Remembering Andy Belcher: Boris the Grouper
Legendary photographer's incredible stories live on
When Andy Belcher passed away on January 28th 2026, aged 82, he left behind much more than memories - he also gave the world a cornucopia of stunning photography, and a vast library of stories, many of which he shared with Dive Pacific. Over the past months, Ocean Mead has been sifting through thousands of her father's images, which she has shared with us to honour his lasting legacy.
Over the coming months, we will share some of these stories, beginning with Andy and Ocean's encounter with the infamous Boris the Grouper. The legendary giant fish lives on the sunken shipwreck of the SS President Coolidge in Vanuatu, and is a legendary giant in the scuba diving community.
Andy's story
Launched in February 1931, the SS President Coolidge was operated as a luxury liner. After the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 she was commissioned as a transport ship to reinforce garrisons in the Pacific. She set sail from San Francisco for New Caledonia and Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. On her approach to Santo in October 1942, the SS Coolidge struck two mines and the captain ran her aground. 4,998 troops got safely off the ship before she sank. She now rests on her port side in warm tropical waters with her bow at a depth of 20 metres and her stern at 70 metres.
I was invited to photograph the infamous Coolidge and as we descended towards the huge wreck I was vaguely conscious of a large fish shape in the distance. My eyes just about popped out of my head! It was the biggest grouper I had ever seen and I became transfixed with photographing this wonderful 250-kilo monster.
Unfortunately my magazine editor wanted me to photograph a mural called The Lady in the ship’s dining room and took me to deeper water, and the next day we moved on to another location. I was gutted. I knew instinctively that the grouper was an amazing photo opportunity and promised myself I would return.
One year later I returned to dive the Coolidge again. My wonderful resident Japanese dive guide Mayumi told me the grouper’s name was Boris, and promised to bring him close to my camera. We swam down the starboard side of the Coolidge to see Boris lurking in the distance. I signalled Mayumi to wait while I set up my camera, then I could concentrate on the composition of the image in the heat of the moment.
Guessing Boris might come very close I manually focused on my knee. I manually metered the background water and set the strobes on low power so as not to over expose the fish. I was ready. We kneeled on the hull. Mayumi pulled from her plastic container a fish the size of a small kahawai and waived it above her head. In an instant Boris was right in my face! As he turned in front of me with his little yellow followers I took one photo.
Two weeks later I saw the transparency was pin sharp and perfectly exposed. I was elated and it was to become my most successful image. It won first place in the world’s prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. Being flown to London’s Natural History Museum to accept my award from Richard Attenborough was the highlight of my photographic career. The image then toured the world as part of their exhibition and its appearance brought me lots of new work enquiries.
Several years later my 12-year-old daughter Ocean completed her PADI open water dive training and I took her to meet Boris. She appeared to have absolutely no fear of this huge fish.
What I learned from this whole Boris experience was this. Once you recognize a great photo opportunity don’t give up on it. Go back and do it again and again until you get it right!
