suspended in open water 80 feet down searching for
a bean-sized head in a tangle of growth while your
decompression computer maddeningly clicks off
precious minutes.
Splitting up, we begin scouring the dropoff inch by
inch. Ten minutes into the dive Steve raps on his tank.
At the end of his finger sits a small, tan head bearing
telltale red-banded cirri (filaments). I can’t believe the
luck. However, our excitement turns to apprehension
as the blenny stubbornly refuses to leave its shelter.
But luck keeps coming. As we approach the end of our
safe diving limits, the fish pops out of its hideaway and
scampers to a nearby sponge. As if on cue, it raises its
extraordinary fin high off its back before disappearing
into a thicket.
Things continue going our way the following day.
On a sand plain 70 feet below the unsettled surface
Anna finds another rare Emblemaria, this one a
ribbon blenny perched inside a piece of coral
rubble. We’re on a roll — four fish ticked off
our list of six, and we still have a week to go.
But unseasonable winds continue to drive
rollers ashore, boiling the rocky shallows
where the redcheeks live. Below, 30 feet down,
conditions are fine, so Anna and I focus our
hunt on the Caribbean whiptail stingray. We
make long sweeping swims over sand flats
where the large stingrays forage for mollusks.
Search as we might, there are no rays to be
found; it appears we’re beginning to lose our
mojo. “Four out of six isn’t bad,” we console ourselves.
On the final diving day the wind shifts, calming the seas
somewhat. From the boat’s morning mooring Anna and
I scan the waves breaking along the coastline and decide
to give the redcheeks a go. Minutes later we are rolling
in the surf among a battlement of shore rock trying to
hold ourselves in place long enough to peer inside small
depressions where urchins weld themselves to the rock.
It doesn’t take long to find our first redcheek perched
beneath a cluster of spines. Holding myself in place long
enough to focus takes time — an hour, to be exact — but
I get the shot. We head for the boat swimming jubilantly
side-by-side, feeling like we’ve hit a homerun in the
bottom of the ninth. Halfway back I hear Anna squeal.
Whirling around I watch her plunging toward a dark,
round silhouette lying in a sand chute. It’s our long-lost
ray — number six on the list. Make that a game-winning
grand slam.
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Clockwise from opposite top: ribbon blenny
(Emblemaria vitta); quillfin blenny (Labrisomus
filamentosus); yellow jawfish (Opistognathus
gilberti); Caribbean whiptail stingray (Himantura
schmardae); filament blenny (Emblemaria
hyltoni); redcheek goby (Elacatinus rubrigenis)
