experience was with a unicornfish who stayed put when I reflexively reached out towards it, allowing my fingers to brush against its surprisingly velvety skin.

The second experience occurred just last month. A unicornfish faced me head on. We looked at each other. I reached out and to my astonishment it approached and touched the tip of my finger with its soft mouth in what felt like a little kiss.

See you tomorrow – I’m heading south west. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

S IS FOR SHARK : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 19 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

'Wildlife Encounters'

Here is an edited extract from one of my South African articles which was published in a newspaper in Spain titled 'Facing Fear'. I subsequently wrote a fictional version of this experience which was published on the Cafe Lit Website titled 'Shark Bait'.

Off the coast of Walker Bay, Dyer Island is home to a colony of Cape Fur Seals and the strip of water between the mainland and the island is called Shark Alley.

Our boat was small and the one person cage looked puny, but we were assured that the sharks never attack the cage. It’s the bait they’re interested in, not canned diver.

We lurched out into the choppy water. Eventually the anchor was lowered and the boat sat bucking and bouncing like it was struggling to break free.

Frankie and his crew got to work with tuna bait and a seal decoy. They lowered the cage into the water.

We suited up.  

We waited.

An immense shadowy figure began to circle us. Abruptly it lunged for the bait which Frankie tweaked away to encourage it to stay on the surface and fight for its meal. Spooked, it vanished instead. Another came to investigate the bait.

It was time to go shark cage diving.

I plopped into the bobbing cage, gasping from the freezing water. Unthinking, I hooked my toes through a lower rail in the cage for balance. 

Tension mounted as I waited in the water for a Great White Shark.

Suddenly I realised where my toes were and with a little spurt of fear, jerked them to safety.

After a body numbing aeon, the shout came, ‘Dive down!’

I dropped underwater and there I was, eyeball to eyeball with a Great White Shark. 

This beautiful animal, shimmering and sleek as it sliced through the water inches from the cage made me forget where I was until I realised I needed to breathe.

Great White Shark, South Africa

In the years I have been scuba diving I have had numerous shark encounters.  Despite the bad press, sharks are not scary or dangerous to divers underwater. Shark attacks occur when an animal mistakes a human for prey – all too often it’s surfers who come under attack because the shark thinks the surfer is a seal.

Nurse Shark, Maldives

I have nothing but admiration for these immensely beautiful and important predators in our oceans. 

Grey Reef Shark, Fiji

Scalloped Hammerhead, Fiji

Oh, yes – and please, please boycott all restaurants which serve shark fin soup so that these animals will finally stop being slaughtered before it is too late!

Great White Shark, South Africa

See you tomorrow – I’m heading north east. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?

If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

D IS FOR DOLPHIN : A-Z Challenge

Welcome to Day 4 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. My theme is:

'Wildlife Encounters'

The dive site in Egypt's Red Sea was called 'Dolphin House'. We listened to the dive briefing with mounting excitement.

“If you see the dolphins, you have to work to attract their attention and curiosity.  If you want them to engage with you, turn somersaults, bounce around, and make a lot of noise. Loud squeaking usually works.”

We slipped into the balmy water and descended into the channel where the dolphins were supposed to visit. Nothing. We hung around for a while before finally giving up and continuing our exploration along the reef.

We were given a second chance to dive the same site. I was resigned to not seeing dolphins this time. I certainly wasn’t going to waste my time hanging around for them. 

In we dropped again and began to explore the reef.

My husband found some gorgeous corals topped by an explosion of colourful anthias dipping and flitting around the corals. 

So there we were, heads down, examining our find when I casually glanced up. 

Dolphins! Right behind us! I grabbed my husband’s arm and pointed. 

I somersaulted. I bounced up and down. I squeaked. I squealed. I screamed. I wiggled my outstretched fingers at them.

The dolphins looked briefly at the noisy, madly gesticulating creature and swam away.

See you tomorrow - I'll be heading south this time. Can you guess where and what the next animal will be?


If you want to blog-hop to the next A-Z Challenge blog, please click HERE

ON THE ROAD SURPRISES - Part 4 - Going Underwater

Scuba diving is unpredictable and always full of surprises which is what keeps me going back for more. I’m off to the Maldives next week for a diving trip, so I’m going to leave you with some underwater surprises and I’ll see you when I return at the end of March.

