Today I woke up and headed to the dive center. Out on the boat by 9am I did my first deep dive to 28.5 meters (just over 90 feet). Immediately upon reaching bottom, we saw a sea turtle, a white tip reef shark, and a sting ray. We saw about 5 more sharks on the dive (small and timid, 1-2 meters long), at at least as many turtles (one pretty massive big old guy), and I didn't die.
We were back on land by noon. After that I had some lunch and a nap in a hammock tied to palm trees on the beach. It started to get hot as the sun shifted me out of the shade, so I moved to some pillows under a grass roof cabana. At about 1:15 we did some compass and natural navigation briefing and headed out for dive #2 of the day. Not as deep this time, but we practiced navigation underwater, saw some more sharks and turtles, and a cuttlefish, which is a small squidlike creature that changes colors rapidly and dramatically. It was changing colors so fast and kind of flickering like it had electric current moving through it. It was so cool, the dive instructor and I watched it for about 15 minutes. It was hunting (this one was small maybe the size of 2 fists), glowing like a neon sign to daze its prey. Search videos for this thing right now, it was awesome.
Then I came back, hung out with my new dive family for a little while, booked a flight to Australia (I know what you were thinking, and no I am not going to be another coincidental transplant to Gili Trawangan), had some dinner, added some photos to the previous entry, wrote this entry, and am going to bed.
Since it's Saturday again tomorrow, I anticipate a similar story. The first dive will be photography practice.
So there you have it.
oh my oh my - over 90 feet below the surface of the ocean. and you lived to tell about it. wasn't it pitch black down there? do you need to bring big lights? you are very brave! i have seen the cuttlefish on some nature programs, but i can't imagine what it must be like in real life!
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for keeping us homebodies informed. I never knew you were interested in scuba diving, sounds like that's the place to do it.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna check out those cuttlefish and I'm very sorry you have to miss this big snowstorm we are getting today.
Love you and keep on writing!
Maria - tell us how warm is the water? Is it clean and clear? do people worry at all about global warming and rising ocean levels? at least some of the folks will be ready with their scuba gear when the tide comes in and stays in!
ReplyDeletefaj, it wasn't even pitch black at all. last night we did a night dive though, we each got our own flashlight. that was pretty cool. at one point we all stopped on the bottom, turned our lights off and waved our hands around to watch the phosphorescent plankton(?). also pretty cool. the water is about 28 celcius, which sounds warm but can leave you feeling chilly after an hour down there. its pretty clear, usually around 15 meters visibility, but that depends on current. there has been some warming damage to the reefs, i think anyone who thinks about global warming worries about it for all parts of the world. this island will be gone with rising ocean levels.
ReplyDeleteauntie c. - just got into scuba. of course it was always one of those things that "would be cool if i ever got around to it", so i made a way to get around to it. and snowstorms really are nice too, we all know that.
this blog is awesome! Keep your eyes peeled for mermaids....i heard they live under the sea...
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