I´m in love. In the past few days I have spent nearly as much time under water as above, and I am completely enthralled by the world down there. It has been many years since I felt so excited or passionate about a new activity, but this is truly unique. Admittedly, I just got scuba certified in one of the world´s most beautiful diving spots. What has been most exciting about it is seeing the same kinds of organisms under water here that we are familiar with back on Catalina but in different variations. Since it´s not really possible to jump up and down with excitement in water, I was swirling around and doing flips down there, just enjoying the feeling of being suspended in water and observing a new world. The impressive quality about the fish and other critters down there is that they just let you stick your face right up close to them and observe, often without fleeing if you approach carefully. I found myself thanking them yesterday for giving me the opportunity to see life in a different way. Maybe that was the nitrogen narcosis, but either way, it was close to something spiritual.
Can I list a few of the things I saw without boring the reader? The list is impressive: turtles, sting rays, moray eels, squid, nudibranchs, fireworms, comb jellies (they really exist! unbelievable!), sea horses, christmas tree worms (really big ones), jellyfish, parrotfish, sponges and corals, tiny fish that hide in holes, anemones, flatfish, and the list goes on and on. We logged all of our dives, so the geeky ocean explorers out there who are interested can hear more details later. It is just like Finding Nemo, where you are there on this reef and then sometimes it just drops off into open blue ocean. It is so fun to watch everything interacting-- to watch fish feeding on plankton, to
find their homes in crevices, to see a sea horse wrap around some algae to keep from floating away. I´m just so excited!
When I got here Monday, Meagan and Courtney greeted me and we dropped my stuff off at
their house and jumped directly onto the boat for a snorkel. Then Tuesday was a theory day and Wednesday the diving began. It took some serious concentration, and trust in my lovely
instructor Meagan, to pull my mask off and put it back on under water. That was challenging. It brought on this panicky feeling but I´m getting over it slowly as I get more comfortable
breathing underwater. Between Wednesday morning and Friday at noon, I went on 8 dives, including the grand finale, which was a deep dive where we went down to 100 feet. That felt just about like 40 feet, but the bag of chips that Meagan brought down was totally compacted and I know I was supposed to think of my lungs and remember to always keep breathing. Scuba diving could be a form of therapy because you never ever stop breathing slowly and steadily. Anxiety or distress are just not options. Every movement is slow, deliberate, and calm.
This weekend is all about rejuvinating and enjoying the relaxation of being in the arms of good friends in a beautiful place. We celebrated a friend´s birthday last night by treating her to a
sunset sail around the bay. We laughed for an hour and a half straight with our German guide and then made our way into town to continue the celebration. My hosts have been the
most gracious you could ask for and the week here has flown by. The unraveling that has taken place for me is the best kind, just like falling in love where you let yourself relax into something much bigger than yourself. I guess I let the whole mellow feeling get away with me the other night when I left my wallet in the bar. It only had 50 cents in there and some lip gloss, so no big deal, but I´m going to have to readjust for the departure. Well, what more can you ask for in life than this? I guess I´ll have to leave soon, but even then, the journey to come sounds amazing: visiting some ancient ruins on the way back to Antigua where I will get ready to fly out. (Make any requests now before the bags are filled!) And the further adventure of returning to my beautiful home, great friends, and amazing job keeps me feeling positive even about the end of this amazing journey.
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