05/11/19: Day 6 with Anabelle Nairac

How to spot a whale shark:

In a nutshell, the collection of diverse tiny creatures commonly lumped together as plankton, whose ecosystem depends on sunlight, gather at the surface of the sea. This in turn attracts small fish which feed on the plankton. The whale shark feeds on both the plankton and the small fishies by filtering the creature rich sea at the surface. So how does this help us to spot a whale shark? Well, other predatory fish like tuna, bonito, trevallis, thazard happen to hunt the tiny aforementioned fishies. In so doing, they regularly break the surface in what could best be described as a body of boiling water. This surface activity, commonly referred to by the locals as 'la chasse', is what we look for. Despite some promising 'chasses', no whale shark in sight. Back to the diving part of our trip.

The first dive at Atnaam was another technological disaster. My Gopro malfunctioned and refused to record any footage, and Michel's wonky camera acted up! So we have no proper footage nor images of some of the amazing sightings on the dive. To make matters even more painful, the dive was another stunner!

We followed a narrow canyon that snakes like a gentle slow flowing river, with giant sea fans abounding on each side, to a depth of around 45m. Just next to an arch at the bottom, we were welcome by an adult leopard shark of at least 2 m...!!!! I had the best seat of the house, with Arnaud and Anna brieftly catching it. Not sure if Michel or Pierre saw it at all. Crossed the arch, and again, sea fan forest on the other side.

Second dive on Plateau Louis was yet another memorable dive, for all the right reasons, with a 'justifiable' or at least understandable, if not, excusable, caveat... ... ... Ahem...

Fun things first... The plateau at around 20m depth must be the most beautiful collection of live corals I've ever seen in my life! Fishies everywhere including a large crocodile fish that we managed to get really close to. Luckily, Pierre had lent me his Gopro to record the dive, so we have it all in the box... Now, the not so nice part... I broke one of the capital rules of diving...Never lose sight of your dive buddy.... It wasn't all that dramatic, since it was for all intents and purposes, a baby dive... and we're all equipped and trained to handle that sort of eventuality.

I blame it all on 3 giant trevallis, that decided to initiate a hunt on a ball of bait fish, and a degradation in visibility as the dive progressed...!!! Following the hunt, I lost my dive buddy who was with the rest of my fellow divers. Only after the show was over, did I realise that I was separated from my group. So standard protocol kicked in, circled around looking for bubbles. NIET...!!! Just as I was about to launch my DSMB (Floating device used to indicate diver's position under water) to the surface, I saw some flashing lights in the distance!!!! Turns out Anna had seen in which general direction I had ventured, and called the rest of the dive members for an UW search & rescue... Luckily, didn't have to abort the dive, which would have ruined it for everyone... And I'm sure I have brilliant footage to make up for the minor 'incident'...

Post Lunch, Pierre, who had worked for around 7 years as a dive instructor, decided to give Captain Baab his first scuba diving lesson. Following a brief on the scuba diving gear and dive theory, they set off on board the catamaran's inflatable dinghy for shallower waters. Baab's face was painted from ear to ear with a gigantic smile when he set off for his initiation dive, and that broad smile persisted till well after he had come back from his dive! His freediving background ensured he was comfortable under water, which meant he was able to focus his attention on the dive itself, rendering it memorable! Well deserved treat for a fantabulous captain!

Snorkeling session for me in the shallow waters of Sakatia. The sea bed covered with seaweed on which I witnessed a huge turtle peacefully grazing. It wasn't even bothered by my presence as I circled closely around it for a good 5-6 minutes, after which I got bored and moved on...

Another turtle on the way back, but this one was a runaway swimmer.

Finished the day off with a night dive on a site called Olaf. Very disappointed by the choice of the site, as it was one for novice divers which was very poor in marine life compared to all the sites we had done so far. Seems like our dive master took the easy option out, which was a big mistake with a bunch of experienced divers, who happened to all be night dive aficionados! That has been the only minor glitch of an amazing trip so far.

Lunch: Coconut rice with I forgot what else...!!!! Forgot to take pictures, but I'm sure it was delicious, as usual!

Dinner: Duck Magret, stir fried vegetables and Yummylicious coconut tart

Mouillage for the night: Sakatia

Worthy note: Just watch Akraam grate fresh coconuts using the traditional Madagascar designed tool. Extracted the coconut milk to make the coconut rice and the coconut tart. The guy is just passionate about his craft, and takes absolutely no shortcuts to deliver the very best results he can! Pierre reckons he is a sadist who enjoys watching his clients eat themselves to the point of pain...!!!