The last time we went scuba diving was October 1, 2019. It was in Lembeh, Indonesia and it was muck diving. Every diver needs to experience muck diving as the creatures encounter are sometimes beyond explanation. I have great memories of our time in Lembeh.
That was 19 months ago.
Today we get back into the water on Bonaire. Only after a slight hiccup though. Murray’s pressure gauge was good through set up and buddy check and right up until he started to put on his BCD. Then air started hissing out. We don’t have the tools to fix it. We load everything into the truck again, take off our wetsuits and head to ABDive, where our truck and tanks came from. One of the fellows there helps Murray fix the issue (a dry and cracked o ring) while I sit in the shade and chat to folks that were on our flight.
OK, let’s try this again! We go to a different dive site, don our gear and walk into the water off a sandy beach. We usually have some jitters on our first dive, but today neither one of us feels them. Maybe we have done this routine enough that it is totally comfortable now.
Being suspended in water is very relaxing for both of us. It’s fascinating how I can hover over a coral head, not moving much, just a slight up when I breathe in and a slight down when I breathe out. We are one with the fish, one with the ocean.
Once at depth, we very slowly swim into the light current, getting our eyes used to picking out critters. We spy a couple of smaller eels, coral banded shrimp, angel fish, file fish, trunk fish and a lot of the usual fish friends. Once we turn around and ride with the current, we cover the distance in what feels like a shorter time even though the current is slow. We hug the bottom until we are at the beach again and emerge like two primordial fish making their first steps on land. A successful first dive.