Mating mandarinfish on Magic Island ’ s house reef timeless ritual – an urgent dance around the coral that culminates in a mating couple rising a few inches off the reef and loosing a life-affirming puff of eggs and sperm . These psychedelic love bugs – the Fabergé eggs of the fish world – are a huge draw , and have even been adopted into the logo of the Magic Island resort .
Pescador Island
I was impatient to dive the area ’ s two best known attractions . The first of these was Pescador Island , a 25-minute boat ride away in the Tanon Strait , and a marine park since 1990 . I wasn ’ t disappointed , as the walls are decorated by garish curtains of soft coral , some of the most colourful I have seen anywhere . There ’ s also a vast cavern with four openings , resembling a giant demonic head from inside .
The memories came flooding back , but time can be cruel . There had once been a beautiful coral garden in the shallows , ideal for snorkelling . However , it had been hit by a typhoon and the rock was scoured almost clean . Perhaps we can take heart that this degradation was the result of natural forces ; we can only hope that that the developing corals I saw on the site will have a chance to restore Pescador ’ s shallows to their former glory .
Back in the day , Pescador had also been home to a colossal school of sardines , so densely packed they blocked out the sun . They had long since moved to the mainland , where they took up residence on a house reef opposite the main drag at Panagsama Beach .
We dropped in the water and swam along the reef , anticipation building as we drew ever nearer to the much celebrated fish ball . The viz was understandably quite milky , but the water was still ( just about ) blue ; this is to be expected in areas close to downtown development , moored boats and of course a multitude of prodigiously pooping sardines .
Then the sky went black . Unlike the big schools of trevally at Ras Mohammed or Cocos Island , the sardines barely reflect any light . They move in much the same way as a murmuration of starlings , their ever shifting mass forming brief shapes before crashing in on themselves . I could see a few predators lazily testing the school – a
Magic ’ s Dive Centre Manager Jamie Gladwin takes on the sardines
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