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Published: December 6th 2010
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"There is a shark below us."
That morning I woke up early for two reason. First, because some sort of bug, possibly ants, had eaten me alive while I slept. I don’t know what did it or why, but I also didn’t care that I was covered in a rash of little red tiny bites. When you’re at peace, you also seem to have a more relaxed nature towards these types of things. I also woke up early to catch sunrise and watch Tottenham Hotspurs vs Inter Milan soccer. I missed the sunset but I got breakfast going and put on the game. No sooner did halftime arrive that Tara was in full teacher mode and had us packed and shuffling out the door. Normally I ‘d be excited about the day that lies ahead, especially seeing as I was to complete something on my, “things to do before I die,” list for the second time in 3 days, but this one was trickier than the last. I hadn’t gotten over my shark fear in Sydney and I was about to go open water swimming at the Great Barrier Reef. Who would leave soccer to go tempt death? Apparently me.
We rushed to dock to depart and sucked down a few cookies and sea sick pills once we got on the boat. We found out some health complications prevented Tara and I from actually diving and we got a little bummed out that we could only snorkel. I liked the crew of our boat, it was fun laid back bunch of misfits and goofballs from all over the globe, each with different personalities, but also serious and professional when the time called upon them to be so. They don’t give you shit when you ask about sharks, if anything they seem to believe that creatures that can kill you with one bite, well, are our friends. The captain got on the boat and announced where we would be headed that day, the Twin Peaks area, specifically the Hastings Reef. All the crew cheered when they heard the news so we asked Rafael why everyone was so excited. He told us that the reef often is too far out of the way and weather rarely permits them going to it. They hadn’t been in over a year so everyone was excited. This did nothing ease my fears of death, but
at least I knew I would be eaten in a fun location visited by few!!!!
As we got to the reef I was dressing up in my gear I sort of forgot what I was doing and focused on where I was. I was at the fucking Great Barrier Reef. I wrote this on my list of things to do before I die when I was a 3rd sophomore in college and here I was. I thought this moment had great potential for never happening and I was three or four steps away from getting flippered up and going in. As I sat there putting on my fins and looking out at the neon blue, crystal clear water rush up to meet me, the splash hit me. It calmed me. It was warm and soothing. I didn’t care anymore. I jumped the fuck in. Tara and I were the first ones in and the last ones out. (pee breaks excluded). It was a great victory in my heart. I was proud to be part of life at that moment. I did a little back paddle and just laughed.
The experience itself was pretty amazing. The colors aren’t as
bright as they appear in pictures. It’s more like water downed version of what you see. The funny part is that though the coral is more drab, the fish are like little balls of neon light. Like a moving show that you could only imagine on a laptop screen saver was floating right in front of my face. After over 2 hours in the water at the first reef the captain told us we would have time to hit up another reef that is usually unavailable called the Saxon reef. The crew does a 5 person head count which means 5 people will walk around and count you and we don’t budge until the counts all match up room to room. The deal is that you aren’t supposed to move until it’s over and only the dumb girls from Holland had trouble understanding this regardless of their perfect English. It’s basically like freeze tag for yours or someone else’s life. In the chaos, language barriers and fun I can see how easily it could be to leave someone behind even with all the safety measures in place. As we made our way to the next reef we ate some killer
lunch and got an amazing history and learning lesson about the GBR from first hand experts. We also learned that the diving portion wasn’t as thrilling and shorter than it seemed. All the people who dove at the first reef went snorkeling with us at the second one.
At the next reef we were on the same high as the last time and we were the first snorkelers in the water again. As I jumped in, I did more normal quick scan of what was below me, of course this time it was a little different. This time there was a goddamn shark. I was scared shitless when I saw it. I popped up my head and gave the hand signal for shark and started yelling. From the boat everyone seemed to think it was great and began to jump in to see it. I looked again to make sure I wasn’t crazy and there it was again, a black tipped reef shark. I brought my head up and yelled again, “HOLY FUCKING SHIT THERE’S A GODDAMN MOTHER FUCKING SHARK BELOW ME!!!” Tara saw it as well, but our attempts to photograph it were wasted. I was please to
note that the shark seemed to have little interest in me, or any of us, but it wasn’t a total comfort. Other than the shark we also saw some really cool creatures such as; black sea cucumbers, cuttlefish, giant clams, Moorish idol, Parrott fish, spangled emperor, lion fish (poisonous) and a few others. The main highlight for me was when a school of bright neon blue came swimming around me, as if I was just normal floating object. For a second I felt like one of them floating in a school of fish. It was just so unreal I said to myself, “this is just so fucking ridiculous.”
We headed back to shore and got invited to go get some beers with the crew and eat, we declined mostly because we made the mistake of getting 45 minute Asian massages for $15 each it wiped out the last remaining energy we had. We headed home and cooked dinner. Today was the first time I felt like a different person in nature. I felt what it was like to be out there on your own, with predators, friends and neutralists all around me. I was overwhelmed by moments of peace
and fear coming in different waves and different forms. It was like a reconnection with myself to something that I had lost in routine and schedule back home. Under the skies of Cairns and floating amongst the seas of the Great Barrier Reef, I felt like I would never be unhappy again, as long as I could remember my moments and my feelings here.
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