So, my comfort zone has pretty much been non-existent this trip. It’s funny how many of those things I would have sworn I’d never do came up on this trip and how many of them I actually did end up doing. For example, climbing 100 m down into the earth on a ladder that I’d never have trusted my life to if I’d seen it in the daylight. I’m relatively afraid of heights, so that was a truly terrifying experience for me. It was also amazing, though, and I’d like to think I’d do it again given the chance. Also, attempting to learn how to surf on waves that were twice my height (I might be exaggerating on that, though it was hard to tell from in the water).
Last night, I faced another of my greatest fears: dark water. For some reason, looking out onto any body of water at night and seeing how dark it looks frightens me. Well, yesterday we went on a night dive. It took me until the very last second to decide that I wanted to go and that was only after hearing Luis say that it was an incredible experience and that we should definitely do it if we could. So, I did.
We got out on the water and headed out to the dive site at Tijeretas. It was comforting to know that I’d done this dive during the day and that I’d also snorkeled in Tijeretas Bay itself many times. The stars were so clear from out on the water, and, as we went, little bioluminescent plankton glowed in our wake. I admit I was scared looking out at the water and not being able to see anything beneath it. I kept imagining sharks lurking beneath the surface (and this after I did that whole project about how sharks are not actually that dangerous). I was determined to take my time putting on my gear and not be anywhere near the first person in. After getting suited up, I sat on the side of the boat and waited for instructions. We all had our own personal flashlights so that we’d be able to see and be seen. Suddenly, one of the guides sat down beside me and said, loudly, to get ready, we were going in first. I panicked, but I’d done this many times before, so I pulled on my mask, stuffed the regulator in my mouth, and even remembered to turn on the flashlight. Then, without giving myself time to think, I fell backwards off the boat. After a moment of panic once I was in the water, I righted myself, inflated the BCD and was fine.
Despite my uncertainty about diving at night, it was truly one of the most amazing things I have ever done and I would gladly do it again. We descended to the bottom and spent a while playing around with the flashlights. It was amazing how bright it was down there with eleven lights. We saw lots of sea urchins and diadema, which we were careful to avoid touching. There were two green sea turtles, which we freaked out pretty badly, considering they were trying to sleep. We also saw two stingrays, one of which swam up into the water column towards us. Several sea lions were hunting for fish while we were down there. It was fun to watch them zip around after the silvery blurs and swim into caves and under ledges, disturbing sea urchins in the process. There were also several slipper lobsters and a couple of crabs. Lots of sea cucumbers were out feeding; apparently many of them are nocturnal. One of my favorite sightings was a scorpionfish that was incredibly hard to tell apart from the rock on which it sat. The corals and sea anemones that we passed took on a bright yellow color in our lights. It was beautiful. I think my favorite part was covering my light and waving my arm through the water to watch the bioluminescent plankton shimmer like hundreds of little stars.
I ended up being the first one in and the last one out of the water. I relaxed, floating on my back and watching the stars while everyone else was climbing onto the boat. Night diving was incredible and I can’t wait to do it again.
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