The reason I love diving I cannot explain — it’s physical. When you dive you begin to feel like a bird. It’s liberation of your weight.
The underwater world of Caribbean is amazing!
After not having dived for a few years, the first breath I took under water give simply an exhilarating experience!!
Actually there are two experiences absolutely fascinating when diving – first is the pure miracle of breathing under water. Second is the experience of buoyancy, which gives you this magic feeling of being neutrally suspended in open water. Floating in space, one can do flips, roll-overs, stay up-side-down, it’s almost like flying, but a lot slower, so you can enjoy every second of it.
The skill of becoming neutrally buoyant is not so obvious at the beginning, but once you get it, next thing to do is simply imagine you’re just another fish in the reef and enjoy the ride (swim).
The island of Utila is all about diving. There is more to it than mere staying underwater. Meeting other divers, sharing experiences, boasting about what you saw, deciding on new dive sites, discussing techniques… and in the evening latino music, sitting late in bars, Caribbean drinks with bros! and of course not getting out of bathing shorts and flip-flops for the entire weeks on the island : )
So what can you see below 0m? Well, practically anything if you’re lucky: relaxed phlegmatic turtles passing by; the majestic Spotted Eagle Rays that belong to the family of sharks; enormous crabs (saw 2 having a fight) and lobsters; all kinds of beautiful Jellyfish (watch out for those, some sting incredibly!); funny squids with big curios eyes; an ugly Frog Fish (oh, that is such an ugly fish, fortunately very rare and hard to spot); Porcupine Fish (not much more inviting); all kinds of Parrot Fish that poop all over and experts claim that thanks to their poops we have sand and beaches; the blue magnificent Parrot Fish that has a nose! and is always smiling with big white row of teeth; plenty of Barracudas that usually show up during a ‘safety stop’ and attack shiny objects (fortunately the big earrings from the 60’s are passé); enormous Groopers (over 100kg); Lionfish (there was a contest who catches more of this dangerous and invasive predator); soft sea cucumbers; a Sucker Fish that has it all mixed up und, takes you for a Grooper and wants to have a free ride being sucked to your leg; Trigger Fish; pregnant Seahorses; little Octopuses; schools of naughty Angel and Butterflyfish, …and many, many more. Plus all the coral formations that also are animals; beautiful shells that snap close as you bother them…
Unfortunately the enormous Whale Sharks had a delay and did not arrive on the Bay Islands yet. Some stuff is so peculiar that you don’t even know where it begins and ends (not everything moves frontward).
I love diving and I’m slowly becoming ‘acro’.
The last month’s adventure was like travel backwards in evolution to reach my distant ancestors. There is more to it. My maiden name is ‘Rybczynska’, my zodiac sign is ‘Pisces’. Indeed, underwater I feel like a fish. I managed to caress an eel and a large groper, the inhabitants of almost every deeply sunk wreck! Also some soft sea-cucumbers, but I guess that does not count as they don’t run away : ).
Although under water I feel like one, Maciek says that I’m no fish, just selfish ; ) Well, that is my impression. If you are more a fact-loving wikipedia geek, hear Maciek’s story and some dry, but still interesting data on diving.
Maciek: bla bla bla (see next post)
Blog entry location:See entire map here!
V. good piece of underwter literature. Interesting, rich and informative. Congratulation!
I have read it with pleasure. Now waiting for next reports.
AMAZING!!!!!