This rock was the tip of a huge pyramid of reef life under water.  You can see the change in the water surface cause by the current being diverted around the rock.

I finally went diving again.  It was a nervous decision to make, but I think it helped to know that if my first dive didn’t work out, I wouldn’t have to pay for any others.  With nothing to really lose, I decided to go diving with Matt.  At the start of my descent, I began breathing way to fast, and had to surface to calm down.  After a couple minutes I was ok, and Fabi, our divemaster, held my hand as I tried it again.  Success!  It felt nice to be back under the water.  One, two, three.  One, two, three.  I counted my breaths in and out to avoid breathing too heavily as I and the other divers were whisked away by the underwater current.  It was definitely a lot different from my previous training dives that had been beach dives into a shallow reef.  This dive was in the open ocean, and we were following a strong current in search of manta rays.  The water was moving so fast, it was hard to concentrate on seeing things because I was busy flailing my arms around and trying to stay set on the same course as the other divers.  All the flailing and my (still a little too heavy) breathing meant I used up my air faster than the more experienced divers.  But so did Matt and one other diver, so I didn’t feel too bad.  The three of us surfaced early.  Despite my lack of coordination, it was still a great dive.

The next dive felt much slower paced as the site was sheltered by a rock from the current (see above photo).  We swam back and forth along a wall and it was fun to look at the sea life from a new angle.  So much fun, in fact, that Matt and I decided to go diving again the next day.  Those two dives were even more fun than the last two because Matt and I were the only divers going out that day (in addition to Fabi), so we didn’t have to put up with anyone else’s bubbles and could go at our own pace.  Oh, and the dive sites weren’t too bad either. 

By the end of the day I felt like I had gotten the hang of this diving thing and am looking forward to the next time we go.  Whenever and wherever that may be, who knows?!

Looking up.

Colorful corals.

Fish Faces.

The bottom of the anemone.

Hello nudie branch!