The shark that saved me
“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”- Jacques-Yves Cousteau
I step backward on the edge of the boat. I hold my mask and regulator so it does not fall out of my mouth and next thing I know I’m in the water. Not just any body of water. I am in the Coral Sea, home of the Great Barrier Reef. As I slowly and carefully sink to the bottom of this majestic palace, I pinch myself just to make sure I am not dreaming. Can this be true? Am I actually living out my dream of scuba diving in this real-life paradise? Though I am wearing a thick wetsuit I still feel the pinch and realize I am very much awake.
I push against the current and go further down to see the garden of coral reefs. The rainbow of purple, orange, blue, and green corals resembles a child’s coloring book. I swim around them, close enough to see but not close enough to accidentally touch them. Breaking even a small fraction of the coral reef would pain me more than I can imagine. These beautiful ecosystems are the rainforests of the sea, home to so many creatures. I calmly hover over the orange reef only to see a clown fish. In my excitement, I point it out to my diving buddy ecstatic that I have found Nemo.
As captivated as I am to have seen up close the coral reefs, I am determined to see at least one shark. Despite people always listing out the brutality of these magnificent creatures, I feel nothing but admiration for their uniqueness and evolution. I look at my oxygen clock to make sure my overexcitement did not use up too much and I see that I can continue to explore. I let the current drift me away like a feather in air.
I look below and see a pool of reef and nurse sharks calmly swimming in circles. Before I know it I am engulfed in their circle. For a moment the adrenaline makes me hope I am not being circled as prey and quickly I remember the nature of these specific sharks. I try to be discreet and not show fear, two principles I have tried to apply in possible high-risk situations in life on land. I look for my diving buddy and see she is nowhere to be found. We do not share the same view on the nature of sharks. I know being alone is high-risk but I do not care.
If I died right then I would have felt more in my element than I ever did above water.
I realize then, that the ocean, the reefs, Nemo, the sharks, gave me feelings I never experienced before. Peace and a sense of belonging. “Maybe in another life, I was a whale” I think, only to do a quick awareness check to realize “more like a sea cucumber”. Even so, I discover right then, 60 feet below the surface of the water that maybe as a little girl always believing in some form of magic I was right. If there is any magic in the world, it was right there. Amongst the sea anemones and the oblivious towards my existence sharks.
