the great blurrier reef

we went out diving in the barrier reef today. first off, we signed up for a “try scuba diving” lesson in the pool, where they explained the basics, and then had us try on all the gear and the experience in the safety of the butterfly pool.

the first time you try it, sticking that thing in your mouth, dunking your head underwater, and then trying to breath, it’s just so incredibly wrong that you almost can’t do it. everything in your head is telling you, this is fundamentally wrong. you’re trying to breathe while underwater. you can’t do that, dummy. stick your head back up before you drown. eventually, i sort of got the hang of it, but i was honestly freaking out the first few minutes. your body is screaming this is wrong! everything is wrong!

it was a very windy and rocky trip out to the reef, which would have been dicey had we not taken seasickness pills with breakfast. the other people on the trip didn’t fare so well, however.

the first dive was pretty scary. you’re still trying to get your head around the fact that you’re underwater and trying to breathe. your mind is still screaming at you that this shouldn’t be working at all. but somehow we survived, mostly by having the dive instructors hold our hands and drag us around underneath the reef. i almost didn’t go on the second dive, since the first one felt so incredibly unnatural that i was ready to say, “ok, maybe i’m just an above water type of person. i’ll just stick to walking, snowboarding, other topside activities.” but since i was out there, i figured i’d give it one last shot. and actually it was pretty great. the second time we were able to enjoy it much more, swim around on our own, and see lots of great stuff. well, sort of. given that i’m mostly blind, being underwater without glasses on means that i see things, but not well at all. so while i might have seen reef sharks, manta rays, blue starfish, giant clams, and lots of fish, it’s just as likely that i saw shark, ray, starfish, clam, and fish-shaped objects. i mean, who knows for sure?

still, it’s very cool down there. it really doesn’t make sense at all, and the fishes swim up to you curiously, defending their territory, asking you, “what are you doing here?” and all you can do is to wave your hands around, and try to respond, “i don’t really know. just passing through, i guess.”

Posted at November 27, 2004 9:21 PM