Monday, October 20, 2008

Darlin' it's Better Unda Da Sea


One key part of our trip to Boracay I neglected to mention in our last post was our time exploring under water. As some of you may know, I tend to worry about pretty much anything I can think of, so it was no small feat that Tom and Natasha convinced me to try scuba diving. Before I tried it I was fairly certain that one of three horrible disasters would befall me- 1.) my tank would end up not having oxygen and I would die 15 meters below the surface, 2.) we would end up in a thick patch of killer jellyfish and I would die a painful death, or 3.) that scene from the movie Open Water. (If you haven't seen the movie, just look it up. I can't bear to even repeat it)

As you can likely deduce from the fact that you're reading this post, I'm still alive (so is Tom). In fact, other than a mild ear infection there were no negative effects at all. It was actually pretty incredible.

Tom and I managed to go on two dives to different spots around Boracay with a wonderfully classic dive shop called "Free Willy." Free Willy is named after the shop's owner, a legendary older French man named Willy, although we called him Jacques Cousteau. He was extraordinarily patient with me, even when I began hyper-ventilating during the practice session in the shallow area. I am amazed that he managed to not sound sarcastic as he reminded me that you can't drown in water that's only three feet deep!

The actual dives were unlike anything I've ever done before. The organisms that exist 10-15 meters (30-40 feet) below the surface are incredible. Fish of every color and in shapes I didn't know existed, strange anemones, living coral-- it reminded me of a cross between Finding Nemo that documentary, Planet Earth. I'm not sure I have the right words to describe it, and unfortunately we did not have an underwater camera, so I'll just have to encourage you to try it for yourself.

Snorkeling
Scuba diving was a bit too expensive for us to do more than twice, so we decided to try snorkeling to see more of the aquatic life of Boracay. Although not quite as cool as scuba diving, still an interesting experience.

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