Can Skunks swim? Yes,
if they have the right equipment. Your Friendly Texas Skunk started SCUBA diving in the early 1970's, in the East
China Sea, when he lived in Okinawa, Japan. SCUBA equipment then consisted of air tanks and a connected regulator
and mouthpiece, weight belt, fins, mask and a Mae West type CO2 inflated life preserver. If you got into trouble,
you dropped the weight belt, inflated the life preserver and came up like a breaching whale. Was there a lot of Decompressions
sickness (DCS) or Bends? Yes there was. luckily the Skunk never had to do an emergency assent under those conditions.
I stopped diving
when I left Okinawa and did not get back into it until the late 80's during my work assignment in Saudi Arabia. One of
the ARAMCO Oil employees I was working with was a PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) instructor.
We got to talking about diving and he
suggested that I start again as there are some tremendous dive sites in that part of the world. Because SCUBA equipment
had changed greatly since I had dived and because you now had to be licensed to dive I took the standard SCUBA Open Water
Course. very glad I did as I learned a lot.
I have had the privilege of diving, as mentioned earlier in the
East China Sea, , and in the Saudi Arabian side of the Red Sea, the Andaman Sea off Phuket, Thailand, The Arabian (Persian)
Gulf, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Caribbean. I have never dove in US waters. No
reason, the opportunity just never presented itself.
The following photos were taken in the different places previously mentioned and are presented in no particular
order. They were taken with a SEA&SEA 35 mm underwater Motormarine II camera and a YS-60 flash.
Pretty sophisticated for then but rather archaic based on todays standards. I hope you enjoy my underwater world.
Can Skunks swim?
The open ocean is a beautiful place but not if you just surfaced and
are looking for the dive boat
The best thing to do is just make a slow 360 degree
turn. It will be there somewhere (you hope!).
This Hawksbill turtle enjoyed swimming with us.
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| The Red Sea is home to many beautiful soft coral formations in brilliant colors. |
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| The 2 fish on the left are a Banannafish and a stripped butterfly fish |
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| Arabian Angelfish |
| SquirrelFish |
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| Sohol or Surgeonfish |
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| a single Sergeant Major |
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| However they are usually found in schools |
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| Sohol or Surgeonfish |
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| Robust Silversides. They swim in schools to look like a large single fish to predators |
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| Red soft coral. Note the diver in the background |
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| This ray was cruising along the bottom looking for lunch. |
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| Parrotfish |
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| Masked Pufferfish |
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| Blue-lined coralgrouper or cod |
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| Parrotfish |
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| These are interesting called Half & Half fish |
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| Giant Moray Eel |
| The moray looks menacing but pretty harmless. |
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| Giant Clam. Do not put your foot in it! |
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| Exquisite Butterfly fish |
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| Another shot of this beautiful red coral |
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| And some red coral growing out sideways from a rock |
| What would a dive be without a clownfish - |
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| and his protective sea anemone |
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| Clear fin Turkeyfish. Do not step on me! |
This a Banded Sea Krait, usually called a sea snake.
Its' venom is one of the most toxic known; however sea snakes a fairly docile. They only become aggressive during
mating season and that is on land. Bites usually only occur when fisherman are trying to clear them from fishing nets.
| Giant Blue Lipped Clam |
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| Yes, the blue is this intense! |
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| Birdbath Coral. The reason for the name is obvious. |
My favorite underwater landscape or waterscape
shot. Clown fish with their sea anemone and in the background a giant Black Coral tree. True Black Coral only grows
in deep water. It is an endangered species and harvesting is strictly controlled. The going price is around $1.00
per gram or roughly $450.00 per Lb.
I hope you enjoyed our undersea adventure.
