MIMIC OCTOPUS, BOHOL,
PHILIPPINES
Mat Howell, dive specialist
& travel consultant, Dive
Worldwide
The mimic octopus is the only
creature known to mimic multiple
animals. What’s more, it’s clever
enough to select which creature
to impersonate to present
the greatest threat to its most
imminent predator. Scientists have
observed the octopus mimicking
the banded sea snake while under
attack from damselfi shes; other
impersonations have included a
lionfi sh and a fl atfi sh.
They’re most o en seen in the
Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, though
I’ve spotted them in the eastern
corner of Bohol, a Philippine island.
DIVE RATING: PADI Open Water
Diver and up.
DEPTH: Areas with sand or silt at
depths of under 15 metres.
HOW TO DO IT: diveworldwide.comTwo young males
leave the pod and
swim around me,
the coveted
‘circle-swim’, the
dolphin equivalent of
a hug and friendshipDOLPHINS, MOZAMBIQUE
Hanli Prinsloo, freediver, ocean
conservationist and founder of
I AM WATER Ocean Travel
It starts with intense waiting: your
eyes are small slits against the sun
refl ecting o
the water, your whole
body tensed, waiting for that fl ash
of dorsal fi n or cloud of breath.
Then a sleek grey body leaps out
the back of a wave and a shout
goes up: “There! In the surf!”.
Now we watch. It looks like
they’re playing — good; we don’t
get in the water with pods that are
sleeping or mating. Then... it’s a go!
Masks on, deep breath, and a quiet
slide o
the boat. Suddenly, the
water is alive with the clicking and
whistling of 20-plus dolphins. We
hear them before we see them, as
they scan us. ‘Who are you? What
are your intentions? Want to play?’
With one big breath and a
strong kick down, I leave the
sun and accept their invitation.
Two young males leave the
pod and swim around me, the
coveted ‘circle-swim’, the dolphin
equivalent of a hug and friendship.
Keeping eye contact, I swim
faster and faster as they set the
pace without seeming to move a
fl ipper. A mother and baby come
in close — miniature light-grey
body, still slightly uncoordinated,
sticking close to mum’s side,
always touching as they race
alongside me. Is the mother
showing me her young one, or
is she showing me to the baby?
Together, we swim to the surface
and I gasp for a breath, echoed by
the pu
s of dolphins breathing
around us. We are kin; cousins of
a kind as they breathe and weave
and play around us.
DIVE RATING: Swimming ability.
DEPTH: 3-10 metres.
HOW TO DO IT:
iamwateroceantravel.comFreediving with
dolphins, MozambiqueGREAT WHITE SHARK,
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
Patrick Voorma, PADI regional
manager South Africa & sub-
Saharan Africa
I’d just fi nished a dive when
someone shouted that there
was a shark behind me. I turned
and saw a fi n disappear three
metres away. Thinking it was a
whale shark, I grabbed my camera
and fi nned towards where it’d
gone. The visibility wasn’t good
and I swam into the side of a huge
great white shark. I don’t know
who was more surprised. She had
massive eyes that looked straight
through me, then she was gone.
DIVE RATING: PADI Advanced
Open Water Diver.
DEPTH: 30 metres.
HOW TO DO IT: Great white
encounters o
Durban are
scarce; most divers head to
Aliwal Shoal (o
KwaZulu-Natal).
IMAGE: PETER MARSHALLcalypsoushaka.co.za
November 2016 167DIVING