An Emperor on the HMS Sirius

I wanted to go back to the HMS Sirius. Feeling that my previous wreck training dive with only 5m visibility and the onset of a narcotic induced confusion at 25m, left some of the wreck unexplored. As the winter weather still kept us inside the reef and I had to do a fish identification dive, I was super excited when I found out that we were returning to the Sirius.

Not knowing what my instructor expected of me in respect of fish identification worried me a little. I studied the Padi Fish Identification material to the best of my ability and went even further by studying external fish features from my Reef Guide book. Remembering all the names and identifying all the members of the 12 fish family groups, I found challenging and that was my concern. My excitement that we were on the Sirius overshadowed the concern as we descended into 5m visibility again.

Staying close to my buddy we followed our instructor closely, who buddied up with a tourist who wanted to explore the Sirius. My Test was going to be to remember the fish that was indicated to me by flashlight and to identify them to my instructor once back at the dive centre. What a relief when the flashlight was pointed to a little Brown Spotted Box Fish as the first candidate to be identified! These little dudes look like Disney characters and I fell in love with them when I saw them the first time. So I relaxed and could explore the canons and the canon ball that my buddy pointed out and enjoy the general view of the Sirius, where she came to her final resting place.

Then the flashlight pointed out a single juvenile Emperor Angel Fish. Even in the low visibility the almost mandala like circular blue patterns on the fish was instantly recognisable and I was flooded with joy at seeing one, as they have been scarce on my dives. Their pattern and colours differ so drastically from the adult Emperor that I have been fascinated by them and am always keeping a lookout in the hope of seeing one.

As the dive continued there were baby Lion Fish, a school of Goat Fish, Trumpet Fish and more. All reef fish that have become my fish family as all my dives have been in the lagoon and I was repeatedly visiting the same dive sites due to weather restrictions or because I chose to return to a specific site.

Then under an overhanging rock ledge, my dive buddy drew my attention to a very strange trio.  Two very bright yellow Trumpet Fish were hanging out with another juvenile Emperor Angel Fish! The blues of the Emperor contrasting the yellow of the Trumpets in a trio composition that will be fixed in my mind forever. What extraordinary beauty!

We had a 40 min dive on the Sirius at 25 m and a safety stop on the anchor line. Upon surfacing, the movement of the sea had increased dramatically. My skill set at boarding has improved so much over my 22 dives and my weak left leg was feeling stronger as I knew just where to place my feet and what to grab hold of to pull myself into the dive boat under the watchful eyes and ready hands of the skipper, my trusted Captain.

I didn’t have to be a qualified marine biologist after all, I just had to be curious about what I was looking at throughout my dives and love the reef enough to want to know more about the inhabitants!

By Lynette Gerber-Lochenkov