The Aquarium

I sat on the edge of the boat as we jetted across the lagoon. Sufficiently slathered in waterproof sun block, I fearlessly enjoyed the hot sun on my head and back. It was a windy day so there were waves in the lagoon and the boat hopped them one by one.

My matching blue mask, snorkel and fins were behind my legs. My rented BCD (buoyancy control device) vest, regulator and eight pound weight belt were also next to me. 16 scuba tanks all lay on their sides, mostly at the front and back of the boat.

This would be the furthest I’d boated on the north side of the lagoon. I’d driven a number of times to Laura, the edge of Majuro Island and the point furthest south-west on the edge of the lagoon.

Our target: The Aquarium.

There is only one place where a heavy boat (like an open ocean fishing vessel) can enter the Majuro lagoon. Most people refer to this deep enough gap between the Majuro islands as the Pass. We scuba divers call it the Aquarium. It’s well known to be the best place to dive in Majuro – though not the Marshall Islands. There is such a strong current due to the changing of the tides that a lot of sea life comes in and out of the lagoon through this spot. All a diver has to do is sit on its edge, hold on to a rock, and watch the show.

Our first dive was not actually in the Aquarium. Some of us were inexperienced or hadn’t dived in a while, so we chose an easier location. I connected my regulator to the air tank and turned the valve. I had already strapped the tank to the BCD vest. Now I had to get it on. I heaved and managed to put on the vest – really heavy out of water. The last thing was to clean out my mask and put it on. There were six of us diving with two Marshallese dive operators tagging along to guide and help where needed.

One of them counted to three and we plunged backwards out of the boat. I had both hands on my mask to keep it from coming loose and letting water in. It was disorienting because the momentum of the backward fall caused me to flip while I started to sink. I righted myself and then continued to sink slowly, feet first, depending on my weight belt and tank to drag me downwards. Every few feet I pinched my nose and blew – as you would do on a plane – to equalize the air in my nasal and ear passages.

On the first dive I unfortunately had fogging problems. It isn’t easy to clear your mask at 45ft under water. But I managed to see one of the eagle rays that the group saw and lots of fish up close. I saw coral I’d never even seen in pictures.

After a 45 minute bottom time, we swam up to 15ft below the surface and waited for 3 minutes. This is to avoid getting the bends, which is caused by excess nitrogen in the blood (a side effect of breathing tank air under water). I inflated some of my remaining air into my BCD so that I could float on the surface. The boat picked us up within seconds of emerging.

We had lunch on a beautiful island. After heat loss and the exertion of diving, we were all starving. After an hour break we jumped back onto the boat for our second dive, this time in the deep water pass that connects Majuro to the Pacific.

This time we dove down 70ft and couldn’t see the surface anymore. It was easy to even forget about the outside world. Our first show was a huge school of bright blue fish with yellow tails. Another school of silver fish went by. Then I saw a white tip shark, about 4ft long. It moved slowly and gracefully. I’ve always dreaded sharks. I’m even scared of them in fresh water lakes (and I know, I know, there’s no sharks in fresh water lakes), but like many of you, I have one or two irrational fears. So coming to the Pacific and spending a lot of time in the water, I expected to run into a few of em, and I both dreaded and looked forward to it. Being with seven divers did make me feel safer. It helped that none of the sharks got too close (none that I saw anyway!).

The number of interesting fish and coral that I saw was pretty overwhelming. I saw another shark, also white tipped. Somebody else saw a grey reef shark, but I must have been staring at a purple fish or something.

We had such a nice time, and since I leave in about two weeks, some of us decided to commit to more of the same next week. My friend Kristen, who had been to the Aquarium four previous times, said that this was kind of ho-hum for the Aquarium. If so, I should be in for quite an experience next week.