It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

[TSandM]

We were coming in from a long dive today, doing the rather tedious swim back to shore, and in about 10 feet of water, there was a big moon snail, which I pointed out to my buddy in case he hadn't seen them before. We kept moving in, and just before I was ready to stand up, I found a little "grove" of the most beautiful green and white striped anemones, just growing in the sand. I wished I had a camera, because they were just absolutely beautiful.

I was reminded of a dive I did with NWGratefulDiver last fall, where we found a spectacularly colored Red Irish Lord in about six feet of water. And another recent dive where, swimming in, resigned to the end of the dive, we found a skate.

The dive's never over until you're out of the water -- What have YOU found when you'd already decided the dive was done?

 

[spectrum]

I know what you mean. Nothing special comes to mind but I do enjoy lingering in the shallows at the end of the dive just poking around with no place special to go. Often it's just hermit crabs and other little life running around.

On top of the nice sights it gives the body a chance to recover before going vertical and becoming a land creature once again.

Pete

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Are these what you found, Lynne?

I took those last New Year's Eve ... over by the jetty in about 4 feet of water ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[J.R.]

Back in the early 70's a bunch of us went out looking at junk off the Atlantic coast of Panama... it was a long dive with lots of surface work... we ended up several hundred yards down the coast from where we started... as we came in our "bouyancy" vests (snorkel vests by today's call) we discovered that (3 ft. of water and less)... the bottom was literally black with a carpet of urchins... beautiful... pain in the... took us 30 minutes to find a way into the beach that was less beautiful but more functional...

J.R.

 

[stiebs]

I think I've recounted this story on SB previously. But I'll tell it again..

A couple of years ago on a Maldives liveaboard trip, we were on a rather uneventful reef dive, with most of the group already on the surface after 40 minutes. The remaining four of us started our safety stop a few minutes later, and were just about to head for the surface when I heard the DM bang his tank.

We all aborted our ascent to take a look, and a couple of pictures, before arriving at the surface all with around 20bar (300psi). I managed to get a picture, but its hard to turn the camera on, frame a pic and hit the trigger to capture a whale shark swimming by only 20 feet away.

 

[TSandM]

Yes, Bob, that looks like what I found, although they were a brighter green and didn't have red tips. But they had the white spots.

The whale shark story reminds me of our humpbacked whale encounter -- That was also at the very end of a dive, burning of the last of a tank before going up to the boat.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

My son found an almost brand new mask in about 4ft of water at the Quarry...Tried to find the owner no luck, no markings etc.... Not as exciting as your stories. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tigerman]

Dude.. I need to get my *** to somewhere with a higher chance of seeing the big "fish".. Up here in the north we do have whales and sharks and stuff, but they like to be pretty deep.. I need to find a reef to go to somewhere *checking the bank account*

Id LOVE to meet a whale shark, but I guess thats not very common anywhere?

 

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

i found both of these in about 4 feet of water

 

[Mo2vation]

This has happened a number of times to me. Two of the more notable ones:

Remember Chica and the big fish? It was the 4th dive of the day, and just three of us went in. Claudette, Josh and I were moonwalking on the swim platform in the Catalina Dive park late in the afternoon. We were done with the moonwalk, I photographed them, and we were heading back in - I had lots o' gas (photographer) and Chica and Josh were a little lean (moonwalkers...) So as were were coming in, Gigantor Black Seabass, lurking in the shadows comes over and we spend the last several minutes (and 90-some unforgetable photos) with him.

The last time Josh and I dived Vets. We went out, had a great, mellow dive. On the way back in over the boring sand, we're phoning it in... BAM. There is a 5' Angel Shark in about 16 feet of water... unreal. We hung out with him for a bit. Beautiful.

I remember a story from Terry in LowCal - he saw a GSB in about 6' or water in the last few feet of the sand after a nice dive.

Treasures are in the shallows....

---
Ken