Under the Sea

The friendly Friday sunrise washed away the gloom that had been polluting the Filipino sky for days and with it came the promise of incredible diving. I was surprised when Mark offered me a tank for the dive that was launching that morning; nothing had been set up in advance and we hardly talked about diving the night before. My overwhelming child-like enthusiasm broke loose for a brief moment when I agreed to go on the dive and began gathering my gear. Being my first dive in the Philippines, I had no idea what to expect.

When I first hit the warm water and began looking around, my hopes were very quickly deflated; all I could see was blue. We gradually descended and through the dark blue I began to make out shapes. A large rock took form, then an enormous sea fan, another rock covered in coral, then a school of fish. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of a flourishing aquatic world full of life and color.

Small prairies of soft pink corals swayed lazily back and forth. Bright yellow and white fish surrounded me with wide eyes making them appear to wonder what sort of creature I could be. I was so focused on a little nudibranch glowing with yellow and blue nestled between masses of gorgeous feather stars that I nearly drifted directly into a sea fan wider than myself. The large rocks rising from the gradually sloping wall boasted a vibrant parade alive with colors and shapes I could never have imagined. Every inch of the wall was home to some creature or another; not a single vacant crack or crevice could be found. Gliding through the water and hovering motionless inches from the corals, I floated through the watery world as freely and gracefully as a ghost though as inconspicuously as a monster truck in a bumper car arena. Leaving the wonderland was disappointing but the ride back was nearly as beautiful.

During the few minutes’ ride back to the dive shop, the boat passes by the coastline that now defines the Philippines for me. The hills that rise out of the water transform from beautiful reefs beneath the surface to vibrant palm tree forests above it; hardly any land can be seen through the dense tree coverage. The contours of the jagged green coastline make it no surprise that the Philippines ranks 5th in countries with the longest coastline (despite its small area). Back in the dive shop I rinsed off my gear and prepared for the next dive. This is why I moved to the other side of the globe. This is what I love. This is the life.