The boat moved south (?) this morning to the nearby reef (a little over an hour) of Maaya Thila. This was a very good dive. We saw many sharks (both gray sharks and white tip reef sharks), and the fish were very friendly and curious. Too friendly, I'd guess they've been fed in the past. The visibility was better, the only problem was that there were too many people - there were two other dive boats there as well.
After lunch they moved the boat again, this time to Maalhos Island. The afternoon dive was Ok, nothing special except for some sharks, the cleaning fish, and a pair of octopus. Near the beginning of the dive I saw at least two and maybe three sharks. One was a big gray and the other was a large (two meters) black or white tip reef shark. I was a little out in front of the group, but the sharks weren't shy and were quite curious so I was surprised to find out after the dive that no one else had seen them. Luckily I had pictures or I don't think they would have believed me! The other part of the dive I really enjoyed was when I stopped unknowingly at what was a cleaning station and the little cleaning fish went to work on my legs - a bit of a shock at first to feel a dozen little fish nibbling at my legs! Right at the end of the dive I found a pair of octopus. They were both out when I first saw them, but quickly hid in some holes. One was quite large and I could see him being cleaned by some cleaner shrimp - a first for me. My favorite part of the afternoon was coming back to the boat. I've taken to sitting on the bow in the sun to warm up after the dives. I was sitting there with my feet in the water watching some fish in front of the bow - when they leapt out and flew! They were flying fish and it was amazing to watch (and hear!) them take off only inches from my feet - they make a slow buzzing sound like hummingbirds or maybe giant beetles when they fly.
They dropped us off on the island for the rest of the afternoon. This was a real local island. I was wandering around the deserted shore when the beach narrowed and nearly disappeared into the mangroves. This beach on this side of the island was quite littered with flotsam and that meant there were a great number of large crabs - large enough to where I didn't feel like continuing bare foot! So I cut into the interior on a wide sandy path I'd passed earlier. it was a small village, laid out pretty much like the last one, except there were no souvenir shops - it was obvious that visitors were rare, everywhere I went people stared and the children were quite shy. By the time we left there was a crowd of children and a few adults there to watch the boat pull away. Back on board we watched a beautiful sunset, then the others went for a night dive. I'd decided to skip the night dive - diving without a computer is making me a little nervous and I'd rather not push it so I took a break.
