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Greetings:
I am new to Scuba Diving (21 Dives) and new to this board (1st post). But I would like some feedback on an incident that happened during a recent dive. My wife and I were diving in a small group, 6 divers and one dive master, at a dive site called Lobster off of Akumal, Mexico. My wife and I tend to hang near the rear of any group, mainly to avoid congestion. While we are both new divers, less than 25 dives over the last 4 years, based on personal observations I believe we received excellent training and are more competent than our limited experience might indicate.
Anyway, about 15 minutes into this dive, the dive master banged his tank, pointed to my wife and me and told us to turn around. The dive master was about 20 feet in front of us and we were at a depth of probably 40 feet. When we turned around, we saw a rather strange looking fish -- which I later learned was a remora. It was about four and a half feet long, and literally right on top of my fins. At first, I was in awe. I got my camera ready and began to snap a few pictures as it swam around, very close. After a few minutes, I turned away and continued with the dive. However, the Remora did not leave our vicinity. For the next 20 plus minutes it followed my wife and I everywhere. Including up to our safety stop and it was at my feet as I climbed onto the boat. It never expressed even the slightest interest in the other divers in our group. At no time was it more than an arm's length from my wife and me.
About halfway through this, I became uncomfortable with the remora. Not sure why, if it wanted to cause me harm, it certainly had numerous opportunities. And while I would not say it was aggressive, it was antagonistic -- often times it swam directly for my head only to turn away when I raised my hands to cover my head. Compounding my feelings was that I had absolutely no idea what this thing was at the time. I knew it was not a shark, but other than that I was lost. My wife had the opposite reaction; she was scared at first, but grew to enjoy the remora's presence.
The only distinguishing characteristic separating us from the other divers was our underwater camera. At the time the remora first approached, it was strapped around my wrist and my hands were clasped behind my back. It is a clear case and a silver camera.
Not sure what I expect from this post, but perhaps a little feedback from more experienced divers. To be honest the encounter left me fairly shook up.
I am new to Scuba Diving (21 Dives) and new to this board (1st post). But I would like some feedback on an incident that happened during a recent dive. My wife and I were diving in a small group, 6 divers and one dive master, at a dive site called Lobster off of Akumal, Mexico. My wife and I tend to hang near the rear of any group, mainly to avoid congestion. While we are both new divers, less than 25 dives over the last 4 years, based on personal observations I believe we received excellent training and are more competent than our limited experience might indicate.
Anyway, about 15 minutes into this dive, the dive master banged his tank, pointed to my wife and me and told us to turn around. The dive master was about 20 feet in front of us and we were at a depth of probably 40 feet. When we turned around, we saw a rather strange looking fish -- which I later learned was a remora. It was about four and a half feet long, and literally right on top of my fins. At first, I was in awe. I got my camera ready and began to snap a few pictures as it swam around, very close. After a few minutes, I turned away and continued with the dive. However, the Remora did not leave our vicinity. For the next 20 plus minutes it followed my wife and I everywhere. Including up to our safety stop and it was at my feet as I climbed onto the boat. It never expressed even the slightest interest in the other divers in our group. At no time was it more than an arm's length from my wife and me.
About halfway through this, I became uncomfortable with the remora. Not sure why, if it wanted to cause me harm, it certainly had numerous opportunities. And while I would not say it was aggressive, it was antagonistic -- often times it swam directly for my head only to turn away when I raised my hands to cover my head. Compounding my feelings was that I had absolutely no idea what this thing was at the time. I knew it was not a shark, but other than that I was lost. My wife had the opposite reaction; she was scared at first, but grew to enjoy the remora's presence.
The only distinguishing characteristic separating us from the other divers was our underwater camera. At the time the remora first approached, it was strapped around my wrist and my hands were clasped behind my back. It is a clear case and a silver camera.
Not sure what I expect from this post, but perhaps a little feedback from more experienced divers. To be honest the encounter left me fairly shook up.
