by Max Appelman<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve dived before. I\u2019ve snorkelled dozens of times in the beautiful reefs of the Caribbean, lush with corals and schools of fish.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m now on the fourth dive week of my expedition in Andavadoaka, Madagascar, and I\u2019m starting to notice a delightful change in the water.\u00a0 Yea, I\u2019m becoming skilled as a diver.\u00a0 Yea, I\u2019m much more graceful than I was on the open water course.\u00a0 But it\u2019s something else.\u00a0 Some sort of transformation has taken place that\u2019s making these dives far more enjoyable than in the past.\u00a0 Suddenly it hits me.\u00a0 It\u2019s obvious. For the first time ever, I know what I\u2019m looking at! Fish, corals, sponges, molluscs, echinoderms, crustaceans.\u00a0 I can put a name to almost everything.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some sort of euphoria gained from knowing what\u2019s swimming past you other than \u201ca fish.\u201d\u00a0 As I swim through a school of Copper Sweepers, I admire the structure of a giant tabular coral formation while a monster spotted trunkfish swims out of its hole in the rock and into my peripheral, no more than a meter or two away. Bullet head and blue barred parrotfish pick at the corals around me. \u00a0A crocodile fish lays still beneath me, cryptic with the surrounding rocks. \u00a0I could not have identified those species before coming to Andavadoaka.\u00a0 Surrounded by fish underwater, I point my finger and say the name in my head. Crescent wrasse, pale damsel, thread fin butterfly, peacock grouper.\u00a0 It\u2019s awesome!\u00a0 Obviously the reefs of Madagascar differ substantially from the reefs in the Caribbean; however, you need nothing more than a fish book and the ability to distinguish between the families to identify a fish.\u00a0 I encourage all ocean lovers to learn to identify what you see in the water.\u00a0 Make an effort to learn the families. In the end you\u2019ll thank yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Max Appelman. I\u2019ve dived before. I\u2019ve snorkelled dozens of times in the beautiful reefs of the Caribbean, lush with corals and schools of fish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":28415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised","category-velondriake-madagascar"],"yoast_head":"\n