Scuba Discovery

For me, scuba is a means to explored this amazing underwater world, so different from our own. Subtract the water, and these sand worlds become the landscapes of a desert planet in a sci-fi movie. Though it seems lifeless to the untrained eye, upon closer inspection it prompts you to reconsider your definition of life as strange creatures literally clam up as the strangest creatures of all, the mammals with tanks on their backs, drift by, blowing their air bubbles.

The first seahorse I saw, I thought it was dead. It appeared to have no more life in it than a twig on the ground, and bore some resemblance to one, lying, as it was, straight on the sand and covered by the silt particles that coat the rocks and corals in the absence of a current to carry them away. I picked it up, gingerly, to show the customer I was leading on a dive to 22 meters (72 feet). I was about to set it back down again when I noticed its eyes moving. I let out a little squeal through my regulator. I wished I had my camera as I usually do--but I hadn't charged the battery in days and it had finally died.

I gazed rapt at the seahorse, which eventually sat up for a few moments before setting it gently back down where I had found it and continuing the dive.

It never gets old--on the contrary, I always feel like I am discovering something new.