I’ll never forget those fish. How they terrorized me with every fin flip. These glittered, finger-sized beasts chased me all the way into his arms. There, we floated in a turquoise sea with a rainbow of plump fish orbiting us. Seagulls whistled above in a clear blue sky, as wet salty hair crinkled with an … Continued
Ocean of Bravery in Indonesia I am a scuba diving instructor. I work while traveling or I travel while working. I took me a lot of bravery to first become a scuba diver. I was terrified by the depth of the sea. Years ago I reluctantly did a try dive. From the first breath I took underwater I was hooked to this magical, mostly unknown world. After this very first dive I could not give up. What I saw underwater was so spectacular that I wanted to see more. I was enchanted by the whole thing. The way I felt underwater was totally new to me. I felt free, I felt relaxed, I felt happy. I wanted to live underwater. The best way to spend as much time underwater as possible was to become a scuba diving instructor. However, it was not the only reason. When I learned to scuba dive I was a terrible student but I had an awesome instructor. I wanted to be just like that. I wanted to be an awesome instructor to help people to overcome their fear of underwater. So I did. I worked hard to become an instructor and since becoming one I have taken many people underwater. Beginners and experienced divers alike have been lead by me under the sea. I have dived and worked in many countries. I have experienced many different diving conditions, from calm waters to ripping currents. From crystal clear to rough visibilities. Every time I enter in the sea either for fun diving myself or to teach or lead people, I feel like entering a forbidden zone where only few of us are allowed. My heart races at the beginning, I feel humble and respectful towards this immense world. I feel brave for entering this world of water and fish and corals. The best place I have dived so far has been in Komodo, Indonesia. The best scuba diving in my life and the most challenging conditions I have experienced since scuba diving. I did not do much teaching here since most of the divers coming were already certified for diving. The underwater world of Komodo made me brave. Sometimes currents here can be very strong. To lead people underwater is a lot of responsibility, even more so if the conditions are challenging.I remember one dive I did with two experienced divers at Crystal Rock, one of the most challenging dive sites in Komodo. Upon arrival to the dive site we could see the currents charging from the surface. After careful consideration I decided to do the dive because I knew we would have seen LOTS of fish action. And I knew my divers, they would have been able to handle the conditions.We jumped in and descended right away. We had to swim into the current for a bit since we had to reach the rocks to be able to hook. Every few seconds I made sure my divers were ok and could handle the current. My heart was kind of racing, I was standing very close to my divers watching them carefully for any sign of distress. They were doing great, loving it. The current was coming towards us and it was so strong that we could not move. We stayed hooked to the rocks and waited. Then We saw them. A group of five White Tip Sharks was coming towards us on the hunt. My heart was racing and I looked towards the divers. They signaled they were ok. We watched with our eyes wide open. The sharks kept hunting on a school of Trevallys. They were about 2-3 eters away from us. It was a beautiful display of action. The currents was so strong that the sharks were surfing it. It was magical. Suddenly two Grey Reef Sharks joined the party. We could not move, not just because of the current but also because what we were witnessing was a once in a lifetime experience. We stood there for about forty minutes, until one of the divers signaled he was low on air. At that point we had to fight the current to get to a shallower depth for our safety stop. When we ascended we all had a smile on our face that said it all. Underwater is the place where I feel the bravest. Underwater is my place. I want to be brave to explore more and to learn more from this powerful element. The ocean makes me brave and makes me humble. Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.
