SCUBA diving is hands down the most amazing experience that I have ever had. The weightless feeling as you drop backwards from the boat into the ocean and the water takes away the strain of all your gear is only the beginning. Then you descend. The clear blue Jamaican water slowly piles on top of you, pressurizing your internal air spaces. Equalize, equalize, equalize. Then you reach the sandy bottom. The reef is just a few fin kicks away. It looks like a rocky lifeless mound from far away, but then as you approach the colors of corals, sponges, and fish start to pop out. Your eyes start to widen and you almost open your mouth in amazement, but then remember that your only source of air is between your teeth. You stop and stare for awhile then realize that the rest of the group is ahead and quickly swim to catch up. The experience is something that no one could possible describe, it must be felt. The sheer amount of species that are visible is enough to entertain for hours. I have never seen so much beauty and life; nothing else could compare to this on land. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Australian outback, and Hawaiian Islands. No place or sight has ever given me the intense feeling that diving has given me. That first dive literally brought tears to my eyes and filled me up with something like hope. The ones after that were no less amazing. I have a feeling that diving around a reef is one of those things that will never get old; it will always be amazing, always visually stimulating and beautiful. This is what life is about; this is probably what people call love.

Me about 30ft underwater.

Fish swimming above and around us while we scuba dive.

Yellow tube sponge (Aplysina fistularis) and other reef inhabitants.

Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus giganteus) on fnger coral (porites porites) [ed: and some fire coral too!].

– Megan