5^th May 2024.

Three minutes into the safety stop, I found myself suspended in the water at five meters with nothing to do but watch bubbles climb toward the surface. That is when I saw him.

He was parked on a finger of soft coral, no bigger than my thumb, but he lit up the reef like a neon sign after dark. He had magenta frills rippling along his back, a stripe of electric blue down his spine, white and black tentacles waving like he was conducting an orchestra, only he could hear. A nudibranch, and clearly not a shy one.

You've got good timing, said a voice in my head. Not a sound, exactly, more like a thought that wasn't mine. I nearly spat out my regulator. Ah, the voices again.

Relax. Breathe. I am a fast breather underwater, and my tank never lasts as long as it should. He rippled, and all of a sudden, we were in comms. Bula, the name is Rudi. You like my frills?

We talked, or whatever you call it when one party is exhaling bubbles and the other is a sea slug beaming thoughts through saltwater. I was only getting every 3rd word, and it seemed Rudi was having a great rant about an octopus who lived two reefs over. Then he asked, with what I can only describe as a wink and a pulse. “Got plans tonight uncle?”

Reef Party. I’m playing. Be there.

I was questioning my own sanity and short of oxygen, so I surfaced, swam to shore and cracked a cold beer. What just happened? I showered and went for dinner. The nightcap was a bowl of Kava, and that was when curiosity got the better of me. In for a penny, in for a pound, so I strolled down to the water's edge and felt if I am doing this, I will go nude as it would be rude not to. Swimming in under the stars and using only my memory where we met on the reef's edge, I started to feel a buzz in the water. Wait, is that music? Not really music, but a high pitched, slow pulse rolling out from the coral below. Bullseye. I held my breath and went down.

To my amazement, the most incredible gathering of nudibranchs were bopping and glowing having a rave. At least 100 of them. All different colours and it was wild.

Rudi saw me coming and gave me a nod as he played his decks. I received his telepathic message. "Bula uncle! You made it! Welcome to the party. Look but don’t touch.

I stayed down for as long as I could hold my breath and all I know this, just off the sandy beach at Nukubati on the Great Sea Reef of Fiji, there's a very stylish sea slug named Rudi the Nudi who throws a better party than most people I know.

Vinaka.