Bohol or bust: Back underwater

After an unplanned and unexplained 4 year hiatus from diving, I headed back underwater today. It was fabulous. You know when you just feel blissed out? That happens to me diving. There is something inexplicably zen yet thrilling about breathing underwater. Throw in the warm water of Bohol, tropical vis (as in, way easier to see in than BC's algae rich water!), some lovely corals, beautiful fish, and 4 great dive buddies, and you have a perfect way to start the day.

As neither Valeria nor I had dove in a long while, we arranged with Jeremy to do a skill refresher and easy dive to get our bearings again. Jeremy is a transplanted Long Islander who is setting up a dive shop in Jagna (he is a PADI instructor), as well was working with the local government on monitoring their Marine Protect Area...and he is dating my co-worker. Not only did we have Jeremy with us, but my other co-worker is a Dive Master, so we were in good hands. Five of us headed under into the local MPA shortly after 7am.

I was worried about my ears, which have always had issues and have even given me problems after some snorkeling in the last month, but luckily they were fine. We ran through some skills and I was surprised how comfortable I felt even after such a long time without diving. The whole time I was grinning around my regulator.

As we worked our way further into the MPA, the current got stronger, but the corals more continuous and beautiful. It was stunning to have emerald blue water above and thousands of colourful reef creatures below. Dominic had his underwater camera with macro lens attached along for the dive and he captured some stunning up-close-and-personal pics of some of the critters. Thanks for loaning me the pics, Dom!