Since 2012 I have found my home under the surface of the ocean.
Soundless water, cool water, soft water, as far as the eye can see.
And not only under the sea is there the calm and serenity, above the surface with fellow divers is the laughter and the sharing of stories and the bond of the love of scuba.
It sounds like
Crazy laughter
Parrotfish beaks scraping at coral
Purging air
Stories of what was seen
Disbelief of those stories
Chaperones snapping pictures or narrating a video they're taking
There's no place on earth I would rather spend my time at then in the Caribbean. It's the people, the atmosphere, the climate, the views, the ocean proximity. It's the perfect place for diving.
It looks like
Palm trees in the breeze
Salty leaves of mangroves
One thousand sea urchins on the rocky walk out
Green ocean over sand beds
Blue ocean over the reef
Swarms of damselfish and wrasses
Tiny shrimp if you look close enough
Crinoids curling back into the rocks when you shine a light on them at night
Sea fans swaying with the current
Stingrays buried in the sand
The dark endless span where the reef drops and the wall starts
Once we load up that gear and take the long swim out to where the reef starts, we can descend into the underwater world that I much prefer to dry land. Diving makes me remember that the world is bigger than I keep thinking it is, and my problems are smaller than I think they are. Diving almost always means a good hour of happiness. It's being fascinated and in love with fish and creatures other people don't even know the names of.
It feels like
Cold currents rising up from under you
The silky softness of sea fans brushing against your skin
The burn and blister of fire coral
The discomfort of sunburn that you get no matter how much sunscreen you use
The weight of a forty pound tank and all your dive gear
Ask any diver and they'll tell you stories of their best dives, their worst dives, the funniest things that happened during dives. My log is full of rants and memories and jokes more than it's full of important information.
It smells like
Fresh and clean when a breeze rolls off the ocean
The cloying greenness of algae on the rocks as we walk to where the waves break
Last minute sunscreen applications
Detangler after everyone manages to remove masks from the rat nests their hair has become
Toothpaste as its passed around to defog masks
Neoprene of wet suits
Sand baking in the sun
Chlorine that forever lingers on swimsuits
A good day is a day with a few dives in it. We get the shirts to say we were at the dive site, that we were on the dive cruise. We take pictures to remember the trips we took, where we were and who we were with and what we did. We come home and tell people about the sea creatures we saw, what so-and-so did that you won't believe, and "look at these coral scrapes I got did you know blood looks green underwater".
It tastes like
Salt salt salt salt
Candy to cancel out the taste of saltwater once you get out
Watermelon and potato chips and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we made for lunch
Warm water that we guzzle after a dive
And salt again
I love you, Caribbean summers. I love you, ocean. I love you, scuba diving.
