My blog friend Behan is living the life we all secretly want, sailing the world and homeschooling/unschooling/natural learning with her kids on the way. I read voraciously, because I am taking notes for my next holiday, and hope I can be as cool as her one day!
She recently confessed a love of anemone fish (which I share), so I promised her an anecdote about one of these guys on our first Vietnam trip. I may have already shared it here, so look away if you don’t want to read it again, but I suspect my storytelling is slightly better this time – cross posted from Behan’s blog.
We were staying at a little island of Nha Trang in Vietnam (Whale Island). I’m asthmatic, and though enthusiastic, not a confident snorkeler. I couldn’t go out unless the bay was as flat as plate glass, because getting water down my snorkel was terrifying (the asthma has made me quite claustrophobic).
So one day, the water is a little too choppy for my liking (but I’m becoming more confident), and Mark is intent on exploring some new areas we hadn’t visited before. My rented mask keeps letting in water, but only a bit at a time, so I put on my bog girl panties and decide to just deal with it.
Until…
Mark freedives down to look at an anemone, out of which darts the most aggressive anemone fish I have EVER seen. It fully charged him, stopping only about 6 inches from his mask, to stare him down in as bold a manner as a Kings Cross bouncer.
At which point I cracked up, my laugh lines created a channel by which the sea water was able to stream into my mask, and the resultant hysterical laughter coupled with inhalation of seawater was a sight to behold.
Well played small fish, well played.
Disco Knitter 
Lara! such a good story! aren’t they funny little creatures? packed with indignation for such a wee fishy. and somehow, they usually manage to look grumpy as well (which cracks me up, and also just makes met think that pixar really nailed that aspect with Marlin, Nemo’s dad). They seem to aggressively protect their family inside those anemone homes. I was even bitten by one once! Had me laughing in my snorkel.
Total tangent, but we met a guy who invented scuba gear that lets you use your inhaler underwater. I don’t know how it works, but it sounded amazing. Stemmed from his own experience I think. If you edge towards claustrophobia you might not be interested in diving, but I thought I’d throw that out there just in case. xx
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Well played small fish, game on!
What would a good bog girl like you know about Kings Cross bouncers??
😉
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Many years ago, I waitressed, and was a barkeep in the cross 🙂
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