Jellyfish Attack! (and I have the battle wounds to prove it)
I am lovingly and tenderly stroking my throat in between typing spurts at the moment. Rather disconcertingly I was unfairly and viciously attacked by a gang of jellyfish hooligans. They are a group of well known criminals, identifiable by their long, trailing tentacles which resemble a Medusa like head of hair. They respond solely to the calls of currents. And, most importantly, if you're hanging from an anchor chain for a three minute safety stop, THERE IS NO ESCAPE!
Ok, ok it wasn't quite that dramatic. I was about 16 metres down and turned around and BOOM! there was a mass of jellyfish tentacles and they got me in the neck and across the face. Oddly, they didn't affect my hands as I tried desperately to claw them away. The fact that the jellyfish were stunningly beautiful only made me hate them more.
Freeman and I have undertaken three dives in the past two days and countless snorkelling sessions. We are currently in Exmouth and the Gulf of Exmouth runs onto Ningaloo Reef which is famous for its accessibility and its whale sharks. Unfortunately, we were deprived of this giant plankton consuming creature today but we get a second chance on Saturday. Besides, we saw loads of really cool creatures, including a huge manta ray, schools of feeding surgeon fish, a wobbegong (hee!), sea cucumbers, a large and ugly potato cod and half a lobster. All in all, not a bad visual haul.
I shall stop boring you about ocean related things, even though that is all that Freeman and I have really been up to. I shall bore you instead about some of our fellow tour people, including a Swiss/German guy with a large belly that wore indiscriminately skimpy Speedos. S-K-I-M-P-Y. There was a tiny little Japanese woman who liked to brush her teeth before diving. There were several chain smoking English people who actually swam to an island to have a fag. Our boat was a genuine melting pot of culture.
Sharing a hostel room with six other people means a serious lack of sleep, which my shaky writing can attest to.
Our final days in Exmouth will primarily be about two things: a) avoiding jellyfish and b) finding a whale shark. My worst nightmare would be a whale shark with several jellyfish in tow. If that happened, who knows? My head might actually explode.
Ok, ok it wasn't quite that dramatic. I was about 16 metres down and turned around and BOOM! there was a mass of jellyfish tentacles and they got me in the neck and across the face. Oddly, they didn't affect my hands as I tried desperately to claw them away. The fact that the jellyfish were stunningly beautiful only made me hate them more.
Freeman and I have undertaken three dives in the past two days and countless snorkelling sessions. We are currently in Exmouth and the Gulf of Exmouth runs onto Ningaloo Reef which is famous for its accessibility and its whale sharks. Unfortunately, we were deprived of this giant plankton consuming creature today but we get a second chance on Saturday. Besides, we saw loads of really cool creatures, including a huge manta ray, schools of feeding surgeon fish, a wobbegong (hee!), sea cucumbers, a large and ugly potato cod and half a lobster. All in all, not a bad visual haul.
I shall stop boring you about ocean related things, even though that is all that Freeman and I have really been up to. I shall bore you instead about some of our fellow tour people, including a Swiss/German guy with a large belly that wore indiscriminately skimpy Speedos. S-K-I-M-P-Y. There was a tiny little Japanese woman who liked to brush her teeth before diving. There were several chain smoking English people who actually swam to an island to have a fag. Our boat was a genuine melting pot of culture.
Sharing a hostel room with six other people means a serious lack of sleep, which my shaky writing can attest to.
Our final days in Exmouth will primarily be about two things: a) avoiding jellyfish and b) finding a whale shark. My worst nightmare would be a whale shark with several jellyfish in tow. If that happened, who knows? My head might actually explode.
posted by Korrena at 4:47 AM
2 Comments:
No wonder they didn't get your hands. Those man fingers of yours are no match for any Jellyfish!!!!!
Annabelle! It saddens me to think of your tiny delicate child hands being the victim of cruel warped sea animals. They most surely wouldn't sympathise with your life long need to wear child sized gloves....! x
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