I went for a walk along the beach-front promanade today, and it struck me that I was treading a path which divided 2 completely seperate worlds. One world was filled with noise, smells, and the comforts of our presence.
A young couple walked 2 dogs, barking, and growling, as they talked loudly to one another and shouted occasionally at their animals. Elsewhere, construction workers yelled above the noise of a cement mixer. Their shouts were drowned by the roars of passing buses, and the howl of a big motorbike.
In the background, the constant hummmm of a busy area, and smells of exhaust fumes, and occasional garbage.
So many people, couples, individuals, joggers, young and old, gaze out to the water, seemingly hypnotised. But how many of them realise that out there, is another world...so close.
As we fill our lungs, just meters from that promanade, and slip under into the blue, we enter silence. Just a crackling of the reef.
And a faint swish of the surf far above. Just silence, and colour.
The dance of light from the surface. The flowing kelp forests, the cautious movement of fish, and the mysterious void of the open space just out of our visibility. The caves of Crayfish, beautiful shy-sharks and Rays which pass by unperturbed by our presence.
Limited by our lack of gills, our visits are just fleeting.
But as we break the surface and return to our world of noise and smell, we realise that we are perhaps fortunate, that most of those eyes which gaze outwards towards us do not have any idea of the magic which we find down there. No Visa's, aircraft, and travel arrangements for this world, just a set of fins, a mask, and a desire to freedive. Lets rock !
A young couple walked 2 dogs, barking, and growling, as they talked loudly to one another and shouted occasionally at their animals. Elsewhere, construction workers yelled above the noise of a cement mixer. Their shouts were drowned by the roars of passing buses, and the howl of a big motorbike.
In the background, the constant hummmm of a busy area, and smells of exhaust fumes, and occasional garbage.
So many people, couples, individuals, joggers, young and old, gaze out to the water, seemingly hypnotised. But how many of them realise that out there, is another world...so close.
As we fill our lungs, just meters from that promanade, and slip under into the blue, we enter silence. Just a crackling of the reef.
And a faint swish of the surf far above. Just silence, and colour.
The dance of light from the surface. The flowing kelp forests, the cautious movement of fish, and the mysterious void of the open space just out of our visibility. The caves of Crayfish, beautiful shy-sharks and Rays which pass by unperturbed by our presence.
Limited by our lack of gills, our visits are just fleeting.
But as we break the surface and return to our world of noise and smell, we realise that we are perhaps fortunate, that most of those eyes which gaze outwards towards us do not have any idea of the magic which we find down there. No Visa's, aircraft, and travel arrangements for this world, just a set of fins, a mask, and a desire to freedive. Lets rock !