The Power of Distance

When something doesn't work out, what do you do? Eat some ice cream, buy a new sofa, watch your favourite Vine compilation video. They seem like normal responses... ish. To be fair, I did do those things for a while (apart from buying a sofa), but they got boring so I went to the Caribbean for two months instead.

56 days of diving (we did marine conservation yay environment! Sorry that sounds sarcastic. It's not, I promise), snorkeling, and conservation is heaven. Of course there was also a fair amount of drinking and time spent in bars on our island, but we won't discuss that. Yeah, no. It was fun. Yep.

I'm already having withdrawals from it. I miss the sun and the ocean (it's literally straight out of Moana; it's ridiculous). The island was so small that everyone got around on golf carts and there were like three cars total. But most of all, I miss the people. It's weird how close you can get to people who such a short time ago were total strangers. Spending every minute of every day with the same people for a long time makes them feel like family. I found a routine and felt more comfortable around the people I met than I ever thought I would. Also, manatees are goddamn beautiful.

Don't get me wrong, the living situation was basic. No seriously. One outside toilet shared with ten people and having to shower in the ocean got pretty old real quick. Not to mention that on my second night on the island, Scarface made an appearance. Let's talk about him for a second. He was a six-foot crocodile. Right under our dock. Genuinely terrifying. Anyway.

It sounds like an island getaway. Which I guess it pretty much was, but there was a fair amount of work involved in my position as Research Assistant. I learnt over 100 types of fish and spent every day surveying the reef and seagrass around the island. I learnt so much and met such amazing people with the same interests as me, which is something I hadn't experienced before.

In all honesty, taking two months out from real life was exactly what I needed. I had recently gone through something in my life that definitely hadn't gone to plan and as a result left me feeling lost and more alone than ever. I was living in a different country from my friends and felt detached from everyone and everything that I had felt so comfortable and secure with only a few months before. Going to a new continent by myself and making such amazing friends completely reset my mind and made me excited about life again.

So, I suppose this is my number one best piece of advice. If you feel alone or lost and get the opportunity to travel, do something you love and meet new people in a new place, please do it. Get as far away as possible. It might be scary (terrifying, I know) but it's so worth it.

Sidenote: I never saw the green flash, but I will not give up my hope that it's real. Otherwise, Barbossa would never have come back. He's my favourite. Don't judge he's a legend.

This was the biggest thing I had ever done by myself, the furthest I've ever been from home, and also the scariest thing I had ever done. I wouldn't change it for the world. Weird how being somewhere for so long, being so detached from the world, kind of makes you forget about it altogether. In the best way.

Now, bring me that horizon.