Beneath the Waves

Fantastic trip out to see the largest living organism, the Great Barrier Reef. I was on a boat with probably 20 people and we simply went diving, ate, and slept. I did a total of 9 dives (averaging about 40 minutes each) and also finished the training for my Advanced Open Water rating. I went down to 30 meters and actually did two dives at night (that was freaky and you'll want to hear more about it). It was incredibly beautiful and definitely a good thing to do (this was one of my lifetime goals actually). So now I fly to NZ tomorrow morning to experience a different kind of beauty that our Creator designed for us, the Southern Alps! Maybe the following can help you get a feel for what it is like to go diving...

Taking a deep breath and blowing out your B.C.D. you slowly descend beneath the surface. The ocean is no longer a trackless blue waste extending to every horizon. It explodes in color, in life, in unparelleled diversity. It is alive! Descending deeper and deeper you become more and more a part of the world around you, inquisitive fish come to peer into your mask while others simply ignore this bubbling double-tailed creature. The closer you come to the magnificent coral formations surrounding you the more life they present. They become full of waving sea fans, tiny technicolored fish, thrashing anemones, and caves and passages holding unknown wonders. School of flashing fish swim in every direction staying in a formation as perfect as any Air Force pilot. Then they scatter as the one they fear comes swimming near, the shark who is king in this underwater realm. Next the sleepy turtle comes ungainly yet somehow gracefully trundling past and allows you to stroke his shell before he follows your bubbles to the surface to take his own breath. By this point you also begin to realize that you are but a trepasser in this world and must soon ascend to the land of bright sun. But you do so willingly, because you know that you will be back beneath the waves someday soon!