The scariest part is sitting on the edge of the boat, one had holding on to the regulator and mask from the front of your face, the other covering the mask’s strap in the back, and at the count of three, lifting your legs and falling backwards into the water. After that, joy. I LOVE SCUBA DIVING! I am now a Certified Open Water Scuba Diver. Two dives yesterday, two today, a total of four tanks. Yesterday was skill-practicing in an area not too far from shore. Today we crossed across a very narrow canal/channel from our east side of Yap, which is the Pacific Ocean, over to the west side, which is the Philippine Sea. First we did the dive named “M’il Channel,” which I know by reputation is one of the most spectacular dives on Yap. The primary objective are the manta reys, especially the females with their 6′ wing span. We did see thousands of tropical fish of every sort, amidst abundant corals, but no manta today. Will try again next week.
The second dive blew my mind. We went another 1/2 mile out, to the edge of the reef and the open sea. The dive is called “vertigo.” Things get *really* deep around here. We’re near some of the deepest oceanic trenches in the world. This was my deepest dive so far, down to about 60′. But the amazing part was the tremendous clarity of the water – on a clear day, you can easily see for 150′ or more. Swimming in and around fish that I can’t even describe for their patterns and colors. AND, there are dozens of gray reef and black tip sharks hovering around. Relatively small sharks (5′ or less in length), and honestly they’re as scared of us as we are of them. But once you fall off that boat, get your bearings, start breathing, looking around way into the clear and vast deep distance, and see about 20 sharks circling about 20-40 feet away, it’s pretty memorable. Hope I can share a picture one of these days.
What a fantastic Mother’s Day!
last night’s sunset
diana maps 