The first time I bumped into a Decorator crab I didn't realise what I was looking at. We were diving the Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi and I saw a sea urchin moving impossibly quickly on the sand. It was only when I swam closer that I realised the urchin was perched on a crab. 




These crabs have spikes on their eco-skeletons which enable them to attach sponges, seaweeds, algae - and in the case of the crabs I saw in Lembeh - sea urchins, onto their backs as a form of disguise. I've even seen a decorator crab with an unwieldy mess of dead coral on its back, but alas I haven't been able to unearth that particular photo from my files.

I think there's something rather endearing about these little critters and I'm looking forward to a wealth of diving surprises in the Maldives next week.



As a result of a question put to me (see the comments) I did further research and discovered that my 'decorator crabs' are in fact 'urchin crabs' which resemble decorator crabs. The big difference being: urchin crabs carry sea urchins and decorator crabs carry sponges, hydroids, bits of algae and other inert objects on their shells. 

This is a classic case of believing what a dive leader told me without thoroughly checking the facts - so slapped wrist to me - and big thanks to AW for asking the questions that prompted my research.

In answer to AW's question about the advantages: the sea urchins benefit from being carted around by the crabs because they are transported to new feeding grounds. 

SIPADAN MAGIC - Malaysian Dive Article

I'm going away for a few weeks of scuba diving and exploration in Thailand, so I thought I'd leave you with an article I wrote for Air Niugini's in-flight magazine about scuba diving in Sipadan. 
You should be able to zoom in sufficiently to read the text.

I hope you enjoyed it - please leave a comment - and I'll see you when I return in time for the festive season.

Touching the Unicorn

My strapline says: scribbler, scuba diver and unrepentant vagabond, so I thought it was high time I told you something about my scuba diving experiences. Here is a little tale about the unicorns of the underwater world…

Blue Triggerfish

 When it came to naming newly identified species, Latin was adopted as a universal system. Not so, the common names. Many common names are often simply descriptive. Hence: blackbirds, tortoiseshell butterflies and death’s head moths, to name a few. So it is with many fish. Triggerfish have a little concealed dorsal fin that flicks up like a trigger as a warning signal; surgeonfish have spines as deadly sharp as a scalpel. There are cornetfish, frogfish, butterflyfish, glassfish… you get the picture.

Frogfish

The first time someone mentioned unicornfish I was intrigued. Unicornfish? Surely the stuff of legends and fairytales! Of course the reason for this name is more prosaic. Unicornfish have a protrusion between their eyes, some more obvious than others.

Spotted Unicornfish

I have to confess to feeling somewhat disappointed when I identified my first unicornfish. Visions of endearing fish in My Little Pony colours were shattered. 

Drab in colour, it is the ‘horn’ that makes this fish recognisable rather than its ‘plumage’.

So, I ignored unicornfish in favour of the flamboyant and flirtatious strumpets of the fish world. I allowed myself to be diverted by multi-coloured parrotfish, cute anemonefish - or clownfish - decked out in orange and white, delicate butterflyfish, angelfish and strangely angular boxfish. And who wouldn’t be seduced by the Many Spotted Sweetlips with its Angelina Joliesk-pout?

Spinecheek Anemonefish

Common Boxfish

Many Spotted Sweetlips

Yet, the unicornfish had something up their metaphoric fishy sleeves that would knock the others’ behaviour into a cocked hat… their curiosity of divers and our bubbles.

Pause for any length of time around unicornfish and they’ll hover above you in your stream of bubbles. There is something enormously appealing about any wild creature that is willing to interact.

Waiting for the unicornfish

Now, whenever I spotted unicornfish on a dive, I would wait to see whether they would approach and hang out in my bubbles. Whenever they did, their demeanour reminded me of those Japanese macaques – you know the ones that sit in the hot water pools with sleepy-eyed, stoned expressions?

Humpback Unicornfish

The last time I saw unicornfish I was diving in The Maldives. One bold individual hovered just above my head, enjoying my bubbles. I reached out reflexively, as I often do. It’s a futile, harmless gesture because no fish will tolerate human contact. On this occasion, the unicornfish stayed put and allowed my fingers to brush, ever so softly, against his surprisingly velvety skin.