Underwater Appreciation: Part II of II

Snorkeling = Epic

I swim around underneath the several atmospheres of pressure that push on me every second that I’m down there. I ponder about all of these as I swim, but get distracted when I see a dolphin in the distance. Wait, no, make that two dolphins; a mother and a baby dolphin, swimming and streaming through the water like ballerinas. I stop and stare at the wonderful spectacle in front me; some of the smartest creatures on this planet, maybe even said to be smarter than humans, were swimming just meters ahead of me. Their gracefulness catches me off guard and I think to myself, “These creatures don’t even have to practice this gracefulness; they’re born with it. And what do us humans do? We have to practice how to be graceful; we have to learn and perfect grace. What does that say about us humans? It says that, even though dolphins are very unique animals, they are similar to humans, but also superior in certain aspects. It also says that humans should accept the uniqueness that all nature has to offer, because whether we like it or not, sometimes things in nature are similar to us, but also superior.


I begin to return back to the surface, trailing my own bubbles . As I drift up, I leave the city, the people, and the grace that is the ocean. I’m going to miss the serenity that the ocean brings, but I know that I have my own serenity on the surface to return to. I’m close to the atmosphere; the oxygenated air. In seconds, I will be leaving the calmness of the ocean and entering the hectic surface that I call my world. I reach the surface, and take the snorkel connecting to my oxygen tank out and breathe in. In just 45 minutes, I have changed my whole outlook on the ocean, nature, and my own life. Diving had taken me on a trip that I will never want to take back or re-do; it took me on a trip to a place where serenity and calmness was all there is. I now appreciate nature and marine wildlife because of diving.

However, not everyone has fully learned to appreciate nature, both because we, as humans, feel that we’re better and more unique AND because we are afraid to find out that there are things in nature that are superior to us. I didn’t learn to appreciate nature, until I took an oxygen tank, a snorkel, and fins 35 feet underwater, to notice the spectacle that was happening underwater everyday; that has been happening everyday for millions of years. Sometimes it takes a little extra to learn how to appreciate what is around us.