The Unexperienced Mariner

  Porto Petro, Spain
Saturday, July 8, 2006

I've been enjoying my unemployment to the fullest, and Porto Petro is definitely a good place to enjoy it in. The sky is perfectly cloudless and although it is quite hot, the soothing sea breeze gives you some relief to the heat. The sea is clearer than a few weeks ago when we arrived, and I don't know if it's me, but it seems bluer. Warmer sea currents have come into the shores so now the water is beyond flawless.

And that is the flawlessness which I intend on enjoying until it's time to look for another job. Yesterday I took off at early noon for the 30 minute hike to Mandragó Cove where I lay in the sun like a lazy lizard for a few hours, swimming in the paradisiacal pool of fresh Mediterranean water.

At 3 pm I was to meet Ed in the apartment for our diving date with a local we had met named Miguel. When Ed found that he regularly went out diving, he almost collapsed of excitement. Diving is just what he needed now to take the edge off from work.

02 Miguel and Ed

We met at the marina and loaded the gear into the 47 year old wooden boat which had belonged to Miguel's grandfather, but was in immaculate shape. I still wasn't sure what I was doing there since I don't know how to scuba dive, but when I saw Ed and Miguel take an extra set of masks and flippers, I imagined I was to snorkel above them.

03 The Cove

We sped out of the port and drove about 5 minutes into a rocky cove where the water was now a deep blue, indicating the depth of the sea there. The water was so clear that if I peered out from the boat, I could actually see the bottom of the ocean...or at least that what it looked like: rocky underwater formations with all sorts of fish swimming about. I couldn't wait to get my mask on.

05 Anchoring

When we reached the perfect spot, we anchored the boat, and I was given a small neoprene suit to protect me from the cold Medusa infested water. The guys took forever to gear up so I just jumped in with the camera and started splashing about. The neoprene suit helped me stay buoyant without much effort.

07 Waves breaking on the rocks

What I saw down there was unimaginable. This was not the clear shallow waters I had snorkeled by the beach, this was ultramarine open sea. I swam near the rocky edges of the cove and watched underwater as the waves broke out into a frothy frenzy on the porous stones. There schools of tiny silvery-blue fish who didn't mind my presence and allowed me to swim amongst them, perhaps curios of my nature.

10 Ed jumping in

I swam into different sea currents, one warm and one freezing cold, finding it weird at how the different temperatures didn't mix in the rolling surface, but nonetheless rejoicing in the new sensations I was experiencing. The sunlight that punctured the water's surface sent straight streaks of light into the depths, making my watery playground all the more beautiful.

16 Groups of Bubbles rising

I watched as Miguel and Ed finally jumped into the water and started their easy descent to the rocks down below. In a matter of minutes I lost them from my sight, and all I could see where curtains of bubbles coming from the deep. I started following their traces of bubbles, not to keep track of them, but in awe of the spectacle these tiny oxygen bubbles were creating in the water. I swam carelessly amid the thousands of globules of air rising majestically into the surface. They seemed like lucent diamonds glittering in the sunrays piercing the water.

20 More Bubbles

I must have spent more than half an hour playing among the bubbles, taking as many pictures as I could, not being able to separate myself from them. But when I remembered where I was and what I was doing, I started feeling very dizzy. Swimming so close to the wavy surface was taking its toll on my equilibrium so I started swimming back to the boat. On my way back I suddenly realized that there were medusas everywhere. All shapes, sizes and colors. As in an arcade video game, I swam carefully dodging the dangerously close jellyfish until I finally made it into the boat.

Trying to get back in was the challenge. I had only one free arm to pull me up since the other was carefully holding the camera, and the damn flippers were not helping. Feeling extremely sea sick, I made an attempt to lever myself up, but my elbow got stuck in between the steps and the wooden frame of the boat, sending a piercing pain throughout my arm, almost numbing it. I stayed in the water for a few minutes waiting to recuperate the sensation in my arm, trying not to cry from the pain, and tried again. This time I swung the camera inside, not caring if it broke or not (Ed doesn't know this part...hehe) and used both arms to pull myself up, looking like an idiot. I finally made it inside where I removed my hot neoprene suit and flippers and rested for the next 15 minutes until the divers came up.

25 Back in Porto Petro

My sea sickness was not getting any better and the impulse to start throwing up inside the entire boat was becoming stronger and stronger. I completely forgot about the pain in my arm just wanting to get back into dry land. I definitely needed more experience in the sea, and this reaffirmed my idea that me as a human, being of land and not of water, need to regard the ocean a bit more.



Despite the blow to my arm and the horrible sea sickness, I still have not withdrawn from the idea of learning how to adjust my sea legs. I suppose it's a matter that needs getting used to, and living next to the sea does not make it a difficult endeavor.