I'd Like To Be Under The Sea In An Octopus's Garden

Hello Humans! "I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden, in the shade. He'd let us in, knows where we've been in his octopus's garden, in the shade. I"d ask my friends to come and see an octopus's garden with me. I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden, in the shade. We would be warm below the storm in our little hide-away beneath the waves. Resting our head on the seabed, in an octopus's garden near a cave. We would sing and dance around, because we know we can't be found. I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden in the shade. We would shout and swim about the coral that lies beneath the waves. Oh what joy for every girl and boy, knowing they're happy and they're safe. We would be so happy you and me! No one there to tell us what to do. I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden, with you. In an octopus's garden, with you. In an octopus's garden, with you." -The Beatles-Octopus's Garden-Abbey Road-

Wow. My morning started off very early, as I only got five and a half hours of sleep last night, then had to wake up at 7:00 to go scuba diving. I was a little nervous, because we would be diving in the open ocean. I arrived at our meeting spot in front of the BYU-H pool, and we hopped into the "party van." We drove over an hour to the other side of the Island to do our two scheduled dives for the day. Everyone in the party van was a little nervous, which made me feel better. After the long drive, we finally arrived at the beach park, where we hopped out of our van, and assembled our scuba gear. I was able to remember easily how to set it all up, and was one of the first people ready. We then helped each other into what seemed like 50 pounds of scuba equipment, and started the quarter of a mile trek to our entry point. We then entered the water, put on our mask and flippers, and started to swim out to the rocks that we had to go through to get to the open ocean. Because we were at a beach park, they had set up some rock walls to keep the giant waves from crashing into the beach, so we had to swim between these rocks to get to the reef. I was really nervous about swimming between the rocks, because the waves were really high. I took a deep breath through my respirator, and by trusting that it would supply me my air, and my BCD would keep me a-float, I went for it. It was tricky, you had to swim with the surge, and then try not to get pulled back into the beach park by the actual waves. But we all made it through alive and well. Then we were out in open waters. And boy, did it feel cool. The waves weren't high or strong at all. We swam on our backs to save our air for our actual dive, to the spot where we would descend. We descended one group at a time, and me and my buddy were the last. When it was our turn, I held my BCD inflator/deflator straight up, and pressed the deflate button. I deflated it all the way, and was barely sinking below the surface. My instructor came up, added another weight to my BCD, and down I went, like a rock. When at the bottom, we became kind of neutrally buoyant, but none of us were very good at it, since it was only our second time swimming in the scuba gear.

We swam to my instructor, who then had us form a circle, become negatively buoyant, so we sank to the floor, and then we practiced some skills. We partially flooded our scuba masks, then "pressed b to blow" as we blew through our nose to get the water out, and took our respirators out, leaving a stream of bubbles, and putting the respirator back in to again, "press b to blow," and blow the water out of the respirator to breath. We knocked those off the list quickly, then got to swim around the reef. We found a cool coral, where a family of fish lived, swimming in and out of it. They even had tiny little black and white baby fish, which were totally adorable. We followed our instructor who pointed out a silver and yellow eel, poking his head out of a hole in the coral. There were fish everywhere as we looked around. Then, it was time to surface. So we swam upwards, reached our hands over our heads as we broke the surface, and inflated our BCDs to stay a-float. Then we swam on our backs again, then we got to the rocks. We put in our respirators, and went back through the rocks. The rocks on the way back were worse than going out to the dive site. This was because the giant waves would push you forward, but then the surge was greater, so you swam just to stay in place, but most times you got pulled back out to sea, or got all turned around and ended up running into a rock. Once our whole group had made it through, we swam on our backs again, took our fins and masks off, then made the long trek back to the dive van. The way back was easier, because we had used up most of the air, so our gear was a little lighter.

Once back at the van, we took a quick 10 minute break, switched our tanks out, and trekked back to the beach park. We did the same routine, swimming through the rocks hoping we wouldn't die, then swimming on our backs until we got to the dive site where we would descend. As our dive instructor was scouting out the best place to descend, he spotted something at the bottom. He said, "I'm going to go grab an octopus," ever so nonchalantly, as if he grabbed octopus's every day, and ducked his head below the surface. Me and my diving buddies glanced around at each other with confused looks on our faces, and then we each put our respirators in, and looked below the surface. We saw our dive instructor next to a lone piece of coral, reaching around it, then black ink squirted everywhere. He kept going at it for a couple of minutes, and then he gently pulled out a beautiful orange octopus. He let it go, and it swam away ever-so gracefully. Then we descended, this time all at the same time. This descent was a lot smoother than the last for me, as I had the correct weight in my weight system.

