Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

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As the bubbles reached the surface the large bubbles erupted in slow languid belches and ‘bloops’ reminiscent of mud pools - before breaking into a shimmering mass of smaller bubbles and dissipating. Thousands of smaller bubbles accompanied the larger ones, shimmering and fizzing like a bottle of lemonade being opened. On oily calm days you could hear the same noise if you listened carefully.

This area was rich in sea life and I became acquainted with all sorts of local underwater wildlife. I had my first encounter with a dogfish here. It looks like a small shark about 3- 4 feet long. Unlike most of the other sea life around it didn’t seem to see my 6’2” frame and that of my dive buddy Richard Cook as an immediate threat warranting flight. This dogfish just lay there on a large flat-topped boulder. Its cold, lifeless eyes looked at me but didn’t flicker or show any emotion.

Richard swam up to it – and it still didn’t move so he put his hand on it high up at the back of its head and picked it up to show me how to handle it. It just remained impassive and unresponsive, waiting for us to tire of it and put it down. After he put it down again it moved off the boulder top and with a flick of it’s long thin tail was gone. He told me later that if it was picked up in the wrong place it could quickly whip its long tail around a diver’s arm.