February 18th…. now with memories of the magical on top of the horrific
Saturday had a dive scheduled but that wasn’t making me feel any better. I always think that this date is not going to affect me anymore, it’s just a number! Of course for a while just saying the date brought tears to my eyes, so at least I’m beyond that. I’ve never thought there was so much sentimentality in me about anniversaries. But the anniversary of the hardest and most painful day of my life seems different. I can’t help replaying in my mind images of my twisted arm with bone pieces coming out or that terrifying emergency room scene that I can remember clearly but still can’t put down in words. Don’t get me wrong, God had been faithful and I honestly feel I’ve gotten more good than bad from the whole experience, but this day marks the beginning and the very worst part.
But I tried to put on a good face and get ready for the day. I’m not sure how successful I was, Christian of course didn’t comment on my mood anyway.
We boarded the dive boat under a warm, sunny sky. Today we were joined by a couple from Wisconsin and I was distracted from my grim thoughts as they told us stories of their travels in Indonesia and Thailand.
On the way out I was mostly trying to stay quiet wit’s most of my talking being in my head in the form of prayer. But the warm wind and turquoise water were already softening my mood. As Bert guided the boat into a small cut through of an uninhabited island, he slowed the motors and suddenly 2 dolphins appeared. We were all excited (especially me I think) but they didn’t hang around too long. But before we even resumed the trip Mike spotted 2 manatees. We kept seeing the sandy trail they were leaving on the shallow bottom but were unable to glimpse the animals themselves. They finally emerged briefly, a mom and a baby, which explained the shyness as she protects her calf. Somehow I could feel this day getting better already. I was hopeful that the dive may also bring more excitement.
As soon as we dropped down on our first dive we saw lionfish lined up under ledges as if they were waiting for us. By the time Bert got down with the zookeeper, Christian had killed 4 lionfish. And it didn’t stop there. The guys were shooting lionfish as fast as they could while I enjoyed the underwater landscape and looked for something out of the ordinary to video (something I didn’t already have hours of footage of anyway). More than halfway through the dive, Bert signaled that he saw a ray resting in the sand. Sure enough, a small sting ray was just below us, but that’s not really out of the ordinary. But then Bert motioned that he saw another ray, this time in front of us, which usually means an eagle ray. Bert can spot things no one else seems to be able to and I even often have trouble finding what he’s pointing out. I finally saw the beautiful ray gliding through the water in the distance. We see eagle rays fairly often, but are rarely able to catch much more than a glimpse since they are generally very skittish around divers. But that didn’t keep me from trying. I swam forward with the GoPro to see if maybe I could see him well enough to get a shot. I swam toward him and to my surprise he only glided in a slow, graceful arc toward my left. I followed very closely and he seemed to almost slow down, making it possible for me to keep up. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, I ended taking almost 2 minutes of video of this exquisite creature.
The dive was over shortly and we spent the surface interval talking about the success of the dive and eating lionfish ceviche. The second dive would prove even more exciting than the first. The lionfish were again there, but we also came across a large sea turtle that literally swam in circles around me while I videoed. Then there was the hungry, free-swimming eel (they are usually hiding) who fought to pull a lionfish of a spear, and the longest trumpet fish I had ever seen! I thought it couldn’t get better until Bert spotted another eagle ray just before we surfaced and I was able to also able to get close enough to video this one!
Wow!
The boat ride back seemed to be as magical as the rest of the day with the ocean displaying more varied shades of blue than I would think possible, and after we returned home and showered, John treated us to dinner at the loveliest restaurant on the island, which we had never visited.
I intend to remember this day when the next February 18th rolls around. The other memories will always be there as well, but now those memories will be tempered with thoughts of the charmed day I’ve had, and just when I needed it. God is still faithful!
link to video for the day https://youtu.be/xmtwABf_2oU
