After a beat, Hugh comes to join us. Annoyance prickles my spine. I needed a moment alone and here he is, encroaching, always the ever-present buddy. I try focusing instead on the magic of seeing the reef structure from far away. It’s massive and dynamic. There are schools of fish swimming and floating both above the reef and closer to the ocean floor. I notice Hugh moving out of the corner of my eye and turn to find his shoulders shaking with laughter.

I follow his eyes, and see Andrew, who is floating two feet above where he should be, not exactly cause for laughter. I look back at Hugh, who’s still locked in on Andrew, so focused that he doesn’t even see me looking at him. Then, I see it. There are bubbles, big bubbles, escaping from the bottom of Andrew’s suit. He’s farting. And he’s not letting a little one slip out, he’s really passing gas. I know it’s childish, but I can’t help it, I fall into giggles too. Both of us use way more of our air than we should laughing about farts.

We’re still giggling when Vanessa darts forward in excitement. She points to a fish hovering a few inches above the sandy bottom. It has a skirt-like flap that encircles its body, and it’s pushing away the water beneath it to move. It’s almost translucent and is moving very slowly. When I focus, I spot its eyes, and suddenly I can’t look away. They are huge, with giant black pupils that seem to see straight through me. I breathe in and out of my regulator, transfixed.

Vanessa looks back to make sure Hugh and I are paying attention and then pokes her finger at the fish. Instantly, it flushes a darker colour, more the colour of grey stone than the bright white sand, and begins to flutter its skirt and swim towards the reef. It looks like a cross between a squid and an octopus. It’s large, about the size of a pizza, and a bit oval-shaped. I’m transfixed by its movements, we all are, and we watch as it swims towards the safety of the reef, soon blending in completely with its surroundings.

Chapter 14

Six dives to go

Before I know it, we’re back on the boat, Miguel strapping in the air tanks to prepare for Aaron to rev up the engine. We’re headed to Wonder Reef next. We’ll dive there twice. Millie wrote in her notes that the last butterfly wrasse sighting there was in 2016, so I don’t have high hopes. Wonder Reef sits on the outer edge of the reef structures, and a major current brings in plankton and organic debris in from the ocean, making it the most biodiverse of all the reefs on our schedule.