Underwater adventures
I’m a terrible swimmer
and deep waters always scare me! But you can’t go to the Maldives and not go
snorkelling!
I took a trip to the
amazing island ‘Vadoo’ in the Maldives, just a few minutes away from the main
island. The ocean was breathtakingly beautiful and so inviting – I just
couldn’t say ‘no!’. The water wasn’t deep at all but I still wore a life jacket
along with my flippers and snorkel. As embarrassing as it was - I didn’t really
care because I just wanted to enjoy the experience and not have to worry about
drowning!
I had never been snorkelling so I wasn’t sure what to expect. As I stepped in to the water I
realized that there was a demarcated area which ended at a large
reef which was the ‘safe zone’. This was somewhat comforting and helped to ease my nerves a bit. I walked in to
the sea as it wasn't too deep and as I reached the edge of the reef I put my face in to the water.
In a second I had been transported to a completely different world! There were hundreds
of stunningly beautiful fish among layers and layers of coral.
There were too many different
kinds of fish to count and I can’t remember them all but a few of them really
stood out because of their amazing colour schemes and characteristics. The Moorish
Idol is a very small fish but its black, white and yellow stripes stand out
very prominently among the rest of the fish.
The Parrot fish is
another stunning fish which is a lovely shade of teal which is one of my
favorite colours! The Parrot fish seemed to be the most active and they kept
swimming up and down nibbling at the different parts of the reef. I was amazed
at how clear the water was and how friendly the fish seemed. They didn’t seem
to mind me invading their space at all! This is probably because they didn’t
feel threatened by humans because the Maldives has a strict policy about
fishing within a certain radius. Their laws against fishing close to the shore
are what has helped to preserve beautiful coral reefs such as these.
There were also large shoals
of fish that swam back and forth which just added to the wonder of this
underwater world! I was so inspired by all I saw that I just had to put
together a series of illustrations based on my experience. I was constantly on
the lookout for some seahorses but I didn’t spot any. I got to know later on
that there have been a few recent sightings in the waters near a different
island called Kuredu which I’m hoping to visit at some point.
Although glimpses of the deep, dark ocean on the other side of the coral reef made me panic just a bit, I enjoyed every second of
this experience and it taught me a valuable lesson. Too often we allow different
types of fears to hold us back but it’s truly amazing what you can accomplish
or experience once you make up your mind to let go of your fear. Most times we
feel that fear has a grip on us but in reality we have the power to make up our
minds to let them go. I haven’t completely got over my fear of deep waters but
I think I’ve taken a step in the right direction and I believe that this was
only the first of many more underwater adventures to come!
