When you hear divers talk about diving. Whether it’s new divers or divers who’ve been diving for years it’s all about the fish!
Different dive destinations around the world have their own specialty when it comes to fish. “Come dive with us and manta rays” etc.
The worlds’ oceans do hold some rather spectacular life forms, and divers are eager to collect as many of them in their logbooks as possible.
And diving here, in the Andaman Sea you could well tick some empty boxes as we have both big and small rarities around Phi Phi, Phuket and Similans.
But, I want to give a shout out to the common guys. The fish you will see on almost every dive, the fish that doesn’t get their story told in any logbooks.
I recently had a conversation with a very experienced diver, who has done most of his dives in an area where they have a lot of weird stuff. This is what he got used to and came to expect, so not too surprising this is what he expected on this dive.
Now on the dive we did together there was some super cool stuff like a seahorse and a nudibranch he hadn’t seen before so he was very content.
We came to talk about what we liked to see underwater. He wants to see Whalesharks and Frogfish, well don’t we all?
I have worked in diving for many years and all over the world so my logbook is full of super amazing creatures that I have been so fortunate to see, but when he asked me what my favorite thing to see underwater is, I think he got surprised by my answer; ‘Longfin Bannerfish’.
Because still to this day, there is almost nothing more beautiful to me than a school of them on a nice blue background. I can just sit there and look at them forever!
Hopefully I opened his eyes to ‘the common fish’. Plus, it is a known fact that when you least expect something it is more likely to happen, so on your next dive study the reef fish, pick a favorite and say Hi from me! (And you never know something big might pass by!)
Happy diving everyone! Maria & Darren, Team Sea Bees Diving Mai Khao
