This was the most awaited part of the trip for me. We did snorkeling in Maldives around six years back and I could still remember the sequence of events that happened then. It was my first ever time getting into water (did not even get into a swimming pool before that) and I was horrified being in water that I wanted to get back to the boat in 30 mins. I didn’t even know the fact that life jackets will help me float and there is no way I can drown. The only thing I believed in then was my instructor. We both held his hands, but I had this strange feeling that he will leave us and go help others as there were many snorkeling along with us and therefore returned to the boat quickly. My husband was relatively comfortable in water and he enjoyed snorkeling completely.

Now the situation is a bit better as I started learning swimming (just a beginner) and I know the basic science behind it. I wanted to check how my snorkeling experience will be in Great Barrier Reef. Though I’m extremely interested in exploring the reef, I have this little fear left in me after my previous experience. The D-day finally arrived where I would know which emotion surpasses the other in this adventure.

After an hour of boat journey, we stopped in the middle of the reef where we were provided site briefing, snorkeling equipment and given an hour to explore the reef. I was very attentive to all the instructions provided, like a good student. Little did I realize that I had to put those instructions to practice.

I sat on the corner of the boat with all my gear on, waiting for the RIGHT time to get into the water. Everyone around me went to snorkel on their own and my husband also finished a small round of snorkeling.

He was extremely excited to show me the reef beneath, but I was still apprehensive to get down. We were almost in the middle of the ocean and I started panicking with the thought that I wouldn’t be able to touch my feet down in any worst case, as I do in the pool. Though my logical brain started telling me that I won’t sink, emotional part of the brain tried to recall my previous experience and scare me. That was when I found an instructor taking someone around with a kick board and I joined her along, as I was comfortable holding on to the board while practicing swimming. The fact that the instructor was beside me was also comforting and I went along with her with blind belief.

It was a wonderful sight below the water with a large number of fishes going just below us to an extent that I was extremely cautious not to hurt them with my paddles. After a while, I realized that those fishes were at a certain depth below us and the view inside the water was magnified. The trip lasted for around 10-15 mins till a short distance from the boat with a great view of reef and fishes. I was back again on the boat resting for a while and trying to gain courage to get back without the kick board. My husband assured to hold me with his hand and take me along and I finally decided to go along with him.

I held his hand firmly and concentrated on keeping my snorkel tube outside, so that water won’t enter my mouth. That was something that took practice time, after which I was okay. I slowly started enjoying the reef beneath and observed various marine species along the way. We hired an underwater camera from our tour operator and my husband took control of that and tried to click photos with one hand while he held me with another hand.

We were briefed that we will reach a wall like structure where the reef ends and the deep ocean begins, which was almost like a boundary for snorkeling. We reached a wall and I was close to the wall, where in I tried to alert my husband to turn back and he comforted me saying its okay. But it felt as if I was about to hit the wall as I was more closer to the wall. I couldn’t really understand where we were heading to as the waves were strong and it took time for my husband to paddle all around to go back. That was exactly when a horn blew from our boat which indicates “time up”. We were really far from the boat and I felt like we were stuck there and will miss the boat and that we needed help. I was in a state of panic and tried to convey that to husband by pulling his hands down trying to explain him the situation (its tough to talk, so I was trying to convey him the urgency of the situation). I raised my fist for help to the instructors on the boat, which symbolizes that it was not an emergency, but we need help to come back. Within few minutes, a person came to us in a rescue boat, helped us get into it and took us back to the main boat.

During that journey, I explained to that person on how I was alarmed by the horn from the boat and asked for help. He explained to me that horn was just an indication of time and they would wait for all of us to come back before leaving and that there was no need to worry about it. My husband also scolded me for pulling his hand down in water as that will cause him sink and put us both in trouble 😐 That was when I understood the mistake I did – I just thought I was trying to convey him the message, but I learnt that communication within water should be made in a right way.

One hour of snorkeling taught me many things and I promised my husband that I would be extremely careful the next time. Our boat stopped at the second snorkel point a little away from the earlier one and we headed out after briefing. This time I felt extremely calm and composed within the water that I just silently enjoyed the views below me, without thinking much.

We found more fishes in the second spot and a few bigger ones too along with a sting ray.

We could also spot some scuba divers below us along with the fishes 🙂

We were highly warned to be careful about jelly fish and we found a couple of jelly fish too on our way that we had to be careful not to mess with them. We were provided with Lycra suits which protects us from jelly fish stings and tanning, so we were almost protected. This was my first sight of live jelly fishes, they looked like a small water bubble and it felt extremely tempting to touch them. I guess that’s how they attract their prey and eat them. Apparently, Jelly fish is more harmful in the waters there than a Shark.

After that, we found a bunch of red colored fishes, which looked a bit cruel. Their color glowed in the little sunlight that reached the water below.

We reached the boat carefully well before the time this time 🙂 This time I was completely calm and didn’t talk to my husband at all during snorkeling, but just followed him along. It felt like a deep meditative experience being inside the water for that long and it was extremely relaxing at the end. I got the actual taste of snorkeling this time.

We had our lunch on the boat and then prepared to snorkel in our third and final spot of the day. We had a guided tour this time, where we had to follow the instructor who explains us about the reef and shows us the best parts of the reef. Before I got ready with my gear, the instructor started taking people along and I missed that tour. I asked my husband to go along with the instructor to observe the best spots. He went along with them for some time and quickly returned back to take me along, as there were really good spots very close to the boat.

This spot was awesome with colorful corals all along. It was the most beautiful site so far. We could see the corals moving as if they were breathing. It was a stunning experience to watch them move.

As we moved along, we found a large beautiful sea turtle floating just below us. We tried to follow it to take a photo, but to our surprise, it swam really fast that we missed it. I didn’t expect a turtle to move that fast, typically I thought it would be as slow as a tortoise 😉

We managed to take an underwater selfie before we returned back to the boat. After looking at the photos, we felt that there were very underwhelming as they were far from reality. Looks like we were not good at handling under water camera and as the waves kept hitting us, it was tough to keep the camera stable and click a photo, due to which we missed many photos and also the color looked very different in original than in the photos. Anyways, it was a good first try 🙂

Overall, it was a great experience and I was completely comfortable by the end of this. Would I venture out alone or not is a question still pondering in my brain 🙂 It felt amazing to snorkel in the middle of the ocean looking at a completely new and beautiful world under the water with colorful corals, variety of fishes and sea life.