2023 - September
Skip Navigation Links.
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 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 health seemed a bit of 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 had felt quite good but then quickly became really dizzy. With hindsight, this may well have been due to high blood pressure, another new medical issue to contend with. Still as I approached my 70th birthday, I should just have been grateful to be able to go on exciting trips like this one!