I've always been slightly claustrophobic so when Patrick suggested that we do a discovery dive, I was initially rather reluctant. Our first experience was in Lankayan, an island resort in Sabah, Malaysia. We had just spent two weeks in the jungle looking for clouded leopards and marbled cats to no avail so it was a restful way to end the trip. The discovery dive was an interesting concept: we had a short overview of the rules and each of us had a dive master holding our hand as we made a slow descent to 10 meters. This gave us time to look at the corals and fish teeming around us. It was just 30-minutes but enough for both of us to decide that we wanted to do the PADI. 

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The PADI or Professional Association of Diving Instructors is easily done: several online courses followed by two days in the water at a certified location. We choose the Maldives primarily for the water temperature; I had had an experience in the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns where even with two wetsuits, I was shivering throughout the snorkel! Our first experiences in the Maldives were really great but as we became more comfortable underwater, it was time to explore other places. 

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Our diving friends recommended Raja Ampat but with a warning: once we dived in this archipelago, it would ruin the Maldives forever! And so it came true- the diversity of colours and diversity of fish, corals, and life in these waters is truly astonishing. We returned the next year to the Komodo Islands and were equally blown-away by how intact the corals and fish are, despite the rising temperatures of oceans all over. 

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Nudibranches and frogfish are among my favourite underwater creatures. I love the challenge of spotting them and then marvel at the sheer assortment of colours and shapes that these animals have adopted. 

A little bit about nudibranches: 

1) They can be minuscule, measuring just a few millimetres,

2) They are extremely colourful (also a warning!),

3) The fluffy bit on the back is actually their gills which gives their name (naked gill= nudibranch) while the horns are rhinophores or scent/taste receptors,

4) They are hermaphrodites so after a coupling both individuals can go away pregnant!,

5) They eat cnidocytes or the stinging cells of jellyfish and anemones to arm themselves against predators.

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Weird and wonderful, frogfish are a type of anglerfish which use an in-built fishing rod (a forward-facing dorsal fin called an illicium) to lure their prey. By the time their prey realises that the dangly thing is not food, it’s pretty much too late! In addition to their clever fishing ability, they have mastered the art of camouflage to an incredulous point. They are not very good swimmers having no swim bladders, so they rely on modified pectoral fins to walk and hop around. They may be slow on their fins, but frogfish have yet another trick up their sleeve/fin! With an attack speed of 6 milliseconds, it has the fastest strike speed in the animal kingdom. From miniature-sized 2cm to 50cm, they have evolved the most beautiful colours and bizarre textures like hairy/spongy, and even the largest of them can be difficult to spot, blending seamlessly into rocks, sponges and corals in their surroundings. Their colouring evolves during their life, depending on the phases of maturity. All 13 genera with approximately 50 species, are found worldwide in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as the Red Sea. Despite being so fascinating, they are not particularly pretty; in fact, the mayor of Bitung in Indonesia even called them: “The spawn of Satan”! Personally, I find them quite endearing and happy to know that they don’t face too many threats except from invasive species and over-collection by aquarists.