Into the blue - feeling the fear and doing it anyway

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My heart was pounding and my breathing was becoming deeper and erratic. I looked around me again and still could see nothing. Panic started to tear at my brain and my mind became fulll of images of people drowning, floating in the water, or scrambling desperately to the surface and never making it.

All around me was blue. It was like I had crawled inside a globe or fallen into the sky. I tried desperately to dampen the feelings that were threatening to engulf me and sought to control my ragged breath.

As I hung suspended in the blue nothingness I realised that I was experiencing a state of sensory deprivation. Unable to touch, smell, hear, taste or see sends the mind catapulting into confusion. I knew which way was up but I didn´t know how far and I knew that going that way quickly was the wrong thing to do.

I squeezed a little tighter on the hand of my guide, sure that the terror in my eyes was enough to light up the darkest cavern. I really didn´t want to give up. Somehow I could do this. I thought about everything my brother had taught me and dug deep.

We had swum into the blue, the point at which the reef disappears and everything becomes shades of blue and grey. We were waiting to see hammerhead sharks who prefer the deeper waters and strong, colder currents.

For everyone else this was a walk in the park because the reef was still visible to them and there were volumes of fish swimming nearby. The visibility in the Galapagos isn´t great so for me it meant I could only see about a metre in front of me. Unless it´s in my face and brightly coloured I don´t see it.

After what seemed like an absolute eternity I slowly began to regain my composure and notice the fish swimming around us. A 2 metre galapagos shark and some white tipped reef sharks provided a welcome distraction, but sadly no hammerheads came to play. I could see irony in the fact that I was scared of suffocating in the oppressive blue colour and not the least bit afraid of sharks!

The Galapagos is renowned amongst divers for its incredible wildlife and it´s notorious underwater currents. Several people have been sucked down to incredible depths or washed out to sea so far that their boat has never found them.

Whilst hanging onto some rocks to avoid such a fate, we were treated to a spectacular dance by several sea lions. They pirrouetted like ballerinas all around us, coming so close you had to restrain yourself from touching them.

Graceful sea turtles slowly cruised by while small stingrays flapped lazily or rested on the sand. A moray eel poked his head from a small cave while barraccuda swam past flashing their pointy teeth.

The previous day, we had been fortunate to witness a wall of fish so enormous they cast a dark shadow across everything else and I thought the boys had led me into a cave. Amongst the teeming mass, swam a playful sea lion, feeding on the helpless ones in the middle and creating a tunnel through which you could swim.

Among the reef, beautiful coloured starfish lay prone on the rocks and tiny seahorses paraded their vibrant colours. Groups of parrot fish huddled around the coral and crazy angelfish swam in seemingly confused circles. There were so many amazing fish it was hard to know where to look.

Covered from head to toe in a 7mm wetsuit to combat the cold, only my face poke through to the water.....as I broke the surface to get back on the boat, the deckhands recoiled in horror at the jellyfish attached to my face. The pain was incredible but fortunately it wasn´t a lethal one and the pain subsided after a few hours. I was left only with the fabulous orange tan of liberally applied iodine!

Whilst the diving was difficult and challenging it was an incredible underwater experience. We topped off the days adventures by enjoying a few beers back on land in the jacuzzi, with the ocean lapping at the deck and sea lions frolicking nearby ......

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Photos

Scuba Mel
Can you see the fear in my eyes???

White tip reef shark
No hammerheads about sadly....

Mmmm dinner
So many schools of fish