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			#1  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Glad to hear you still got in the water after your ordeal over there! Too bad about the monti but hopefully you can salvage anything. After that it's only time =) 
		
	
		
		
		
		
			
		
		
		
		
	
		
		
	
	
	That is freaky about the cuda...brings me back to my last trip to mexico and I stumbled upon a school of large tarpons. Not being an ID whiz I just saw a bunch of 5 - 6 foot fish maybe 20 feet away and I seriously almost shat myself.  | 
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			#2  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Welcome back Lance! 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
	
		
		
	
	
	Hows your ear doing? Hope the plane ride didn't aggravate it too much. Those barracudas are scared of nothing. I had a similar experience while snorkeling one trip out there. I was definitely not too thrilled when the cuda gave me the stare down without flinching. Lucky for me he didn't feel like following though..  | 
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			#3  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Quote: 
	
 Glad to be back. The ear's pretty good. Yeah, no fear in those fishies. I wish I had the camera with me but the wife had it at the time. Of course, I probably wouldn't have thought to get any pics. More interested in getting the hell away from it. 
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	225g reef  | 
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			#4  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Welcome back buddy, I thought it had been kinda quiet around here lately. Next time your over I will show you my picture of the school of barricuda that my son and I swam through when I was in the Bahamas last summer. Must have been a thousand of them and then when we came out the other side we wound up right in the lap of a 5' reef shark. Whoo Hooo fun times! 
		
	
		
		
		
		
			
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			#5  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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 Wow! Sounds scary......... I mean exciting! 
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	225g reef  | 
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			#6  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 I forgot to mention how many Lionfish I saw. I knew they were getting to be a real problem in the Atlantic, but I didn't realize just how many there are. In some areas I snorkeled in there was literally a Lionfish under every other rock ledge. As a reasonable guess I would say I counted over thirty of them in an area no larger than 1500 sq ft. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
			
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	225g reef  | 
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			#7  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 So this is what I came home to from my vacation: 
		
	
		
		
		
		
			As you can see the big pink Cap is about 50% dead. I was thinking maybe Mont-eating Nudis but I couldn't see good enough as the Cap is in the center of the tank. I broke off a good sized chunk and examined it; but found nothing. Any ideas? ![]() After fragging, this is what I'm left with. I dipped all the frags in a freshwater bath and then a coral dip. They will remian in Qt for awhile until I'm sure they're ok. ![]() This is what that part of the tank looks like now with the cap removed. Although I have had that cap for 3 years and grown it from a frag colony to a nice sized colony, it was actually getting too big and shading out my Crocea. It hurts to lose it but now I have space for more corals. ![]() 
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	225g reef  | 
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			#8  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Glad the affair with the cuda turned out alright. They are scary when that big. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
	
		
		
	
	
	What part of Mexico?  | 
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			#9  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Caribbean side. Near Akumal. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
			
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	225g reef  | 
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			#10  
			
			
			
			
			
		 
		
		
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			 Quote: 
	
 Ear seems to be pretty good now Brett. Flight home kinda hurt though. As for the Cap, it was getting too big and I was thinking of fragging some good sized chunks from it. Guess I have to now. I'm not exactly the most experienced underwater guy and I always wondered what I'd do if I ran into something scary down there. Would I be brave or a chicken ****? I guess I fall somewhere in between Rocky Balboa and Richard Simmons. 
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	225g reef  |