>Hey Terry,
>
>>Many years ago I read (I think) a James Bond book, which pratically began with a guy swimming in the Carribean and a barracuda came and took a chunk out of his shoulder. That made me nervous of them,
>
>Maybe that's where they got the "bum rap" from. Most people have that bad perception of barracuda, but it's unjustified. For giggles, I just looked it up on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barracuda) and it does say that " unprovoked attacks on humans are extremely rare ".

Oh I'm sure of that. I was only a wee teenager when I read that. Since I've come to realise that sea life hasn't evolved to recognise humans as prey anyway (besides, we're much bigger than barracuda anyway). That's why I had no hesitation getting in amongst them. Irony is that next day I was feasting on their brethren anyway.

One of my unfulfilled desires is yet to swim with sharks. T'other year we went out hoping to see soome hammers in the blue. You're not allowed to carry a diving knife or wear gloves in the Red Sea and the dive master, during the briefing, said "If you see some "motor bike fish" [cf "the Scottish Play" - bad luck to say their name], and they start to circle, then all gather round your dive master [him]." lol

>
>~~Bonnie
>
>
>
>>Hi Bonnie
>>
>>Many years ago I read (I think) a James Bond book, which pratically began with a guy swimming in the Carribean and a barracuda came and took a chunk out of his shoulder. That made me nervous of them, the first time I came out of a dive in Thailand and saw a circle of them above me. I was more nervous though when I broke surface into millions of baby jellyfish, and I was weariing only a T-shirt for protection!
>>
>>Funnily enough, the next day we all had barracuda for lunch on the boat (not from this shoal I might add). During the trip, amongst may others, we saw grouper and snapper, on each of which we dined some evenings (again, not the ones on the reef). This all engendered th eold joke: "Come to Eqypt, see all the beautiful sea creatures - then eat them!" :-)
>>
>>I'll pass on your pic comments, thanks.
>>
>>Terry
>>
>>>Terry,
>>>
>>>Some really good pics there. The barracuda reminds me of the first time I ever went snorkeling. It was in the Florida keys about 15 years ago (I've only been snorkeling about 3 or 4 times since then) and there were barracuda in the water with me. The dive guys on the boat said that you had to be careful of them, don't flash anything bright, like jewelry, cuz they might mistake it for food and bite you. I forgot about the warning and I was waggling my fingers at them (I had on a few rings) ... they didn't attack though. It wasn't a whole big school like you were swimming with ... there were only a few. Still, it was a fun morning. Two of my three kids couldn't hack it (got seasick on the ride out to the dive spot) and my then-hubby wasn't feeling too good either. So, it was just me and my youngest son, who was only about 5 at the time ... he had a ball and he rubbed it in to his brothers afterwards about how wimpy they were. <g>
>>>
>>>Looks like you guys had a great time! Tell your mate he takes some pretty good pics. =0)
>>>
>>>~~Bonnie
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hello again, Bonnie. Just so happens my mate has posted up his pix of the holiday. I forgot to mention the 3rd highlight being when I got right into the middle of a cylinder of barracuda and they practically filled my vision all round. There are some pix of that occasion too.
>>>>
>>>>I'm the one with the bare arms and the "Buddy" BCD with the yellow pockets, BTW
>>>>
>>>>http://www.flickr.com/gp/91248123@N00/9m9390
>>>>
>>>>>Pictures, Terry .... we (or at least I) want to see some pics!! Are you planning on posting any somewhere?
>>>>>
>>>>>~~Bonnie
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Just got to tell you of 2 of the highlights of my latest diving trip:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I was looking at a beautiful coral-covered pinnacle, surrounded by an aquarium of tropical fish, and the local, famous cleaner wrasse (c. 2" long) came up and started to nibble round my mouth. It then went in my ear and I could feel little tiny nips. I was so gob-smacked I forgot to take my reg out so it could clean inside my mouth. My mate started to take a photo but his camera charge failed him just at that moment. Story of my life!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>On the last dive of the hol we'd been watching dolphins cavorting near the reef, during our lay-off period. When we set off for the next dive site we could see them travelling parallel to the boat. Luckily we were all kitted up for a drift dive so when we got there it was all hands in the water asap. We just got ourselves underwater and settled as a pod of 7-10 of them glided sedately by. Absolute MAGIC!