Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Discovering Under Water

I know I already posted about diving once, but as it becomes more and more a part of my life, I feel the need to share. The biggest difference in my two lives is that in my current one I have a lot more time to think and reflect, this blog is one of the outputs of that time. Last night, I went on my first night dive and it was something so amazing and the whole time I was underwater I was thinking about everything I saw and how amazing it all is.

First off, under water life from my vantage point is the most pure and interesting forms of life. I see more colors (even at night) in one hour diving than I will in a week above ground. And all kinds of colors - the colors on these massive reef structures that are far more beautiful and engaging than any man-made structure. They serve as perfect playgrounds, feeding areas,sleeping nooks, and general  everyday life to millions of types of sea creatures from sharks to turtles to shrimp. And they all live together in a harmony that does not exist above ground.

It's all so grossly misunderstood at times. I heard somewhere that Steven Spielberg regrets a bit how Jaws created this incredible fear of sharks. That's a good thing, I swim with sharks regularly here now, not great whites but small sharks that have absolutely no interest in eating me or any of my dive mates - they generally swim away as fast as they can once they know we are there.  They are beautiful creatures just trying to live their life, what's so scary about that?

On last nights dive, after the first turtle swam up to the light we were holding and any fear I had of being underwater at night faded, I spent the next 45 minutes on thinking about the under water world vs. the above ground world and how very different but yet similar they are - beyond the whole air vs water thing. In each reef formation there is more life living together than probably anywhere else in the world but it does't feel crowded. Blue fish swim with grey fish and pink fish around the same areas. When you are different there you seem more special - I get more excited about seeing turtles and eagle rays than I do some of the fish. So there is still that - but I doubt the fish feel the same as I do. There is this perfect symmetry to it all that I personally had been searching for. I am definitely a more appreciative person because of experiencing it, even in the very tiny way I have.

I couldn't be happier that in addition to finding the love of my life, I found a new passion and have a new respect for the ocean. The two are related of course, I covered that in a past post - if I ended up hating scuba I would not be living the life I am today. So glad it turned out the other way. I hope this respect I am gaining will help be kinder to the the ocean- its so much more beautiful when it's unspoiled by us pesky humans. It's really making me appreciate being here versus New York. New York will always be part of me, but getting to be in the ocean as often as I really want, that is something I am so very very grateful for!

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