For Real, For Real

If yesterday--swimming with the sharks--I was only "pretend" scared, then today I was "for real" scared. I was finishing up my last dive today on Koh Tao when I felt something pull hard on my right fin. I looked back, and swear on everything holy, that I saw exactly what you see in the picture on the left! Although probably only 2-2.5 feet long, all I could see was this guy's teeth. I only later learned that it was a titan triggerfish and that they are very territorial (thanks for warning me Ban's diving shop....). I felt like a Crypt in a Blood's neighborhood and hightailed it out of there. The only problem was that this guy chased me, within inches of my legs (with teeth bared) for what seemed like 20 minutes, but was probably only 45 seconds. Everybody else seemed to get a good laugh out of it as they saw me kick, squirm, and swim with all my bodily might. The way he was chasing me, you would have thought that I smote his first-born. I was really, really scared. Needless to say, I depleted almost my entire tank of oxygen in an effort to get away and with the resulting heart palpitations. Not cool, Mr. Triggerman, not cool.

If you want to learn more about the titan triggerfish, then click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_triggerfish