If you have never been scuba diving before it really is something that should be added to your bucketlist. Not only do you have the opportunity to get up close and personal with some incredible sea creatures, it is also one of most peaceful feelings you can experience.
I’ve been fortunate enough to dive in Thailand, Fiji and the Cook Islands. Not a long list, but a pretty good one (I plan to get Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines on there at some point).
Diving in the Cook Islands is quite unique in comparison to other places. Due to the fact that islands are atolls formed from volcanos the comes a point where the sea floor drops off and below you is 2000m of ocean. A sheer underwater drop if you will. On the island side you have a wall of rock that the island is built on and on the ocean side, nothing but the blue abyss of the Pacific Ocean.
Whilst staying on the main island of Rarotonga we took a few diving trips, however there is one particular trip that is forever etched in my mind.
It was wet and windy day so naturally the ocean was a little choppy, but as soon as we were underwater it was calm and peaceful. We followed a group of eagle rays out to the drop off and swam around the outer wall. We must have been swimming round the outer for 5 minutes before I realised that I was at least 5 metres deeper than everyone else. This doesn’t seem like a major issue until you take into account that the deeper you swim, the more oxygen you use.
I kept checking my air and making sure that I was swimming at the same depth as everyone else. Everything was fine until we got back to our line where we hold to hold at 5 metres to allow our nitrogen levels to reset to prevent the decompression sickness. Whilst holding onto the line my air ran out, I made the signal to my friend who was opposite me and I was able to use his spare regulator.
If you recall, it was a wet and windy day, whilst we hadn’t felt the choppiness of the ocean waves at any other points of our dive, you can be sure we were feeling now. It was at this point that my friends sea sickness came to the fore. He vomited into his regulator which sprayed what was formerly his breakfast into the water in his vicinity. I was holding the same line as he was, so our faces were about 30cm apart. Fantastic, ran out of air which effectively caused me to get vomited on.
It wasn’t all bad however as many of the fish below came up to eat my friends former breakfast, only inches from our masks.
