BBC One – Asia – Surrounded by snakes

Although I was getting some great shots, I was starting to worry about not getting any trevally hunting together. My biggest concern was the few trevally I saw on the reef. By the eighth day, we had finished shooting, and I was starting to worry that we were in the right place at the wrong time. There’s a saying in wildlife movies: “If there’s action where you’re at, don’t go into the unknown.” This was becoming a real dilemma. I had a lot of snakes to shoot, but they weren’t exhibiting the key behaviors we needed.

That evening I expressed my feelings to the crew and proposed the idea of ​​leaving Gunung Api on Manuk Island. Manuk is another small volcanic island and a well-known sea serpent nest, but it was no more than 220 nautical miles away from our location – more than a day’s sailing. The boat captain advised that if we went to Manuk there would be no going back to Gunung Api. We had to make an important decision.

I dived early the next morning – again saw lots of snakes but no action. When I got to the surface, I asked the captain to sail to Manuk. I hoped that I would not regret this decision soon. To add to the anxiety of such a call, the weather failed us, leaving our boat at the mercy of the sea for the entire journey to our new destination.

The next morning we got to Manuk and split into two teams, one dive guide with me and Othniel and another diver going elsewhere. About 30-40 minutes into the dive, I was surprised to see Othniel running towards me with great excitement on his face. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he had found some action. I surfaced and went back to the boat to change the batteries and memory card. The adrenaline was pumping, but we needed to make sure our gear was secure and ready. Rushing in these situations never works and increases the likelihood that something will go wrong.