On the morning of the second and final day of diving, Vincent, Joseph, and I were in the water fairly early. Normally, the sharks are sedately swimming around. They would swim in circles around us and the bait bucket, which is a couple of milk crates filled with fish bait, suspended from a float. The sharks normally would cruise around just out of range of our hands. All of a sudden, everyone in the water could feel more tension; the sharks got excited and started swimming much more quickly than before. Vincent heard a snapping sound (my hearing and memory are terrible); I saw a shape below us shaking, and scales flying. A huge blue marlin had come upon us and hit a fish below us.
This was an once-in-a-lifetime encounter, seeing an 800-lb blue marlin approach. It was excited, showing its stripes; and it approached Vincent and me within 8 feet or so. Both of us got great still images of this magnificent animal. The marlin, clearly excited, swam up to the surface and followed the boat for quite a while. It hung there long enough for everyone on the boat to notice it, and to think about jumping in to film it. Finally, it swam back down, and disappeared.
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