It's not everyday that you witness a king. And yet within the past month we have seen them several times. What lions are to the plains, sharks are to the waters. The encircling fish stay in schools, keeping a weary eye turned to spot vengeance, just like the antelope of the safari.
Yesterday permitted us to witness this underwater kingdom, with the kings of the sea reigning. The Thila dive is within hitting distance (OK, maybe Willie Mays', but still) of the beach outside our room, but is one of the more acclaimed dives in the atoll. As our last (of eight) dives to meet "Advanced Diver" certification, this dive was definitely the hardest for me due to what I considered to be "fast" current (but which I later learned from our guide was weak by Maldivian standards). At times the currents were fun because it made the dive easy from the perspective of minimal kicking. You just move along with the water as you float past amazing fish and coral life (it felt like you were on a conveyor belt). But then, once you wanted to stop to view something, it required gripping the coral to hang on -- but not just anywhere since you could accidentally grab a camouflaged scorpion fish or stingray coral.
This is what was required as we approached the "cleaning station". We clung to what would be 5.12 hand-holds for rock climbing (mere one-inch knobs) to avoid being swept down current and into the cleaning station. As we held post, about four or five grey reef sharks, measuring five or six feet in length, made their circuit just ten feet from us. It was as if we were watching them go through a car wash! Apparently sharks need to bathe, too, and to do so there is a reciprocal relationship where the Wrasse cleaner fish (aptly named) eact the sea lice from the backs of sharks, much like the symbiotic relationship between the water buffalo and the white egrets perpetually on their backs. For several minutes we clung, watching these sharks rinse and repeat, while above us we spotted a lone white-tipped reef shark. As we swam away we got pushed right into the cleaning station. But grey reef sharks aren't a threat. They merely moved away and I'm sure went back into the circuit after we left.
The dive also afforded us a view of a lone eagle ray, about four feet wing span, slowly cruising by in the deeper water. And as per our luck in every dive, we saw another sea turtle and got three feet from him! Thila is one of the better reefs because of the proliferation of fish, and as we crested the reef you could see this truth come to fruition. Schools of fish by the hundreds zoomed by in what was reminiscent of the streets of Saigon. Similarly, to "cross" the fray one just moves into the chaos and miraculously the throngs of movers just detour around.
On our night dive, however, there were fish that were small silver bullets who did not know the etiquette of detouring and periodically I would be besieged by an errant bullet crashing into my leg, or once, my hair. But although that interaction was fun, albeit tickling, the highlight of our dive was seeing a school of modular rays about twenty feet to our side, and then, a lobster -- a nocturnal hunter-- standing tall, antennas up, outside the reef cave he calls home.
It was sad to leave the underwater world, so beautiful, diverse and unique from anything else. And it will be sad to leave the turquoise waters, the waving palms, and the lulling, crashing waves of this paradise. But new adventures await and every chapter has an ending. With a quick trip home to unpack and repack and a visit from friend Ryta and her husband Paul in the Bay Area, I am next off to conquer more waves and sand with a girls surf camp with friends Alexis and Bridget. Short board by end of the week? Naive or optimistic? Stay tuned.