I just went scuba diving! For the first time in 20 years (okay 19, but who’s counting?) and I am so glad! I have heard wonderful things about the diving in Maldives. In addition to the fact that there is an abundance of sea life – fish, coral, invertebrates, sharks, turtles, rays, you name it! – there are many islands and reefs and the visibility is usually crystal-clear. As I was hoping to dive again during my travels, I thought now would be a great time for a couple of reminder dives. I thought I’d brought my license, but unfortunately, when I got here, all I had was my old dive logs. The dive instructors thought they could look up my info – until they saw that I had certified sometime Before the Common Era… (probably not gonna be in the database!), but luckily all of my dive logs were signed off and they were able to accept that so I could take the refresher course, rather than an entire new how-to class.
So I started in the morning with my instructor, Yannes, as it turned out to be a 1-on-1 class, reviewing and quizzing and then we did a brief dive from the shore to work on skills. I’ll admit, I was a little worried about how I’d do, it having been so long. Would I panic? Probably. Could I talk myself down when I did panic? Now that would be the real question.
Good news…I was able to manage. It’s true, there are those moments when you look up at the surface, far above your head, and know that you can’t possibly reach it in one breath. And of course, with the classes fresh in your mind, you are painfully aware of the fact that your lungs couldn’t handle the pressure anyway, and of all of the minutiae that could go wrong. But luckily, you’re also practicing all the safety moves, such as how to breathe from your buddy’s tank, and to find your respirator if it’s pulled away etc… Once again, I was able to prove to myself that I am usually able to – mind over matter style – talk myself down from panic’s ledge. And there is nothing quite so peaceful as floating, relaxed, at the bottom of the ocean, watching a beautiful alien world float by. Everything you see is a new discovery, it seems. It’s well worth that momentary “WHAT AM I DOING?!?” that goes through your head.
Crane on the beach where we dove
In the afternoon, we went out a little further, down to about 12 meters depth to the house reef. I certified originally in San Diego, where the visibility is okay, at best. Here, it’s okay, at worst. Here, I saw more in the 45 minute dive we did than I probably did in all 6 of my certification dives in California. At one point, we were surrounded by an entire school of electric blue-and-black fish. The coral was incredible, and I saw a starfish bigger than my head. The whole day was amazing….
So…I signed up for two dives tomorrow morning! They are boat dives, so the boat will take us out to one of the bigger reefs, a channel between two islands which apparently has sharks and tons more things to see. Yay! We’ll see how I do. And how my ears do. They still haven’t cleared from the dives today. Other than that, I feel great! Totally looking forward to tomorrow!
I also talked to one of the scuba instructor ladies today, because I’d heard that there were places in the Maldives that have bioluminescence. This is a phenomena that occurs in the oceans in a couple of places in the world when there are certain organisms in the water which react to stimulation by giving off light. Apparently, it usually happens only at certain times of the year, like during manta breeding season, when that type of algae is present in large abundance in the water. Doesn’t sound too hopeful. I’ll check out the beach at night, though. Just to be sure…