Doing my first ever giant stride entry into THE OCEAN was as frightening for me as the thought of being thrown into a cage with hungry lions. As kids growing up, anything behind the reef and deeper than forty feet we called THE OCEAN and anything shallower we called THE SEA. Stepping up to the edge of the platform I was about to defy the legends that we had created among ourselves as youngsters, something that I’d been dying to do as well as something that I’d always dreaded. Snorkeling, bottom fishing, swimming and most water-related activities was always done either inside the barrier reef or just outside of it in three to 20 feet of water. Even at 17 years old, diving in 40 feet or deeper was a terrifying thought lingering at the back of my mind. On this day, though, I would face my fears head to head as I perched on the edge of the platform adjusting my equipment, clips of Jaws running through my mind, and procrastinating for as long as I could. When I could no longer hold up the rest of our group, I took my first stride into the kaleidoscope below, where the lovely shade of turquoise dramatically changes to navy blue at the edge of the wall. Engulfed by the warm water, I was immediately distracted by the plethora of hard and soft corals, sponges, sea rods and whips and the myriad of blues, reds, greens, purples and yellows of the curious fish staring at me from below.
Rarely do you happen upon a place where arid, desert-like conditions prevail on land, yet the coastline boasts some of the world’s finest un-crowded stretches of powder white, soft, sandy beaches and underwater landscapes so magnificent only photos could describe. This strange but awesome combination very accurately describes the Turks & Caicos Islands. Separated by a 22-mile wide, 7000-feet deep trench, these two island groups lay claim to the first Landfall of the Spanish Explorer Christopher Columbus in the new world. Visitors to these shores today are as awestruck as Columbus and his crew were when they first arrived and the Scuba Diving and snorkeling keeps them coming back time and time again.
Descending the safety line leading to the bottom I look around nervously hoping to see and not to see the legendary reef shark and at the same time enjoying the scenery, trying to make myself comfortable and deal with the overwhelming feeling of euphoria.
We swam off towards the edge of the wall and immediately encountered Scratch the grouper, who sat there patiently like a furry cat and allowed us to stroke him and tickle his chin. We were instructed on the manner in which this was to be done before we got off the boat and while hoping to encounter the friendly grouper at the same time thought that our instructor, Sally, was telling us lies to ease our anxiety and get us excited about the dive.
After Scratch had his fill of tickles and strokes, he swam off and we continued our swim before we got to the wall, which was only about 50 kicks away from the boat. We happened upon a 5-foot stingray asleep in the sand and stopped for a closer look. An experienced diver tagging along with us to photograph his wife doing her first ocean dive took a few close-up photos of the ray and off we were to the wall. The wall was not what I expected. Actually I’m not sure what I expected but it was eerie and exciting all at the same time, with a sheer slope from 30 to 120 feet almost as if it was beckoning me to go deeper. The visibility was easily 100 feet horizontally and equivalent vertically. A few minutes later, my instructor was pulling me back to the top of the wall to show me a large school of horse-eyed jacks encircling the rest of the group as they were all sporting silly smiles and turning as the jacks swam in circles around us. Because of the excellent water clarity, I had descended to forty-five feet by the time my instructor caught up with me. Needless to say, she gave me a slap on the wrist and always reminded me to watch my depth when diving again.
In all of the excitement I realized that I was getting down to 1500 PSI and after alerting my instructor we all started swimming back in the direction of the boat. Along the way, she pointed out flamingo tongue snails, a fingerprint cyphoma (never knew how rare it was; it took me three years to find another one) a tiny golden tail moray, a very big green moray free swimming in and out of holes trying to find a place to hide from the large Nassau Grouper pestering it, and as we sat around in the sand under the boat before ascending, the highlight of the entire day, a six foot Caribbean reef shark swam in from out over the wall and within ten feet of our group, making the girls squeal with a mix of delight and fear and me, the smallest guy in the group, hide behind Sally, our fearless leader. (She’s six feet tall.)
On the ride back to the resort, the stories never stopped and the six-foot JAWS was now eleven feet, not to mention the five-foot stingray which had grown to fifteen feet by the time we got to the dock. Needless to say, we were all hooked. I was certified the next week and after all of the necessary teaching programs and the guidance of Jaliyllah, Sally, David, Rick, Don and Skeeter, I was certified as a Dive Master a year and a half later and as an Instructor a year after my Dive Master’s training.
I am now a PADI and NAUI Instructor and proud owner and operator of Ocean Vibes Scuba & Watersports Ltd in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, taking discerning divers to the same dive sites that blew me away on my first dive and basking in the joy of their excitement during and after diving in and around the waters of Providenciales, Pine Cay, West Caicos, French Cay and the West Sand Spit in Beautiful Turks & Caicos Islands in the British West Indies.
www.oceanvibes.com
This article was provided to Coldwell Banker Real Estate Turks & Caicos by Wayne Hall, owner of Ocean Vibes.
www.coldwellbankertci.com.
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