It's been exactly one week since I departed Philadelphia International Airport to being my tropical excursion to the Cayman Islands, a nation composed of three minuscule islands located in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. There are so many things going through my head right now it's hard to organize them into cohesive thoughts the average human being can decipher. Where on earth do I start?
How about the INCREDIBLE scuba diving? Did I mention this was the first time I have been scuba diving in the ocean? For one, it's like swimming in a bathtub-- average surface temperatures here never sway too far from 85 degrees (F that is). Don't even get me started about the visibility and diversity of marine life... Coming from spearfishing in New Jersey when on a good day, I can barely see the end of my gun, to being able to perfectly identify fish species swimming 50 feet or more below me? It's just incredible.
I have learned to identify more species of corals and fish here in just a few days than I ever thought possible. When somebody says, "Hey, I saw a grouper!" The old me would have said, "That's awesome! I saw it to!" Now with all of this knowledge floating around in my noggin, I demand species, size, behavior, and why they didn't make a conscious effort to show me underwater
As a marine biology major, I'm fascinated by everything in the ocean. This is seriously like a playground. It still hasn't quite hit me that when I'm "getting ready for class", I'm assembling my scuba unit on a boat cruising on top of cobalt blue water. The only complaint I have-- the classroom is a bit distracting. Between giant barrel sponges (that's actually the common name) with osculums (mouths) multiple feet in diameter, 5-6 foot Caribbean reef sharks watching my every move, to the mysterious allure of wall-dropoffs plummeting thousands of feet into the abyss, it's a bit difficult to stay focused.
On our second dive today, we headed to a site called Anne's Attic, a mini-wall teaming with sponges of all shapes and sizes and coral species across the entire color spectrum. But the real magic is the fish. I will never forget this... I was neutrally buoyant, floating upside down just a few inches off the sandy bottom at eye level with a queen conch (the one's that produce the famous "magic conch" shape from spongebob). The marine gastropod curiously inched its alien-like eyes out from the safety of its shell, staring at me. To whomever is reading this, it probably seems pretty pathetic, but it was incredibly humbling to see this animal staring DIRECTLY into my eyes, as if trying to figure out what I was. Anyway, after I took my eyes off the conch for a second (still upside down I might add) I noticed a 2.5 foot Nassau grouper slowly cruising my way. No care in the world, it proceeded to swim directly between the bottom of my head and the sand. Naturally I ascended a tad, and to my surprise, the fish stopped swimming right in front of me.
I got myself upright, suspended in the water column, and proceeded to touch this curious animal as it moved effortlessly around me. The best way I can describe it is like a dog begging for table scraps. It was simply amazing. It followed me almost the entire way back to the dive boat
It is not pathetic to feel humbled by your experiences this summer-it shows a great deal of growth and maturity. I am happy to read that you are having such a transformative experience!
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