Then came the BIG day
I was putting on my diving gear… consciously. My instructor was an attractive Jamaican who exuded confidence and safety. He joked with me and helped me relax. He said he would start by snuba diving. This meant I need not carry my tank myself. It would float above me. He assured me that he would be by my side and teach me to breathe underwater. I also learnt a few signs… by now I was more excited and less nervous. It had been my long-standing dream to travel under water. Would I be able to allow myself to feel free and merge with the water, the fish and the coral?
I used all my spiritual practices to breathe calmly, to let go of fear, to be mindful and the rest. I knew that one wrong thought could jeopardise my attempts.
So I slid into the water and surrendered. I had the most beautiful underwater experience, silently gliding with the brightly coloured fish of all shapes and sizes. I touched a flounder, chased a school of parrot fish, and fed a group of grouper. I began to notice how relaxed and ‘free’ I felt moving up and down in the water, sometimes even sitting on the sea bed. My instructor was amused, to say the least.
When we emerged from the water half an hour later, I was exhilarated and superbly proud of myself. Another dream fulfilled. Facing a fear always releases you from the fear.
Gifts from the sea
We moved on to a neighbouring island called Gibbs Cay for a day. Speeding across the blue waters on our boat, the wind on my face, I was almost dozing off to sleep when I heard excitement on board. Our two colleagues in the boat, with shining bare bodies jumped into the water and popped up with live conchs which they threw into the boat. It took my boys only a few seconds to do the same. It seems conch hunting is a common sport in these islands. So here I was, with four people around me popping up and down the water handing me very large live conchs.
Gibbs Cay is a deserted uninhabited island where stingrays greet you on arrival and seagulls join you for your lunch. As we stepped out into the knee-deep water, a whole school of stingrays arrived to greet us and rubbed themselves on our legs like warm silk. We could lift them and stroke them like pets. Incredible! I fantasised a life here like in the movie Blue Lagoon. What if I were stranded in this deserted island? How would I survive?
After much excitement, we returned to Grand Turk and I spent the rest of the evening in Spa Turkoise where the therapist Meghan took care of my body like a mother takes care of her child.