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Underwater Naturalist

Naturalist. Not Naturist, no nakedness involved.

The air bubbles leave my lungs and escape in a rush past my ear. The only sound is the air rushing through the valves in the regulator followed by a sequence of air bubbles hurrying for the surface.

20 metres deep, every object in this world, both living and inanimate, adopts a blue hue.

My pulse quickens as I observe in awe the sheer beauty of these aquatic ecosystems.

No traffic. No mobile phones. A whole new world (I could break into song here with a few lines from Aladdin but I'll spare the agony).

Buoyancy is good. With every long inhalation comes a little more upward force, and as I exhale, I near the bed of the coral reef again.

A myriad of colourful aquatic life explodes in front of my eyes in fluid, graceful movements.

It's an underwater safari.

Up ahead, in the distance, is the silhouette of a much larger fish.
A fish with teeth.
Big teeth.
It's a Ragged-Tooth Shark. The tail in the silhouette makes it almost unmistakeable.

Probably curious, it nears a little and then simply disappears.

A little further on, a turtle appears, gently swimming in my direction. I decrease pace, and adopt an unthreatening posture, allowing myself to sink a little lower. The turtle swims past me, so close that I can see little air pockets attached to the base of his hind flippers in the folds of skin.

A Zambezi shark lurks in the distance, circling the group.

Camera ready, I prepare for a shot, descend a little from the group (probably not the wisest thing) and as the shark nears, he has a change of heart and alters course.

The sheer beauty of the world underwater is something mesmerising, ultimately unfathomably beautiful.

I can't wait to go diving again.