technicolor!

each morning after the sun has risen as i sit on my little porch journaling, i head off to the other direction to see the sea....what it has to say today...tide in? tide out? clear water? muddy water? strong waves? still and quiet? and it usually gives me a very clear message as i stand there looking at it; "Now's the time to take a walk." or "Why not practice tai chi on the shore today?" or "come back later and see if its swimming time" or like this morning when it said "come on out to snorkel! its now or never!!" so...after having just gotten dressed, i ran back to the room and got undressed and got on my bathing suit and snorkel, and sure enough, by the time i had gotten back, it already wasn't as still as it was 10 minutes before, but i saw the water was crystal clear (rare) and it will be just fine.

i am not a fan of being IN the sea....i am a fan of looking at the sea, feeling the waves and sand on my feet, watching it change, coming in and out, listening to the sea with its rhythmic pulse, watching the colors of it change as the day goes by...

but the water is a pleasant temperature, which already makes jumping in for a swim less of a challenge for me, since it is not such a shock of cold water. but i still have a childhood fear that there may be "something" (like a big fat long water snake just waiting to grab me....freudian?!) out there that i won't want touching me underneath the surface....but....just the remembering how totally amazing it will be to see colorful unbelievable fish and coral, gets me right in there without hesitating...

so off i head to the canyon out to the left...having spit on my mask, stuck it to my fast as best i could, making sure not a single hair on my head is caught inside of it which lends itself to water slowly drizzling in and forcing me to remove the mask midway at sea to empty it out and try again....so there also is always a kind of small fear that while i am trying to get it back on again i won't succeed to stay afloat and use both hands to put the mask back on me
out at sea...so...i try and swim out right to the best spot as fast as i can to beat the race of who wins, the water silently slipping into my mask or me getting to see the fish and coral before my nose cannot stay above the water level in the mask...kind of crazy...but that's me and snorkeling at the present...

the first signs of me going in the right direction ( since my head is underwater and i am guessing i am headed out to the west...) is a lovely blue starfish....ahh...headed for the reef, all is well....then the teeny tiny electric blue fish start appearing, and then the colored corals in mauve, pink, blue, yellow green, grey, ...but this is not yet the technicolor....for they are kind of muted....but then begin the "schools" of fish...some in stars and stripes like an american flag (seriously!) just the stars are black, or the lovely yellow and black striped one with a long dagger shape coming off of its back in white, or the angry looking one with dark frowning eyebrows, or the fish that looks like he's smiling, or the magnificent grey and blue spotted one with pink lips, or the brownish one that when he moves his gills reveals turquoise, or the silver ones that look almost see thru with a big black oval an the side, or the white ones that slowly fade into black by the time you reach their tail, or the rainbow colored one, or the parrot ones full of fluorescent colors,..and i wish i could remember the other 20 that i saw...i keep trying to give myself imaginary flash cards so by the time i get to the laptop i will remember how to describe them all....

and this morning while i was just floating there, above them all amazed at this technicolor show of beauty, grace and creation by our creator, all just hidden there underneath the surface of the sea, i started to feel pin pricks here and there...hmm...who or what is that?! and suddenly i realized that floating around me in the sea are minute see thru pink newly born jelllyfish....and their little sting as we touch each other is that pin prick sensation...

just then i started feeling how the water level for my nose and the sneaking water into my mask are just the sign i need to tell me that i have had my technicolor show for the day....say thank you and head back....

so thank you magnificent creator for this underwater world that i can easily ignore as i sit on the shore looking out at the surface.....