Portugal - Pico Island, Azores - SCUBA part II

Me and Pedro posing for a diving shot ;)

What Aphyna and I both experienced in this set of dives, in the ocean, the Atlantic ocean, the endlessly deep and wide ocean, is that the belief we land-creatures hold that the ocean is a treacherous, frightening place that humans are not welcome in, is false.  The idea lives in your mind, which sees the water world as unknowable, and different, and dangerous, thus something to reject.  But the real gift of diving is that you get to experience the ocean as a place that is also your home.  

It’s not that we could, or should, survive in the ocean forever; it’s more a feeling, an intuitive sense, that there’s nothing to be scared of here.  That life is going about its business - surviving and growing, eating and being eaten, minute by minute, wave by wave, day by day, year by year.  And when you see something huge, something unique, you are hit with a wave of wonderment.  Fear can bubble up from time to time - but it’s something you bring with you, not something that is waiting in the depths, threatening to swallow you up.  That’s something our culture has made up and conditioned into us.

Even sharks, the classic representation of the tales of terror beneath the waves, are vastly misunderstood.  Far from being bloodthirsty murderers, they are incredibly keen sensory hunters that play a critical role in the food chain.  They eat the old, sick and weakened fish from schools that would otherwise cause disease to spread rampantly in their colonies.  They have excellent eyesight and even better olfactory receptivity.  They would never mistake a SCUBA diver for a meal - they know exactly what you are, and to stay away from you, especially since fishermen and harpoon divers have killed so many of them.  They trust humans very little at this point, and rarely come close to divers (they surely will see you before you see them, and swim in the other direction if they’re not interested), even with chum in the water.  They aren’t mindless killing machines, driven into frenzies - they know exactly what they’re doing.  

Even if a flailing human on the surface looks like a seal, and they go in for a bite, they have sensory receptors in their gums, that give them immediate feedback on whether what they’re biting is actually a meal they want to eat - and when they taste human blood, they let go right away.  Unfortunately, they often sever an artery or take off a limb with their bite, so one bite is enough to create a story that sharks are vicious killers.

Ok, relax, we didn’t see any sharks on our dives, but we did see some incredible creatures.  First, we were surrounded by a school of Galley jacks, who came pouring over the lip of a sheer rock cliff that dropped from 20m to 35m.  They were with us for 5 or more full minutes, swimming back and forth to check us out, coming close to each of us in turn, and suddenly changing direction.  It was stunning to behold - it was impossible to count the number of fish in the group, certainly 100 or more, and many of them were quite large, a meter across.  But it wasn’t the size of the fish or the group that was so astonishing - it was the way they moved.  It sounds cliche, but the best way to describe it is that they were one organism, made up of many small individuals.  When they changed direction, they all changed direction at once.  How do they even do that?  It’s miraculous.  Watching them, and being in their presence, was surreal.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  But that’s what’s amazing about diving - we more than saw them, we met them.  There was nothing separating us from them.  We entered their world.  It was both humbling and exhilarating.

A manta ray!

Then, a totally different but equally stunning encounter (oddly enough, in the same exact spot) was with a giant manta ray.  Our divemaster tapped me on the shoulder, pointed, and there it was - HUGE, gliding towards us.  In the water, things look bigger and closer than they are, so I can’t say exactly how near it was. But that manta looked BIG, and CLOSE.  Its wings widespread, its mouth wide open, carrying two (large) fish on its back, it was a mix between an angel, an alien, and aircraft carrier.  My first thought was, “this can’t be real.”  The little librarian scientist in my mind just had nowhere to put this creature.  And the fact that, again, there was nothing separating us - we were meeting it, face to face - is probably the most surreal part.  I was just hit with a wave of awe.  All we could do was hold on to the rocks and gape.  It hovered over us, it passed in a wide, arcing circle, completely effortlessly, and wheeled off into the blue.  

There were far too many other memories to detail: we encountered everything from octopi cowering in crevices to horrific snaggle-toothed moray eels (one as thick as my thigh, no lie), barracuda, spider crabs and sea slugs and phosphorescent krill, chains of plankton and parrotfish and spearfishers.  But the truth is, there’s so much magic down there, and there’s no end to it.  The ocean is not what we generally think it is: an endless blue abyss.  It’s full of life, and not just life in the abstract sense.  It’s full of creatures, each one unique and alive, with its own peculiarities and idiosyncrasies and story and destiny.  And it’s full of curiosity, as well - it calls you in and has a good, long, look at you.  Hopefully, it spits you back out.

We’re back on solid ground now, drying out and decompressing.  It was a wild week, as exhausting as it was exciting.  We did do other things besides diving - including eating some of our best meals at a lovely restaurant, Ritinha (not even on tripadvisor!), just downstairs from our apartment, where the change the five-item menu every day, and you better get there early because they sell out of the best things fast!  We made friends, which was a treat, learned some Portuguese, and I got a recipe for Arroz Doce, Portuguese rice pudding, directly from a true Azorean mum (her son had to translate it for me step by step).  And of course, the sunsets.  

I need a little more practice but my arroz doce sure was delicious (and pretty)!

Good times reading tarot at sunset

Our “official” honeymoon has come to an end.  We appreciated it to so much, two weeks of truly just relaxing and enjoying the buzz of being married!!  But our honeyLIFE is just beginning! Who knows where it will end?

Our next chapter is upon us, now - Barcelona!  We’ll be staying in an AirBnB as we explore the city, putting on our tourist hats as we try to take in what the town has to offer.  We’re excited, and nervous - two very closely related sensations.  Back to the big city from the tiny island!  Will we survive the hustle and bustle?  Will one of Gaudi’s architectural masterpieces come to life and eat us?  Will we join a circus troupe, Aphyna as an aerial artist and Alex as, of course, a crossdressing clown?  WE DON’T KNOW EITHER!

Tune in again to find out! :)