Sea Sickness

Since childhood i suffered from acrophobia and of late i came to know that I have developed sea sickness as well. I would rather say I was scared of going into the ocean or a sea, 'sea sickness' was just a hi-fi term i used to cover the actual fear. But one day I thought its now or never. So, in order to overcome my phobias I signed up for a snorkeling tour with my friends in the summer vacation.

We headed towards our boat. The captain asked me if I had a problem with sea sickness. "I don't know", I told him. The waves were crashing across the bow of the ship. Okay, I was terrified right at that moment. I saw the sky, it was clear and sunny that afternoon. After sometime the Captain started the engine and soon in a short while we went into the ocean. All my friends were busy in taking pictures but I was carefully monitoring the ocean waves and the water. It was all blue everywhere ! The sky, the ocean .. wow it was really amazing to see the nature like this. It was the time to get into the water for doing some underwater adventure.

My friends started putting the snorkel gears and diving into the water one by one. It was my turn now. The captain saw me and said " Aren't you going inside? It is totally a different world !" He said with excitement. I told him it was my first time snorkeling. He assured that I am going to love it like anything. I prepared myself mentally to dive into the water. I was feeling a kind of rush inside me before diving. It's a mixture of fear and excitement. It's a feeling of not knowing what is under my feet, inside the water. I was experiencing the same thing before my first dive in the ocean that removed my phobia from my life. The captain gave me a all clear sign and I plunged into the water.

Bubbles swirled around me. I started scanning the area around me. Its all blue and beautiful. I have seen this in many movies and many videos. A group of small fishes passed besides me like a stream of bullets. I could see their scales clearly and even touch them. They were quickly disappearing in the underwaters of the vast ocean. Wowww.. I got excited by looking at them. My friends were ahead of me. They were enjoying and taking pictures. I saw the aquatic plants like red algae. I saw the sea horses at some distance. The ocean was very calm today.

Image Courtesy - Deviant Art

I was loving each and every moment I spent under the water. I opened my hair and let it flow freely. I felt like I don't have any tensions in my mind now. I felt weightless inside the water and I started swimming everywhere and touching the rocks. The slight bits of the underwater plants were touching my skin giving a tickling sensation. I heard a slow continuous humming sound above me. I saw the shadow of the ship that was passing on the water surface. More fishes appeared in front of me as they swam out of some long sea grass.

The captain had told us not to touch the big fishes or do something crazy near the aquatic animals. It was the time to head up to the boat. The captain had a rope which my friends used to go up to the surface of the water. I was so happy to finally overcome my under water phobia ! Yayy I felt like I have conquered the water kingdom.

I can never forget this wonderful day. I thanked the Captain for encouraging me and I was happy that I joined my friends for this wonderful short underwater trip that wiped out my fears/phobias. Sometimes we need to fight back with ourself in order to achieve the unachievable.

This post is written for Thursday Tales