Yesterday's Papers

Well my 15 minutes of fame have been and gone. Or 43 seconds in my case as my interview popped up on the 6 o'clock news this evening. They edited it quite heavily and left a lot of the story out but hey, it's all about maximum impact in a short space of time.

Video and additional words can be found on Cayman27's website via the link: HERE

So the full version is that we were diving on Sunday at the East End with the lovely people at Tortuga Divers. Captain Nige, suggested Split Rock as there had been a lot of shark activity there that last few visits, so we motored round for a look see. Pretty much as soon as we got in, we had a few reef sharks cruising past.

There was a pretty stiff Westerly current, so about half way into the dive, we started to head into one of the narrow cuts on the main wall. I saw a lionfish come bolting under me trying to make for a shallow overhang, which it nearly made but then a reef shark came streaking in to snag it at the last second. The lionfish looked completely unharmed or injusred prior to being eaten.

A few seconds later a second reef shark came in trying to take the lionfish for itself which was interesting as I was stuck in the a narrow cut with a pair of reef sharks going at big time either side of me which made for an interesting experience.

I look terrible without make-up on.........oh hi mum!!

The original shark didn't reliquish the prize however and after a few more bumps and rolls it made of with it's spiky snack whilst other reef sharks continued to cruise by not to mention the occasional turtle or two. Definately a dive to remember thats for sure and a very good sign that the apex predators are starting to take note of the lionfish and are actively hunting them without the help of human intervention.

The original