A sojourn to the nether world It happened to be the most consequential tour of my life when I visited Port Blair, the capital town of Andaman & Nicobar Islands of India. Situated at the juncture of Bay of Bengal and Andaman sea, the islands are the major tourist hub. The place which actually acted … Continued
Bravery is in the heart in Mexico What is to be brave? Being brave can have different meaning, depending on people and circumstances. A soldier is brave when he fights for his country, a toddler is brave when taking his/her first steps alone. Even a traveler is brave when he/her tries unknown things and embarks a new adventure. There is a time and a place for everybody to be brave. There is probably at some point in our life a special place that makes us want to be brave. Bravery presents itself under different aspects. Traveling is always been in my blood. When I started traveling I got such a buzz from it that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life. I could not do it for too long though as money would eventually run out and I had to go back to “normal life”. Some years back suddenly few personal dramas happened. I will not go into detail, everyone of us at some point goes through tough times. For me that was it. I hit rock bottom, I had to do something about my own life. Finally I did what I should have already done. I sold few belongins, packed my backpack and left into the almost unknown. I went to the Riviera Maya in Mexico, Playa del Carmen, where I had already been few years earlier. I arranged a job over there. This time I was leaving with no money at all, I could not afford to just travel. I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. I started to work as sales girl for a scuba dive school. I loved it from the first moment. I found inspiring fun people and a passion for scuba diving I had never had before. It was for me a dream come true. Endless white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise blue water and countless palm trees. The great surprise came with scuba diving. I always loved the sea but somehow the depths of it scared me. I was terrified by scuba diving, but to my surprise I fell in love with it from the first time! What a fantastic world, I was fascinated and overwhelmed to be able to interact with the marine life. So many colourful fish, blue water all around and my body was weightless. I was overcome by a wonderful sense of freedom. I felt like a mermaid in my natural habitat. I came up from that dive (and all the others that followed) grinning from ear to ear. The feeling I had from it was indescribable. From this moment on I never looked back, I found my path. I wanted to be a scuba diving instructor! Once my mind was clear, I slowly started to let go of all my previous ties and unspoken griefs. I started to look inside my soul and I finally admitted to myself all that I had denied until that moment. From there I only looked forward. Mexico was the starting point of the Making of Myself. This was in 2009. Oddly enough, Mexico was also the first place where I did my very first big solo travel back in 2002. Who knows? Maybe there was already an unspoken connection. Having said that, I believe every single place I travel to brings something new out of me. Since then I have traveled, worked and lived in many other countries. Every single place inspires me to new aspects of my life and to where and what I want to be. To be honest I am not totally sure yet about where I want to be, or what is my place in this world. I am happy and content with my position in life at the moment, but I feel some changes will happen in the near future. So far I have won great battles, I am not afraid of myself anymore and I am rather happy in my own skin. I have not won the war though. I still have a long way to go. Traveling to amazing places has helped me through experiences to love myself more and to open up to myself. In the meantime I have also found true love. This makes me question myself even further. For me there is only one place that inspires me to be brave. It is my own heart. Being brave to me means being true to myself. Sometimes is still hard to be completely true especially when I am put in front of big decisions, big question marks. Being true to myself is the only way to be brave and move forward. Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.
Some friends call me “Queen of the Streets” because I have this sick tendency of being followed by random creepy people. Yes, not cute guys, but the scary types. I remember walking on the sidewalk when a drunken guy followed me to a jeepney (a public transport in Manila), and declared his undying love for … Continued
Niger. No you did not misread this. It is not Nigeria. Don’t worry. Even the ticket agent at the airport thought our ticket had a misprint. My wife and I assured him there was in fact a country called Niger in Africa. I had been to Eastern Africa before, but my wife hadn’t touched any … Continued
When my nine-year-old son, Ben, gets scared, I tell him, “Bravery is about being scared, but doing it anyway.” When it was my turn to try something scary, though, I realized that it’s much easier to tell someone else to be brave than it is to be brave myself. I’ve always had a fear … Continued
“Scenic route” said the sign on the side road, and nothing more. Too quaint to pass up in this quaintest of countries, so I took it, motoring on up into the hills for miles, until the road faded into a shadow of a goat path, replete with real goats. I shivered. It was just after … Continued
After 12 hours in the air, the plane finally kissed the ground. One bounce, then back in the air, as if deciding whether to stay or keep carrying her weary passengers to farther lands. I prayed in my heart she would stay ground-bound. Tanzania was far enough for me. Tanzania would surprise me almost every … Continued
“Open your mouth. Open your mouth and let the words fall out.” This phrase repeated through my brain like rubber track on a treadmill, calming and taunting me in an endless cycle. As a child, I always dreamed of learning another language. I wanted to share secrets with people of another country, culture, world, and … Continued