Gimme a T, gimme an I, gimme a T, gimme an A, gimme a N.... GGGOOOOOoooooo TITAN!

I was telling myself today ... “Tee, you gonna finish reading that 10 magazines you bought 2 months ago!” I love going to those bookstores that sells old-dated magazines. It’s "cheap cheap good good!" So I started off reading the ScubaDiver Australiasia Feb Issue and I came across a picture of a triggerfish. I was staring at it and didn’t realise my mind drifted back to that unforgettable day (not long ago) where I had the scariest and awesome experience with one of the most feared after fish..... the TITAN.

Before I start going off bout my close-encounter with a Titan, let me fill you in with the facts. This article was written by James Costello, Dolphin Dive Adventures & Services. Picture courtesy from some website (can't remember but thank you diver!)

The Titan Triggerfish is an infamous character of many tropical reefs, with stories abounds of how they aggressively attack divers (especially during the breeding season). Stories of people have bodily parts bitten, or the more luck just having holes in their fins... Most divers are warned of Titan's during dive briefing etc, which does tend to heighten the anxiety for divers when they see them!

Well, here are some real facts about these misunderstood creatures!

Titan's are extremely territorial, and especially during the breeding season on April/May they will protect their nest aggressively. During these months the male will guard the nest against all on-comers, including divers; the ‘Protection Zone' goes directly up from the nest in a cone shape (as they can see upwards). Their eyes are independently rotating, heavy armored scales; they are the largest member of the Triggerfish family and can grow up to 75cm!

Their bites can cause infection as they contain a natural poison called Ciguatoxin, which can have serious affects on humans; in extreme cases causing heart attacks or paralysis. They may also use ramming techniques to scare other creature's away (including divers). They usually feed on hard corals or hard bodied invertebrates and algae, NOT divers!

The most important thing to remember here is that we are invading their world and territory; they are only following their instincts with regard to what they think is a threat. Now unfortunately, so divers act aggressively back to them either hitting them with points/knifes/etc. This is understandable considering the stories that get told, but this can also have an aggravating effect. The titan will learn that divers are even more dangerous, and hence attack them more (even when not provoked).

My experience happened end of March 2010, Tioman Island. It was during my 1^st dive on the 2^ndday. There were 8 divers led by a DiveMaster (DM) from B&J Dive Centre. After 15 min. into the dive I realise the DM took out his knife. That’s when I saw a Titan triggerfish swimming in front of him. So I was thinking “alright then... I’m gonna swim slightly away coz I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a trigger”. But before I could do anything, I suddenly felt a *thump*, like someone pushed me. And when I turned around, I can honestly tell you my eyeballs were like in the cartoon. They were literally popping out from my eye socket. What I saw was another huge *&!$ing Titan.

Suddenly I had this crazy adrenalin rush, and the 1^st thing I did was touching my BCD and regulator coz I was afraid the trigger might punctured it. I was relief there were no holes or whatsoever. Unfortunately that was not the end. I checked my gauge and noticed I was losing air and that was when I saw my alternate-air source (octopus). The thump came from the triggerfish ramming into my octopus causing the purge to jam. As you can imagine, I was about to go into panic mode but I was trained not to do so in any kind of situation. I quickly swam to the DM and started telling him using hand signals and yes in the midst of it I manage to give the trigger the middle finger! As I was losing air fast the DM took me back to the surface, but by the time I reached for the 3 min. safety stop I was out of air and did the buddy breathing with the DM. Once I surface I had to manually inflate my BCD and at the same time trying to stay afloat. Oh and there was strong surface current!

All and all, I can safely say thank god that the trigger didn’t took a chunk of my meat! Maybe we were diving too close to their nest or we were rudely interrupting their lunch. Since that experience I admit I’m one paranoid diver when it comes to the Titan. But that’s diving. You experienced it and you learn.

A video i saw in YouTube.... watch!

THROUGH THE LENS SDAA/MIDE 2010 PHOTO COMPETITION

Refer to the above.

I am not a professional photographer. Nor I doubt I’ll ever be. But I do love to take underwater pictures. I started venturing into underwater photography in 2008 when I got my 1^st ever expensive camera... a G9 + housing (for me it’s expensive). Didn’t know how to use manual mode, know nothing about aperture, shutter speed or ISO.. NA DA! It took me awhile to understand and familiar myself with the camera. But I had a lot of help especially from sifu AB LEE. He is a professional photographer who takes awesome pictures.... and when I say awesome.. I mean AWESOME! RESPECT!

For the past couple of years, me and some friends go for the MIDE exhibition which usually held in PWTC, Kuala Lumpur. They have booths that sells dive equipments, do resort bookings (local and international), talks, scuba discovery and a lot more. We usually end up buying some diving stuff and checking out the winners of the photo competition. So after looking, analysing and criticising (pretending to be one of the judges) the winning photos, we decided to enter our photos for this year MIDE Photo Competition *ehem*. Now unfortunately there are no categories for amateurs, instead this is what they have:

Wide Angle – a favourite of experienced underwater photographers

Macro – an intensely competitive category emphasizing close-up views of tiny critters

Art – anything goes, including traditional photo tricks, composites and CG

Malaysia - featuring the best of Malaysia’s diverse underwater spectacles

As you can see the predicament I’m in is really giving me a headache. I would think they should at least consider categories that have amateur skills in it!! Anyway, after a lot of discussing and deliberating amongst my friends, I’ve decided to enter 5 pictures which I will compete in Macro and Malaysia category. Yeah yeah yeah....... no way I’m going to win but the whole purpose of entering this competition is for fun!