I've been scared of a sheepshead and its big teeth as shallow as
115' (in my defense, it was a solo dive and I only had an itty-bitty
knife for protection).

We didn't see any eels on our frigid Coronados dive (they must have
all frozen in their holes), so I don't know yet whether she'll have
any PTSD the next time she sees one leering at her.

Yeah, but they are cute, and you just can't help wanting to scratch
them under their cute little chins.

Prompt attention helped in Janna's case.  The boat had a first-aid
kit, as all good dive boats should, so we got her hand rinsed with
disinfectant and covered with antibiotic ointment before she was all
the way up the ladder.  Instead of infection-prone punctures, they
were open lacerations, a lot easier to clean (though obviously more
prone to scarring) and they got a good sea water flushing on the way
up to the boat.

The boat had called ahead for a visit with the local hotel doc and was
able to drop us off on land back on Maui before they did the second
dive (thanks to crappy conditions on Lanai), so we were able to see a
real doctor in a real doctor's office within a couple hours of the
incident.  They recleaned and rebandaged it and gave her an antibiotic
shot and a painkiller, then sent us to the ER, an hour drive by the
time we found the place.  Another two hour wait, and she was X-rayed,
numbed and stitched, and rebandaged.  X-ray didn't find any teeth, but
doc still didn't put more than a stitch in each laceration to avoid
closing the wounds and allowing infection to take root.

The ER doc had warned that she might need to see a hand specialist in
case there was any nerve damage or bad scarring, but she's healed good
enough to hopefully not need further work on it.  Until the next
time . . .

Perhaps I'll post some before and after photos on my website, if I can
find them.

Oh cripes, for the past 2 weeks the six-gills have been cruising the
Owens Beach wall at 60-100 ft.  Dogfish swim the wall from 60-120 ft
all through the Narrows. When they bump into us at the aquarium, they
practically say "excuse me."

Wolfies are cute lil fellas though.  We hand feed them (carefully!!)
at the aquarium.  And at Day Island, they will crawl all over you and
pick your drysuit pockets.

*
i'm much more than a princess but you don't have a name for it yet
here on earth.

I was shocked.  Normally sharks lull me in with their hypnotic gazes
until I'm close enough to become food, but I've always been lucky
enough in the past to break their hold over me and regain my senses.
One time a blue shark convinced to get my face close enough to its
grimacing maw to almost kiss, but I someone managed to escape with my
pride intact.

But the little bastard that bit me, I'll never forget him.  He was
calling "play with me" like many of the evil denizens of the
underwater world often do when they know you might be narced and
susceptible to subliminal coaching.  Of course I couldn't resist.
Then right in the middle of our game, he suddenly snuck up and bit
me.  That's not playing fair.