Snorkel #1

A couple days ago I supported a couple students in their research efforts. We went to Ball Reef. This is the same location that was used by the folks looking at fish larva. While they were diving and setting up their equipment I watched from the surface 30 feet above. The water was clear and the sun at the proper angle to provide excellent visibility. The years of SCUBA diving in my past started to gnaw at me.

Yesterday, I started on the path to "getting wet" again. With the rush of the last three weeks of support for the research and students behind me, I had the time to slow down and do what I wanted for a while. One of those, yesterday, was to take myself to Ball Reef. I grabbed my snorkel gear: mask, snorkel and fins. I had to clean everything. It has been a long time since it was used. Then off to Ball Reef.

I chose a mooring ball and tied the boat off. I slowly went about preparing the boat and equipment for my time in the water; one dive flag on the boat, tag line (100' swim line with a float on the end) thrown overboard, a second dive flag attached to the tag line. All was ready but my head. I will admit to a bit of anxiety. It had been a long time and I was alone. But I could not back away from a simple snorkel session. So I continued.  Splash!

10 feet below me was a world that I had all but forgotten. My memories of this underwater world had faded more than I realized. My memories had become similar to a video we all watch but from which we are removed. They were slipping away from a personal experience into just "something I have done". But in a splash, it was back to fresh and real again.

10 feet below me was a world that needs to be experienced by all who live on this planet. And I don't think viewing a video or looking through the hull of a glass bottom boat is enough. You have to immerse yourself into that environment; become part of it. Below me were fishes* of many varieties, coral heads with tantalizing valleys between, sea fans waving in the current, jelly fish stroking by and more. All within reach if I had just dropped down a few feet from the surface. We all need to know what is down there. We need to understand why we should be more protective of it. There is SO MUCH going on under the surface of that aqueous blanket.

Back to reality. The reality at the end of my dive was ... how to get back into the boat. I am so thankful that no one was around as I made a spectacle of myself. The rolling seas put the swim platform just above the water and then a second later 20 inches above the water. Timing, timing, timing.   I just had to kick hard as the platform descended. Hmm.  Not that easy.  And as those of you who know me realize, I am not the powerful person I once was. In fact I am not close to that person. Where is that ladder?!? But, obviously, I made it onto the swim platform, maybe more scuffed than I care to admit. I retrieved my swim trunks from my left ankle. Then all was well in my world as I sat there catching my breath, feet dangling in the water, and thinking about what I had just seen.

cz, 1028 10/4/2014

I was incorrectly corrected for my use of "fishes"but...

"The plural of fish is usually fish, but fishes has a few uses. In biology, for instance, fishes is used to refer to multiple species of fish. "

And that is what I meant.  Many species were within view.    cz