Underwater love

The Great Barrier Reef. Since my Padi open water diver in 1993 (!!) I always wanted to come here. I’m diving since I’m 15 years old, not so much anymore as at the beginning of my divers career, but every now and then. I’m lucky to be able to say that I’ve dived the most beautiful spots in the world, the red sea, the Maldives, the Phillipines, Thailand. And there was one missing: the barrier. Now I’m here, nitrogen is floating thru my veins, a simple gas and a sweet drug for those who have experienced the underwater world.

Diving is a passion for me. Or better, a deep love. I’ve been diving for a long time and many of them in difficult moments. It always gave me the peace and the fun I needed and it still does. And it’ll always do. I have so many beautiful memories of it and even if I had some scared moments when I was struggling with fear, I’d never give up on it.

Memories: Today I took a compass for the first dive; a long time I didn’t dive in a buddy team without instructor (last time in 2005) and with a person I don’t know at all and my buddy does only have the open water course. And I remembered the advanced open water diver on the Maldives and the battles with the orientation lessons. Damn that was funny. I still can’t believe that I actually have pretty good skills under water with the compass and with general orientation. When I think back, I never got out on the point I started.

At the beginning and many times we were 3, my dad, my brother and I. I can’t think of a better buddy than my brother. We had so much fun, unforgettable how I tried to explain him that I had a bad hangover during the dive, or him, standing on the ocean ground, simulating (or not) that he was peeing in a toilet that was standing there, shipwrecked.

Jumping into the water it like riding a bike. You don’t forget. At least I don’t. As you might have read before, I’m riding my bike a lot over here. Mostly I know more or less the pace I’m going on my bike and during my runs. The same happens with the depth during my dives. And it’s good to know that I can trust the perception of my body.

There is no insecurity under water, no fear, no worries. When I jump in the water I’m home, the ocean is hugging me, I’m feeling free, happy and time stops. Nobody is talking; you only hear some very particular noises: the bubbles of your own breathing and the crackling of the reef.

There are different kinds of dives:

The normal dive, you see nice coral, the normal fish, and just enjoy floating and being there.

The dive some details get your attention: On my first dive I saw this couple of beautiful rabbitfish, swimming very close side to side and they made me smile, just because they were so cute.

One of my personal favorites are nudibranchs, tiny little snails with pretty colors and hard to find (they are between 1 and 2,5cm). I could also stay at an anemone for a long time and just observe the clownfishes, or enjoy a beautiful coral garden, landscapes like from another world, with decent colors and weird forms…

And then there is the stunning dive, the complete one, where you have everything. You never expect it, it happens when you less expect it. Beautiful coral, fancy rare fish like sharks, turtle, napoleon, topped with good visibility, a good buddy and everything is perfect. My first dive of the last two days was almost like that. The last one was. We went thru this amazing coral garden, like a labyrinth, never knowing if the next way was a dead end or if it would get us further on. A tiny firefish on the way (they are common in the red sea, over here I’ve seen only one in 6 dives), clowns, 2 nudibranches and last but not least: A white tip reef shark and a napoleon.

I don’t have words for how I feel there. It just makes me happy. It’s an escape from the world that we know and be part of another world where it doesn’t count at all who you are, what you do or where you are from. It’s just the water, the reef and you.

I’ll be back there on Monday, the bike and the running shoes will sleep for some days. Working on the boat and getting accommodation, food and diving for free, what else can I ask for?