I could feel the cool water touching my skin as I swam effortlessly, weaving through colorful corals and fish, and avoiding fellow divers who blocked my path. Darn those newbies, why did they ever sign on to this dive, my dive. They’re keeping me back, I told myself. The diving instructors were working double time just to keep track of them. They’re just too slow for me, I thought. We should have been miles away by now if not for these turtles, exploring the other side of the Tubbataha Reef and discovering wonders I have only now laid eyes on. Hmm, I’ll have to join the advanced divers’ group the next time if I want to avoid these slowpokes.

I could see the rays of the sun filtering through the clear water, even feeling its warmth on my skin. And to my left, the remains of a shipwreck in the distance beckoned. Looks like a liner, a big cruise ship probably sunk by bad weather, I told myself. But as I swam nearer, I was startled by
the loud frantic shouts of one diving instructor, telling me to go back, warning me of the dangers ahead. Then something hit me. Why is he shouting, I asked myself, and how can I hear his voice underwater? That’s when I woke up!

Shit! Shit! Shit! That’s exactly what went through my head when I realized it was a dream, another trick my mind had played on me. I thought it was real. In fact, I was half expecting that my hair was wet when I touched it! After which, I checked my pants, afraid that my diving dream was a manifestation of another wet experience! It was a good thing it was dry or else you wouldn’t be reading about this here. He he.

I haven’t had a weird dream in a long while (at least none that I can remember) but this one sure made up for the slack. But why? Of all things to dream about, why diving in Tubbataha? Why not Anilao in Batangas, or Puerto Galera in Mindoro? These internationally popular diving sites are much nearer to Manila, thus more accessible to me. Moreover, with my phobia on local air travel, these two places seem more “realistic” in as far as a diving adventure for dear old Monaco is concerned. And why diving at all? Besides diving for coins in a swimming pool contest, I haven’t even gone beyond a few feet underwater, though I must admit that scuba diving intrigues me. Watching countless underwater clips and documentaries on National Geographic television and the Discovery Channel aroused my curiosity about underwater life and the adventure its exploration brings.

Then I remembered something. I was watching a rerun of Titanic yesterday (or was it the day before?), with clips of the sea exploration to discover its wreckage dominating the first few minutes of this blockbuster. That must have been it. My brain must have picked up memories of these clips and brought them to back life in the form of a weird scuba diving dream. Hmm, I should harness this process more productively. Maybe if I think of money, numbers and the lotto all day I will dream of the right number combination for Sunday’s jackpot. He he. Then this blog would be subtitled "monologues of a millionaire dreamer"!

P.S.

My 10 year-old nephew was wondering what the word scuba meant, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s actually an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus! (Photo courtesy of tubbatahareef.org)

If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

Your Ad Here

my Tubbataha Reef diving “experience”

Recommended Reading

You may also want to check out the following:

My SideBar: Ads, Search Bar and Widgets

Recent Posts

television round up