This is the “forearm-long” fish that bullied me out of the water. They call it “pakol” in Pandan, but the internet says it also goes by the name “triggerfish”. I think there are three of them in the area (because there are differences in sizes), but there could be more.
We were snorkeling and since I was feeling thirsty already, I told my sister that I’ll go to the restaurant to drink some water. I then swam to the other end of the island first, hoping to catch a glimpse of some turtles. I did see one, and swam with it for a while. I saw it going up to breathe so I swam nearer, and peeked above just in time to see its head jut out of the water for air. Maybe I’m shallow, but it made me happy, as if I scored points in a game that I made up.
After drinking I went back to where my sister was to tell her that I’ve spotted a turtle and we decided to go that site so that she could see it, too. When we got to the blue buoy, we decided to just swim around and wait for it to show up. And then, I felt something pushing/tugging on my fins. When I looked, it was the big fish that Marina (island owner, with whom an encounter/ conversation is a great experience in itself already and who deserves a separate blog) fed with bread when she went snorkeling with us earlier. Thinking that it was just being territorial, I moved to another area. But moments later, there it was again, attacking my fins! As I moved away, I was swimming on my back so that I could watch it as it attacked my fins, and I was laughing so hard because we’ve covered a great distance already and it just won’t let up! I kicked hard, swayed my fins from side to side, I did everything, but it kept on attacking my fins! And because I couldn’t scare it away, I was the one who actually started to get scared! When I realized that we were near the shore already, it occurred to me that maybe all the movements made it more aggressive, so I stopped moving and then that was when it swam away (Reminds me of how I was told by playmates when I was a child to stop moving and bite my tongue if a dog chases me). And I, well, I was so tired and a bit scared (because I didn’t know anything about that fish!), so I decided to just rest on the beach for a while. Another fish of this kind would show up again the next day while we were snorkeling in another area, and although it did not attack us, it swam too close for comfort and gave us “the look”, we decided not to challenge it anymore and call it a day. The island staff said that the pakol is aggressive these days because it’s egg-laying season for them. Of course we were moping as we stayed on the beach, and would once in a while blurt out laughing and calling out to that big bully of a fish!
Still wanting to have another encounter with the turtles, on our fourth day I braved another try in that area where they always swim. This time, though, while waiting for the turtles, I sensed something glide near the sand bottom. When I looked closely, I saw that it was a stingray! It had yellow specks on its diamond-shaped body and a grayish-white tail. Do you know that idiom that says, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you”? I don’t believe that. So when I saw it eyeing me I swam straight back to the shore.
Of course I will go back to Pandan, I love the place. But not until I’ve researched about the scary-looking creatures that I found there like the pakol and the stingray.
P.S. We didn’t have an underwater camera, so these pics came from other sites and are merely "appoximations" of how those that I encountered looked like. =)
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