2023 - September
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In September 2023 I flew to Southern Brazil to scuba dive with Anacondas, the world’s largest snakes. These giant snakes have been known to drag off children and pets but I was part of a Big Fish Expeditions trip so what could possibly go wrong?! 

Our BFE trip leader, Julian Gunther worked tirelessly to try and make the trip a success and I was lucky to have three great fellow guests Dan McGanty, Helen Brierley and Tony Thoma but the Dive Gods were definitely not on our side. Normally around August and September, anacondas appear in large numbers in the Rio de Janeiro to breed. But not this September. We saw one small one on a bank. Unfortunately, that soon disappeared down a hole not to reappear. And after that, there were none. We did however see capuchin monkeys, caimans and a parrot snake but by the high standards of BFE trips, this was a disappointing trip and unfortunately, my declining health was becoming an issue. Eight weeks earlier I’d had a right ventriculoperitoneal shunt inserted into my skull and connected to a hose which ran down the inside of my neck to my perineum, to permanently drain ongoing overproduction of cerebrospinal fluid. Arriving in Brazil I felt quite good but then quickly became really dizzy. I wondered if the shunt was malfunctioning or whether I had something new wrong with me, such as Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo or Ménière's Disease. Not thoughts you want to have on a dive trip!