On the 2nd of December you don't expect to wake up, slide into your flip flops, put on a t-shirt and go outside, well at least not in the UK. Fortunately for me I was approximately 4,339.29 miles away (according to the folks over at Google Earth) in the Exuma National Park on the stern of the Aqua Cat which is a liveaboard that operates in The Bahamas. As I took in lungs full of the fresh sea air before going to breakfast all I could think about was how I could not wait to jump into the crystal clear waters for my first dive after travelling from London in December.
Not long after breakfast, we had our first dive briefing as well as we had the do's and don'ts of the National Park explained to us. Basically nothing could be taken from the ocean in the National Park at all; no shells, old coral NOTHING!!! Once this was completed everyone went over to their stations, kitted up after making all the necessary safety checks and jumped in.
I remember it like it was yesterday as the water was very warm. 25C warm to be exact which made wetsuits optional! The first dive was basically uneventful as all I saw was a couple of nurse sharks, about 5 reef sharks, some tarpon, a turtle, a sting ray, yellowtail jacks, a few barracudas, some grouper, an eel, snappers, Bahamian lobster, a pufferfish, my very first nudibranch (thanks to my dive buddy) and a dolphin which we are still debating to this day if we saw or not.
However our second dive was the one that made me truly appreciate the colours and clarity of our waters. After this dive I truly understood why you can see that sandy bottom from a plane at 40,000ft. As we descended on the reef and started to make our way through the various swim-throughs which would eventually lead us out over the wall, all I could do was marvel at the size and colour of the various coral on the wall. Just to give you an idea, there was an elephant ear coral that was as tall as I am (6'3") and almost as wide, truly amazing! When the reef finally 'spat' us out on the wall I looked up to ensure that my dive buddy was nearby and could only marvel at how bright the sun was shining and how clear the water was as I could still make out the boat on the surface. In the process of doing this I did what every diver is trained to do. That is to check your gauges to ensure everything is okay and to my surprise my dive computer said '37 meters'! I tapped on it a few times before I finned over to my dive buddy to check their computer and it said the same thing '37 metres'! I always knew the water was clear but to say you can see the sun shining and the surface from 37 metres is truly something that takes your breath away.
