I just dove a shipwreck and ten gajillion sharks were there 🥰
And tonight I get certified to night dive!!!!
On the wreck dive there was a five foot long barracuda hanging out under the dive boat. Just vibing.
UPDATE: I SAW NOT ONE BUT TWO OCTOPUSES ON THE NIGHT DIVE
Wait I’m not done talking about this night dive. At the end, in order to complete the certification, we had to turn off our lights.
And I realized I wasn’t nervous? Which is absurd. We were only in about 15 feet of water, though, and the moon was almost full, so we knelt in the sand and the whole world was the softest glowing blue. Even in the dark you could see streams of fish glinting past overhead.
And then! And then we started flapping our hands around and the water sparkled green!!! We spent five minutes kneeling there, flapping and giggling like little kids.
I’ve been so sad, but the world is so big. Somewhere out there is an octopus.
(On a night dive you will notice tons of beady little red eyes shining back at you from the coral.
They’re shrimp.)
You do not have to twist my arm to hear more about my underwater adventures! I can’t believe I didn’t already mention about the wreck dive with the sharks, see, when they come close you’re supposed to maintain eye contact. And there were a bunch of juveniles there (all reef sharks), and the juveniles can be a little dumb, so they do in fact get really damn close.
I’m not sure how to describe making eye contact with a shark.
Their pupils are slit.
Your stomach does the swoopy rollercoaster thing and a little voice in your head is going holy shit.
They are very much watching you right back.
Did you know! Lobsters can be colossal.
I have drawn my (first) octopus friend
Barracudas are like nosy old men. No, they won’t hurt you. Yes, they want to know everything about what you’re doing. No, you should not wear shiny jewelry around them. Yes, they are going to get much closer than you would prefer, yes, even if you’re not wearing jewelry.
I love the annoying fuckers but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel some kind of way about turning around and finding a six foot fish grinning in my face.
“Got any games on your phone” ass fish.
Drift diving my beloved ❤️
Do you love lazy rivers, but wish there was more to see? Drift diving might be for you!
Essentially, your dive boat goes to the start of a known current. All the divers gear up, and then jump off the boat one after the other.
And then you just… sit there. No finning, no nothing. The current tows you merrily along.
You can sorta sit with your ankles crossed, and every so often a turtle will hitch a ride on the current next to you, or maybe a shark will politely cross the stream in front of you. The most effort you have to put in is dodging the coral heads.
The boat loops around and scoops you up down-current.
Maybe the most zen thing I’ve ever done.
We did a dawn dive.
I’ve never watched a sunrise from underwater before.
The whole world comes to life around you, just teeming with fish.
Excellent news: Apparently some parrot fish are late risers. You might find them tucked up in some coral, still dozing, while the butterfly fish who lives next door gets increasingly annoyed about the parrot fish in the middle of everything.
Our final dive of the trip was the wreck of a downed plane.
It was in the middle of a vast, grassy, underwater plain, and the water on this dive was a little murkier than usual—churned up sand giving the whole world a warm haze. So the body of the plane loomed out of this gold-colored mist, broken and brown and absolutely churning with life. Life loves a wreck.
I had to stop, and sit, and breathe. I try to hold on to what I’m feeling when I dive, like I’m running my hands over it again and again, mapping all the bumps and grooves so I can take it with me and call it up when I need it. Sense memory.
I don’t feel enough wonder. Something to work on.
(When I was finished having my little moment, I adjusted my angle to go investigate a wing and immediately came face-to-face with a barracuda.)
