Over the years I have asked alot of divers the simple question: “Where does diving take us?” and gotten a wide variety of answers. Sometimes I get a response that is a destination: Bahamas, Belize, Barbados….Sometimes I get a response that says more about an emotion: tranquility, peacefulness, relaxing, awe inspiring…. Sometimes the response is more about avoidance: “Away from the phone, fax, texts, emails….” And, sometimes the response is more about self awareness: “To a new interest; to a recognition of a different environment….”
Whatever the reason for diving, it does surprise me how dropping down a relatively few feet into the water can have such a profound affect on diver’s perceptions. That perception was particularly true when we were in Tobago.
A few years ago we were on a catamaran sailing around Tobago. A storm came in and the captain took us to deep water to anchor overnight. We dropped two anchors to hold us in place. It was a bit rough that night but I didn’t think too much about it until the next morning when I noticed quite a few of the boats that had anchored or tied down near us were gone. A few moments later I saw a 50 foot sailboat break its mooring and drift past us. We pulled up anchor and motored back to a lagoon where we stayed for a couple of days. Twenty percent of the fishing fleet of Tobago was sunk during the storm. I guess it was rougher than I thought. Of course I am a sound sleeper on boats.
Yet, a couple of days later when we sailed over to Spayside, which was on the opposite side of the Tobago, there were some pretty large waves, but nothing too rough. We took a smaller boat out to Little Tobago, which is an even smaller island off the coast of Tobago, and dropped down on a dive site known as Black Jack. We dropped down in the water and the first 15 feet were a bit stirred up, but once we got down below 15 feet the visibility got much better. The water was clear and visibility was good. Usually when storms go through the visibility is so poor I am often tempted to leave the camera at home. But, on this dive I was glad I had dragged it along — all 35 pounds of it. In the better visibility it was easy to see that the sponges were huge and colorful. The fish life varied and active. The thought occurred to me: Isn’t it amazing that while the surface was rough only a few feet below the surface sealife continued on virtually unaffected….
