Diving: Day 2

Mana Island

Best day in Fiji. Despite whatever every weather forecast had to say, the weather was absolutely gorgeous—better than Tuesday! I met a couple from San Francisco, a couple from Las Vegas, a Kiwi named Cathy, and a Japanese girl named Ayaki. The trip there was nothing short of stunningly beautiful, filled with the bluest baby blue skies I’ve ever seen. The clear sky stretched out above us, the ocean before us. We dangled our legs over the edge, feeling the water spray tickle them as the boat gleefully zipped along. On the upper deck, Jason saw a leopard shark surface momentarily. The water surrounding the small islands we passed glistened in a rainbow of blue and green, each ring more inviting than the last. Glorious.

Because there were so many of us, we split into two groups to take turns diving. This dive, I was a bit nauseous from the boat rocking so much, but again, jumping into the ocean made me forget all else. It’s funny. Being in the water, I try to think of reasons exactly why this is so special, and it’s almost as if those reasons only come to me back on land. And they are so obvious. The fish were colorful as before, the coral fanned out before us as we circled the mountain. I ran into a bunch of clown fish and their anemone, defiantly staying as long as they physically could when I reached my hand. Oh, and I hovered. Of course, our trip was over too soon, but we had a nice lunch of roti and papaya on board.

While waiting for the first team to get back, I noticed we were parked really close to a tiny island of sand. Tempting…hmm. I grabbed my mask and snorkels, and invited everyone onboard to come with. Cathy jumped at the opportunity, and we swam over. It was a bit farther than I thought, but reaching it was no problem. We had reached our very own deserted island of sand. We traced circles around the island (it took like two minutes to walk across) before settling down on the sand. We noticed the sand grain was extremely big, and decided it must have come from worn away coral. We were lying in coral. Whoa. I definitely felt like a millionaire, enjoying my own private island. I swam to the ship and back to get Ayaki to take pictures of us on the island, and it was only too soon that we had to get back to the ship.

…to go diving! Another skills test, I demonstrated replacing my mask underwater and using a compass underwater for navigation. Not as much fish life this time around, but there was a big school that swam around. Something that amazed me was how they literally ALL turned at the same time—how did they coordinate so well? I found it really entertaining to shout and laugh underwater, and especially to watch the bubbles of air I breathed out rise to the surface. They rose like jellyfish, with big ones emerging from the cloud of bubbles to collide into each other. Junior even blew bubbles in the shape of a smoke ring. Flip, spin, upside down—I tested out my newfound freedom of motion, and pretty much felt like a seal haha.

The ride back was no less enjoyable than the way there, including the fact that there was a comfortable silence, as among friends. The wide expanse of the ocean seemed to ease that, and we all sat as the boat went over increasingly large waves. 

Scuba Diving: Day 1

Magic Island

First of all, a summary of the equipment used: Mask, fins, wetsuit. An inflatable vest, with a tank of air in the back. A BCD ( a system of tubes that lets you add/release air from the vest to make you float/sink). Regulators (tubes that let you breathe from the tank). And a weight belt, to make you sink in the water.

Sam, our driver, dropped me off at the Wyndam, where I met Sandy, an experienced diver, and many people going for the first time, including a family of four from Jersey and a man named Ray who was also starting this Open Water Certification. We got to Denarau around ten, and it was smooth sailing from there.

Fifteen meters down. Going into the water for the first time, I was just too excited and focused on doing things right to be nervous. It was my introduction to a whole new world, and it was a glorious one. Junior, my dive instructor, found a sea cucumber, a lumpy yellow thing, and let us all hold it. In the back of my mind, I kind of expected that things wouldn’t be all bright like they were on TV, just kind of colorful. I was wrong. What seemed to be vegetation on coral jumped back into their hole when I reached out to touch it. Two small stingrays emerged from the sandy bottom and swam in front of us. The vividness of the underwater world hit me immediately, with schools of bright blue (and I mean like shining bright) and yellow fish swam around. A transparent needlefish swam off nearby, and as we found our way around the coral, I found myself face to face with a vast array of striped parrotfish, bottomfeelers, angelfish, and god knows how many other varieties. It was magical.