Today I dived off Pulau Sipadan, one of the top dive sites in the world. Each dive was along the reef wall, which drops off over 600 meters from the small atoll’s surface. Needless to say, it was absolutely spectacular. The weather was much better than yesterday and consequently, the visibility was unbelievable. And while we focused on small things yesterday, like nudibranches, coral, and other bottom-dwellers, today was all about the big. Each of todays three dives was filled with dozens of turtles, several sharks, huge barracudas, large schools of fish, and so on. All against the backdrop of a living 600 meter wall.
swimming in the midst of a huge school of bumphead parrotfish, each at least a meter long!
On the way back from our dives, I reflected a little bit on what diving means to me. At first, I was more excited about the activity and all the cools things about “flying†underwater. But that wore off pretty quickly, as diving for its own sake wouldn’t be very fun. Swimming underwater is a little fun, but nothing compared to seeing and experiencing the sea life down there. Thus, I see diving as a vehicle to see and explore. It opens up a whole new world to me that didn’t exist before. Snorkeling kind of introduced me to that world, but diving is the way to really explore it. The ability to dive now gives us a chance to further explore the places we visit and opens up a multitude of new places to visit.