Again, we swam towards my instructor, who had found a nice sandy spot on the ocean floor, and we formed a circle again. We knocked off a couple more skills, fully flooding our masks, "pressing b to blow" and blowing all the water out, then using our buddy's alternate second stage, or respirator, and then becoming neutrally buoyant. As we waited for the other groups to pass off these skills, my buddy got my attention and pointed upwards. I will try my best to explain this, but it really is a feeling like non-other. As we were kneeling there on the sandy ocean floor, getting moved too and fro from a small current, we looked upwards. We saw our stream of bubbles from us breathing Carbon Dioxide out of our respirators, and then about twenty feet above us, was this incredible thing called the surface. It looked truly amazing. You could see the sun's photons scattering as they hit the water, the ocean waves from underneath them, and your bubbles rising to the top. It is something that makes you feel like you're on a totally different planet and cannot be put to words or picture. Once all the groups were passed off, we swam around the reef again, this time encountering some fish line tangled up in the reef. My instructor pulled out his dive knife and started cutting it loose. I gained a big respect for divers, as I saw that the divers who dive the most really care about the environment and makes sure that it's clean. This is because of the respect divers have for the environment. If it weren't for coral reefs and fish, diving would be useless, except to see sand beneath the water. As we were gradually swimming along an upward slope towards our ascent point, our instructor started making signals with his hands that looked like a bomb exploding. Again, all us divers were puzzled, until he pointed to a fish. A puffer fish. On the bus ride home, my buddy told me that she almost got a rock to throw at it, so that we could see it puff up. Luckily we were taught good environmental practices. After the puffer fish swam off, we ascended, once again breaking the surface with arms raised above our heads. We swam on our backs to the rocks, put in our respirators, and attempted to get to the calm other side. Everyone safely made it the second time, and we all thought it was easier than the first time. We then descended again, once we got to deeper waters within the beach park, and found an upside down jellyfish. It looked really cool, like the inside of a starfish cool. I would know because I've had to dissect one. Then we ascended, and swam on our backs to the shore. We then began the long trek back to the dive van.

Once at the van, we got to disassemble our gear, pile it all up, and then run to the outside shower to rinse off our wetsuits. We had a good time laughing at each other trying to get out of our wetsuits. It's a lot harder than our dive instructors made it look. One person made a good analogy, "It's like a snake shedding it's skin." Which it really is. Then we walked back to the van, turned our wetsuits in, got back inside the party van, and drove the hour and ten minutes back to our beloved North Shore. The drive back was very quiet, as the exhaustion settled in. The driver dropped everyone off, and in we went to shower and go to sleep. Except it was only 5 when we got back, so then I wrote this and went out to the local burger place, "Seven Brothers," for a delicious dinner with my new-found dive buddies. The pineapple veggie burger is really growing on me, but I think it's their Nutella Shake that I finally splurged on tonight that won my heart. I love Nutella almost as much as I love scuba diving.

I'm hoping I can start to get my own diving gear. Hopefully there will be a black Friday sale, or something because DANG! Making sure that you have good, safe, and color-coordinated gear can be quite expensive. I really only need a BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) and a octopus (First stage, or the thing that connects to your tank, Second stage, your regulator, Alternate second stage, alternate regulator, PSI Gauge, and the BCD inflator hose), because I already have a mask, snorkel, fins, and booties, and my parents have a wetsuit at home that they say I can borrow (or keep ;P). I don't think I'll ever get a tank, unless I end up living by an ocean for long-term, because then I can just rent them from the local dive store. I would guess it costs just a little bit more than actually paying to re-fill your tank.

But I cannot wait until I return to the Octopus's Garden next week. We get to dive off a boat, which means a deeper and more interesting dive. I recently read that "You will only know your place when you go on Adventures." Well, I found my place. I know why the sea and the ocean calls me. Not only for it's beauty on the surface, or the way I can better understand waves, science, and the quantum realm form it, or it's green and blue color, or even for it's calming powers over me as I sit and listen, but for it's amazing array of wildlife, sea creatures, and environments, it's ability to make you float in a space, it's adventure into the unknown, and it's meditating and calming powers over me, as I focus on my breathing, take in my surroundings, clear my mind, and appreciate the beautiful world that my Heavenly Father and Mother Earth has sustained for us. I now know my place, and it is in an Octopus's Garden. Stay wild, flower child.