What is the coolest thing you have ever seen snorkeling, SCUBA diving, or freediving

Big Manta came from behind me and swam about 6' under me while snorkeling off The Grand Wailea in Maui. There were three of them that I saw and after returning to the beach, you could still see their shadows crossing back and forth.


The Bandit Angels off Kauai were also kind of neat as was diving the lava tunnels.
 
Scuba diving at Wakatobi, Indonesia

Scuba diving at Wakatobi, Indonesia

I saw a cuttlefish get tired of all of us divers hovering around taking pictures and he went disco on us. This fish was flashing maroon and silver. It was really cool.
 
I've only gone once but seeing a school of french Angels and several queen Angels interacting in Cozumel was very cool
 
Snorkling at Jupiter beach near the Blowing rocks in about 10 foot of water I swam over a ledge and noticed an object that looked too geometric and large to be rock formation and as I swam deeper it moved revealing that I just woke up a 10-12ft hammerhead shark and that I just did a low pass over its head. It was working its way from under the ledge as myself and another snorkeler backed into shallower water keeping our eyes in its general direction. They had called a shark alert earlier in the day and the shark disappeared. Found it! :)
 
For me, when I was living on Guam, we were out early catching octopus and about 50 yards away I saw a huge manta ray...had to have been about twelve feet long, head to tail...was kinda hovering over the ground throwing up sand as it flapped it's wings...was pretty epic.
 
Seeing my first (and to date only, but I pray not last) whale shark - until we realized it had a rope tied around it's tail. It was a juvenile and we tried to cut it free, but it bolted. On another occasion, being in the middle of an underwater action movie with millions of big pelagics at Koh Ta Chai.
And in Lembeh, Indonesia, where I was very lucky to be able to spend a couple of months - crossing almost everything off my bucket list (it's a long list) of fish to see.
I've been blessed to have seen so, so many wonderful things. I can't wait until the next trip.
 
First open water dive I ever did was 30 miles off the coast of Sarasota, FL. 100ft. Goliath Grouper on this barge the size of large hogs. Ironically they were completely unaffraid and were like oversized lapdogs. I was hooked from that moment on.
 
I did my first dive post certification at Julian Rocks in NSW Australia. Visibility was 30+ meters. 25+ leopard sharks, 4 manta rays, and 2 sea turtles. Saw a couple wobbegong sharks too. This is on top of the loads of fish. Everything from clownfish, nudibranchs, moorish idols to huge schools of 1000's of fish.
 
Neat. I see Spinner Sharks jumping up in here in the north end of Biscayne Bay on occasion, never got a picture though.
 
I saw two cuttlefish mating while diving in Phuket Thailand two years ago. It was an amazing site!. And last year I came up on a banded sea krait while diving near manta bowl in the Philippines. Even though their very docile and their jaws are tiny, it was sill a little startling.
 
In Hawaii, my girlfriend watched two dolphins (within 10ft) tossing a sea cucumber back and forth. Later discovered it was a mother and child, and the mother was teaching her baby some hunting skills! Sadly, this was before she started diving with a GoPro. Having footage of this would be amazing!

We saw a zillion lionfish diving around Grand Cayman. Ate a couple, too. Must be an acquired taste.
 
Last October I was in Bonaire and came into contact with a Giant green moray eel that was around 8 ft long, a head larger than a humans and completely out in the open on a sand bed on the the bottom of the reef. I was the only diver that had the courage to go up to it and take pictures of it. It was like a little puppy dog. Totally breaks the misconception that just because it looks aggressive that it must be.
 
Diving in San Carlos, Mexico at San Pedro Island, I had a female sea lion startle me. There are several that live on the island and can be seen on a regular basis. I was on a regular exploration type dive when the sea lion jetted right in front of me and stopped. We both just hovered there looking at each other in an almost standing position. Realizing I was holding my breath, something you're never supposed to do, I released a full lung full of bubbles. Promptly the sea lion followed suit as if almost mimicking what I had done. We continued just looking at each other (she was just out of reach) a few more seconds when she took off. I continued my dive with her staying fairly close for the remainder of my bottom time. Never had this happen again, but very memorable.
 
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2 octopus mating in the maldives, was really interesting to watch as the male was very shy and if he caught a glimpse of me he would stop and move away until i was out of view then very slowly sneak back for more lol..
 
I've had my share of cool diving experiences, but seeing a wild Gemmatum Tang was really cool for me:

3047480588_8f547f8521_z.jpg
 
Spslvr said:
2 octopus mating in the maldives, was really interesting to watch as the male was very shy and if he caught a glimpse of me he would stop and move away until i was out of view then very slowly sneak back for more lol..
Click to expand...

That's the way I do it. . . .. .shhhhhh, don't tell my wife! :)
 
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