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Diving in the Pacific Ocean

Palau, Micronesia

By virtual SpecPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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“Clear,” shouted the dive master. Head first, I backward spiraled off the small diving boat carefully located at the northern tip of Pelileu Island on the Philippines Ocean. As my body took consciousness of the water around it, I could feel my wetsuit and temperature synchronizing. My eyes were slowly checking the surroundings as I slowly descended into the mouth of the Yellow Wall. The bubbles were forming around my mask as my breathing was testing out the equipment.

The mouth of the hole was about five by 8 meters wide. It was an oval formation that looked similar to one of those craters made inroads by aliens. The gap fell dark shortly as we turned our flashlights and followed one another steadily. The bottom of the hole took the path to the right which then opened. We were on almost on a ledge of some form or a sizable ancient clam. We trod onto the open ocean signalizing the safety of all five divers.

As we took to the wall the current was strong; we could feel the break of the open ocean no longer being as gentle as it had been in the past weeks. We had descended approximately 28 meters and were meant to stay roughly within 10 meters of proximity.

We swam and swam, looking and seeing big and small fish all over the wall. A medium-small sized fish almost a foot long swam gracefully. It was a dark purplish with yellow stripes and hints of blue. This fish was one of my favorites, Emperor Angel Fish. I knew it was going to be a lucky day.

We continued, we found the angels of the ocean known as manta rays swimming alongside the sharks. This time the sharks were many. Roughly a pack of 20-30 minimum. They calmly floated until one charged down to nibble a big tuna; it was the first time I had seen a shark in action. The sharks in Palau were used to humans and had no interest in us. Some came close; closest was probably a meter away. We hooked the dive into the wall as the current was almost unbearable and moving us all in different directions. The hook gave us grounding and a stable placement so we could watch the animals down below.

There was a black tip reef shark swimming back and forth between the pack; I had my eyes on it. I could tell it was a young male and I could see some damage on the top fin as if maybe somebody had tried to catch him or perhaps he had some encounter with another animal. He wasn't aggressive, but he wasn't the nicest either, I could tell by how rapidly he swam amongst the others and how directionless he was. I must have watched him for 10 or a few more minutes when he turned and looked at me straight in the eyes. The sharks all swam horizontally in front of me; it was rare for one to change direction so suddenly. He swam slowly at me, my heart racing, and my pulse at the top of my throat I was focused on remaining calm. I looked at my buddy who was looking at me in disbelief. The shark came close and just swam around me. The current was so intense I couldn't keep my eyes off the more significant drop in case my line moved me a wrong direction.

I lost the shark as soon as he passed my eyes' visibility. I calmed down once he had given up. In the water, it's almost as if one can have real telepathy with animals when you're interested in them they take an interest in you.

The dive lasted about 50 minutes; the waters were cold. Two of the divers signaled low on air, we took our 3 minute stop and ascended carefully. As we approached the surface, we inflated our BCD’s and realized the dreadful weather. The storms on the Pacific Ocean are well known to others, but I had never seen something like this.

We all took off our masks and looked at each other in disbelief; I could feel the warm rain rapidly touching my skin. I could see the millions and millions of rain splatters reaching the surface and roughly disappearing into the ocean. The visibility past a meter or two was all fog, I could only see a small island far far away but even that was hard to see and what kept it invisibility was its dark green colors in the distance.

The ocean waves were deep blue and big; we could feel ourselves riding above them.

We were looking for the dive boat, but nothing was in sight. We knew the current had pushed us out far enough, but we only realized to what extent when we surfaced. We stormed up the decision to scream at the same time in hopes the boat would hear us. After fifteen minutes of uncertainty, the ship appeared, and we boarded it as fast as we could.

I stormed out of my wetsuit and covered myself with two towels. The boat we stayed on was an hour away, and the weather just wasn’t getting any better. It was a silent ride back everyone reflecting on only thoughts. My best dive yet.

Other recommended dives in Palau:

  • IRO- shipwreck
  • Chandelier Cave
  • Dexter’s Wall
  • Big Drop Off

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About the Creator

virtual Spec

Cliche's, novels, makeup, sex, interior, boys, travel & more.

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