Ever since I was a child and watching every Sunday morning Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s underwater documentaries, I wanted to be able to see for myself these mesmerizing worlds! The legendary explorer helped me evade in a world of wonder, despite the tiny black and white TV at home.. in my mind these amazing marine creatures were vividly colored!
At 18, I got my diving license even before the driving one.. And along the years, I had the chance to dive in some of the most incredible places: Great Barrier Reef, Red Sea, Indonesia, Mexico. What I started to notice though is that in the last 10 years, one would notice more and more the impact of human, destruction of corals and marine life, pollution.
Galapagos is still one of the places where nature is winning, where animal wildlife and marine species have a fair chance. Although, talking with the diving master and his crew, they have more and more sights of plastic debris arriving from all sorts of places.
The 2 dives I did today were special, one was a wall dive allowing us to explore the rich marine life and the second dive in North Seymour had a deep sandy bottom and some current, bringing large school of fish to our attention.
Diving is not something which comes natural to me. I have to push my boundaries every time I go down, there is always a little panic and self questioning whether I can pull this through. It is not in the absence of fear that I am l doing it, but overcoming it with each calming breath I take underwater, acknowledging my intrusion in this sacred space and respecting its rules.
Javier, our diving master was not only very knowledgeable but also a sunny personality which helped relaxing the ambiance on the boat.
Cousteau’s documentaries gave me an incredible gift, to see through eyes of wonder the beautiful underwater world and for this, I will be eternally grateful! And it is now time to pay it forward! With my Ocean Amazon documentary I hope to contribute in giving more generations the gift of dreaming of adventures in exploring the oceans and discovering its beauty! Just like that little girl, on a Sunday morning!
