October 14, 2012
I wanted to go for a swim and see the fish that had been swimming with our friend Sabina. We took our dinghy over to Local Talent, and the fish were still under their boat. I got in and brought out the cracker crumbs, and soon I was surrounded by these beautiful fish that looked like giant angel fish (about the size of my head). They were eating out of my hand, swimming right in front of me and occasionally letting me run my hand along their fins.
After I finished feeding and swimming with them, I decided I’d swim back to our boat while Rich took the dinghy. The fish completely surrounded me as I went, not following me or looking for food but just swimming with me, almost like they were escorting me back to our boat. When we arrived, Rich had some string cheese ready to feed them, and they went crazy for that! They stayed by our boat after that. (We’ve found a little string cheese can buy a lot of loyalty from many of Earth’s creatures).
The next day we went in to clean the bottom of the boat, with Rich using the scuba tank to clean the lower areas while I worked up higher. Some of the fish stayed with Rich, and some swam by me. They don’t get in the way; they simply hover around like faithful dogs as though they enjoy just being near you and seeing what you’re up to. They have this sort of soothing, peaceful effect, and we found them absolutely charming. That might seem like a strange word to use to describe fish, but these were special fish.
We consulted our Reef Fish guide and found out our new little friends were Longfin Spadefish, and that they are found between Africa and Japan. I don’t know how they found their way to this bay in Tonga, but we sure enjoyed them. They are a big part of the magic of anchorage #11 (Ano Beach and Tapana). -Cyndi
Here’s a little video of our friends… spade-fish
