Between a Shark and a Hard Place - Part 2
Daily Telegraph (UK, 1999)

The first of the sharks appearing through the gloom was over nine feet long and powerfully muscled. He swam quietly past as we hugged the cave wall, then another shark followed and a third, leading a procession of predators. One by one, they swam out of the cave and into the blue, ready for the hunt.

We followed them at a healthy distance. Wrasse scattered as the sharks approached, rearranging in a pattern like pieces of colored glass in a kaleidoscope. An eagle ray skimmed the seabed. He was nearly six-and-a-half feet across and as thick in the middle as a man. He saw the sharks and disappeared in a cloud of sand.

A storm raged as we surfaced. By late afternoon the swell showed no signs of easing. "Let’s get out of here," said Matt, the Cornish skipper. We weighed anchor and left for calmer waters.

We chugged past islands covered in dense jungle. Only once during the voyage did we swim to shore, body-surfing to a sandy beach on Clara Island. "I’ve seen elephant tracks along these island beaches", said Brendon. Marooned when the logging industry collapsed, these feral Nellies now share the jungle with tigers and shrieking crab-eating macaques. Pythons hang from the trees and sea eagles build nests on limestone cliffs.

A convoy of military boats appeared on the horizon, heading towards the harbor on Lord Loghborough Island. We were forbidden to approach, the few foreign vessels allowed into the region denied anchor anywhere within five miles of a base.

We even had a government minder on board, though Aung Kyi also worked as a galley hand. He as happiest making tea, good-natured when bullied by Nong – the fearsome Thai cook – and smiled shyly when spoken to. He didn’t even take offense when Nong threw him overboard as punishment for not providing better weather.

The poachers they’re paid to catch don’t get off lightly. Once, a crew member made the mistake of reporting fishermen to the local military for dynamiting coral, little realizing that setting off explosions along the reef is a capital offence. The fishermen would be executed. The punishment may be harsh but the danger to legitimate fishermen and divers from illegal dynamiting is also extreme. Brendon pulled me away from a clay pot I found during a dive in a shallow bay. He shook his head and mimed an explosion. "The poachers put dynamite in those pots," he said. "You were about to pick up an unexploded bomb."

The Moken eat and sleep curled on the narrow planks of long-tail boats. Their ancestors were pearl divers and collected swifts’ nests from limestone cliffs. In Burma, the sea gypsies are being forced to live on shore.

Nong spotted their fishing boats as we sailed towards a deserted pinnacle called Western Rocky. "Gypsies," he shouted. "Now we’ll be able to buy fresh fish." Our vessel was a welcome diversion for the crew on the fishing boat. They’d been at sea for three days and the hull was packed. Nong clambered on board and bargained, agreeing to pay 200 Baht for a Wahoo large enough to feed 20.

"We want to give you a present," the headman said, offering another Wahoo and two large snapper. The gifts doubled the size of our purchase.

A pod of pilot whales followed the boat as we headed north. The rain was drizzling softly through a few shafts of sunlight as we anchored in a sheltered bay. The third dive of the day was usually in such a location – an easy dive along a coral reef in shallow water.

We swam past layers of sponges like terraces of giant mushroom. I watched as trevally came in like lightning to hunt the reef fish. Gold twin-striped fusiliers scattered as they swooped. Bright yellow puffer fish pottered around the reef – predators avoid these fish, which swell up inside the stomach and suffocate the attacker.

The swell at North-Eastern Little Torres was fierce. Swimming against the current in these semi-tidal waters was like running a marathon. I was wondering if the others were using as much air. I noticed Brendon and Peter, the strongest of the group, clutching on to rocks to catch their breath and decided they were.