26 DAHLAK 



In two hours it would be gradually swallowed up and the 

 water would reach the trees. We were five hundred yards 

 out, and the depth was only twelve to fifteen feet at the most. 

 It was only our second dive and we weren't yet feeling 

 sufficiently intrepid to visit the invisible barrier further out. 

 We tried once, but when the sand and naadreporic blocks 

 began to spread confusion about twenty feet beneath us, we 

 decided unanimously in favour of discretion. The truth of 

 the matter was that on finding ourselves in deepish sea, the 

 anxiety of the previous day had returned. It was possible 

 that there was no barrier there. We discovered later that 

 this was indeed the case and we should have gone on ever 

 seawards without finding it. 



When we got back to the shallow water once more and 

 saw the colours, the life, and those numerous kaleidoscopic 

 animals again, our fears quietly receded and we returned 

 happily to our watching, searching and poking, pointing out 

 odd-looking things to each other like exuberant schoolboys, 

 our hearts thudding with excitement. I made a brief calcula- 

 tion that in each cubic yard of water there must be an average 

 of three six-ounce fish and a dozen smaller ones, all of them 

 brightly coloured, lively and curious. I wrote, *dazzling 

 movement of fauna' in my diary. The sea-bed seemed like an 

 ant-heap. 



That day luck favoured me and I got the biggest catch : a 

 ten-pound kingfish. It came fast and sure from the depths; 

 two yards away it stopped short to look at me, then turned, 

 and as it did so my arrow sprang into its side. The long and 

 violent battle which ensued took me completely by surprise. 

 I learned as time went on that almost all Red Sea fish are 

 very much stronger than Mediterranean ones. 



Gigi in his turn caught a decent six-pound pampano, also 

 a tenacious fighter. I scored again with a chubby six-pound 



