I prefer free-diving to SCUBA, but maintain a technical certification for the latter. I started divelog·blue for my interepid nephews to follow along in our adventures.
a brief gallery
Apropos nothing, here are some stories.
We were in Raja Ampat,
free diving a sea mount in strong current—strong enough to limit each dive to a minute, minute-half at most.
Below us were two reef manta rays, each at least 2 or 3 metres in width.
I kept diving down next to one in particular, fighting the current alongside their cleaning station.
Each time I dove, it swept closer til we were eye-to-eye, no more than 20 cm apart with its wing extending below and beyond me.
Finally, on a dive closest to the bottom, it slowly, gently swept atop and over me.
For a moment, I was entirely wrapped in manta.
Anything about whales.
Whales are beyond comprehension until you're right alongside them.
During a set of dives in Vava'u, we spent a lot of time with humpback whales.
One time in particular, a singer, was at 20 metres or so.
I dove down alongside him, which is itself a little scary—12 metres of whale at a murky 20 metres—and he started to sing.
I felt, before I heard, the sound: like being squeezed with a giant hand for a split second.
And then the song.
(Needless to say, being squeezed at 20 metres by an unseen force is serious business.
Well, whales are serious business.)
