Last week, I went on a scuba diving trip. All the people who I have classes with know this because it was the only exciting thing I did this summer. This was my first time in three years, so I didn't completely know what to expect. I arrived at the marina, and we set out for a half-hour boat ride deep into the ocean. I set up my scuba equipment and then watched as the boat sped past all of the beachgoers on my right, and the vast ocean on my left. The boat made symmetrical waves on either side of it. I watched the blanket of water flow behind us as the divemaster told us about where we would be diving.
The boat stopped, threw down a descent rope, and we all started to gear up. I put on my mask my fins and my cylinder and walked to the edge of the boat. One giant step was all I took, and I was in another dimension. As I descended, my ears and my sinuses felt the pressure of the entire ocean weighing down on them. I equalized my ears as I learned to do, and continued the descent.
The bottom of the ocean looks unreal. I had seen pictures and videos, but being there in real life was breathtaking (not literally). There were so many intricate details to the corals and beautiful shining fish swimming in schools. An entire ecosystem living peacefully together and creating a piece of art without being conscious of it. One of the other divers picked up a pufferfish and handed it to me. The fish puffed up, it hurt a little, but it was adorable. I let him go and he scurried away into a hollow rock. We looked to our right, and there was a stingray. The stingray started to follow us around like a little dog following its owner. We swam into a shipwreck, the SS Copenhagen. I swam inside the ship and saw how the animals took a sunken ship and created homes for themselves inside of it. There were sea creatures growing all across the sides of the ship, and fish swimming around like the ship was part of nature. After one hour, we ascended. My head bobbed up above the water, and I was back in my world.
The reason I'm writing about this is that I think everyone should experience what I did. Everyone should have a chance to go scuba diving, or at least snorkeling. When I was down in the water I saw sea turtles with my own eyes, I saw a world that we humans damage without even living in it. If everyone gets the chance to not only have this experience but learn to be more conscious about what impact our actions have on the ocean; I believe that the world will be a better place.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so cool and like an amazing experience. I wish I would do something like this, but I have a fear of touching things in the ocean since I got stung by a jellyfish. What made you want to get into scuba diving and snorkeling? Was the training very technical and specific to make sure that you aren’t at risk? It seems like it would be scary to be surrounded by the creatures of the water, at least I would be scared.