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The other evening I met my friend Doug at one of our local mudholes for an evening dive. We decided we'd bring our scooters, head south to this little cabin cruiser at about 70 fsw, then turn north and go look for an octopus den we heard about.
So we hooked up around 4:30, and by the time we were geared up and heading to the water the last light of dusk was just on the horizon. Scootering at night is a special treat ... last time I did it, me and TS&M encountered a 12-foot shark. So I was anxious to see what this night would bring.
We scootered out away from shore on the surface and dropped down into the dark water at about 40 fsw. A quick moment to check all our gear and get on the trigger, and off we went. Within moments I noticed that there were more ratfish in the water than normal ... they're usually solitary animals, or at best tend to hang out in small, loose communities seemingly just doing their own thing in the general vicinity of each other. But this night, they were swarming our scoots like moths around a porch light. Hmmm ... must be something about the sound of the props or motors that's attracting them.
Now ... for those of you who've never seen a ratfish, or don't know what they are ... they're a member of the shark family ... generally about 1-2 feet in length. They're sleek-looking things with large, graceful pectoral fins, shiny golden skin, green eyes that positively GLOW in the peripheral cone of a dive light, and a face like Barry Manilow.
(Barry)
(Ratfish)
But perhaps the most significant feature to a diver's concern is this little spine they have at the front of their dorsal fins ... they can inflict a nasty wound if you excite 'em in the wrong way.
At any rate, they're swarming around our scoots ... darting in toward the scoot and making these amazingly-rapid 180 degree turns just before impact. And at one point, one turned directly into me, literally head-butting me as it was attempting to dart away.
And then it happened ... all of a sudden my scoot begins to shudder and shake ... and it REALLY slowed down. A quick look down at the shroud and there's a ratfish, doin' about a 50 RPM spin cycle inside the shroud ... caught in the propellor. I quickly let off the trigger and the durn thing staggered out, making little zig-zags and bouncing off the bottom. I don't think it was injured, but it was obviously dizzy. Doug was having similar issues ... and the ratfish swarm just kept getting thicker and thicker.
Anyway, we proceeded through the dive ... and the whole time we just kept attracting more and more ratfish. I bet we saw literally hundreds of 'em before finally surfacing ... 55 minutes after we started. And every few minutes we'd end up having to stop and let one of the foolish things escape from the prop.
Well, at least now I know that an X-scooter is capable of processing ratfish without damage to either the fish or the scoot. But it is a strange thing, looking down and seeing a 2-foot long fish spinning around like that. And most of all ... after nearly 2,000 dives here in Puget Sound ... it's the first time I've ever seen this particular fish in such high concentrations.
Kinda made me wonder if we didn't hit the water during ratfish DEMA or something.
So ... any of y'all ever have a strange dive? What was it like?
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
So we hooked up around 4:30, and by the time we were geared up and heading to the water the last light of dusk was just on the horizon. Scootering at night is a special treat ... last time I did it, me and TS&M encountered a 12-foot shark. So I was anxious to see what this night would bring.
We scootered out away from shore on the surface and dropped down into the dark water at about 40 fsw. A quick moment to check all our gear and get on the trigger, and off we went. Within moments I noticed that there were more ratfish in the water than normal ... they're usually solitary animals, or at best tend to hang out in small, loose communities seemingly just doing their own thing in the general vicinity of each other. But this night, they were swarming our scoots like moths around a porch light. Hmmm ... must be something about the sound of the props or motors that's attracting them.
Now ... for those of you who've never seen a ratfish, or don't know what they are ... they're a member of the shark family ... generally about 1-2 feet in length. They're sleek-looking things with large, graceful pectoral fins, shiny golden skin, green eyes that positively GLOW in the peripheral cone of a dive light, and a face like Barry Manilow.
(Barry)
(Ratfish)
But perhaps the most significant feature to a diver's concern is this little spine they have at the front of their dorsal fins ... they can inflict a nasty wound if you excite 'em in the wrong way.
At any rate, they're swarming around our scoots ... darting in toward the scoot and making these amazingly-rapid 180 degree turns just before impact. And at one point, one turned directly into me, literally head-butting me as it was attempting to dart away.
And then it happened ... all of a sudden my scoot begins to shudder and shake ... and it REALLY slowed down. A quick look down at the shroud and there's a ratfish, doin' about a 50 RPM spin cycle inside the shroud ... caught in the propellor. I quickly let off the trigger and the durn thing staggered out, making little zig-zags and bouncing off the bottom. I don't think it was injured, but it was obviously dizzy. Doug was having similar issues ... and the ratfish swarm just kept getting thicker and thicker.
Anyway, we proceeded through the dive ... and the whole time we just kept attracting more and more ratfish. I bet we saw literally hundreds of 'em before finally surfacing ... 55 minutes after we started. And every few minutes we'd end up having to stop and let one of the foolish things escape from the prop.
Well, at least now I know that an X-scooter is capable of processing ratfish without damage to either the fish or the scoot. But it is a strange thing, looking down and seeing a 2-foot long fish spinning around like that. And most of all ... after nearly 2,000 dives here in Puget Sound ... it's the first time I've ever seen this particular fish in such high concentrations.
Kinda made me wonder if we didn't hit the water during ratfish DEMA or something.
So ... any of y'all ever have a strange dive? What was it like?
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
