Traveling, writing and living around the world
Trying to convey the beauty and glamour of the underwater world of Komodo was no easy task. All of the colors of the rainbow were shining bright and free in every which direction, every hue that has ever made its way into any finger-painting concoction was highlighted and looking its absolute best. Everything around me made me wish so badly that I had gills so I could spend the rest of my days floating through the depths of the ocean and trying to follow it to the ends of the earth.
There are a few things that many divers seem to universally wish to dive with in their lifetime. Among the big things are mola mola, whale sharks and manta rays – just to name a few.
Manta rays are the ballerinas of the sea – they define gentle grace with the way they smoothly glide through the waters and command a presence like no other creature I have ever come across.
“It would be good to get in there before the Mantas leave you know,” my dive guide Steve says.
I am desperately and furiously trying to wiggle myself into a thick, cold-water wetsuit that not even a Victoria’s Secret model could gracefully slide into. Though the water is about 28 degrees Celsius, I am still worried I will freeze after nearly 40 minutes or more of diving. But damn, this thing just is impossible to get the hell on.
I am meeting so many Americans on this trip, I think to myself as I sit down in the Wicked Diving Shop in Labuan Bajo on Flores Island in Indonesia. I’m talking to a guy who introduces himself as Kevin, and when I ask where he is from there is a small laugh and a hesitation. I get it – sometimes when you have been gone so long, living here there and everywhere, the simplicity of getting asked where you are from feels like getting asked a question in a foreign language.
I learn that home for Kevin is originally Chicago, and we talk for a few minutes about our un-American lifestyles before diving right into things. I am worried about, well, everything, I explain to Kevin.
Indonesia is a paradise in and of itself – from its desolate, powder-white beaches and islands canopied by palm trees and crystal clear waters lapping its shores. The world above water is an intriguing one – swimming with a multitude of cultures that are as diverse they are electrifying.
Yet what makes Indonesia such an incredible country is also what you can find swimming around in its underwater world.
