I present the story of my astonishing experience diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

I’ll never forget the day I met the Great Barrier Reef, the biggest coral reef in the world. A habitat of thousands of kilometres with living creatures, breathing, reproducing, constructing a world under the water is something that you can say. But you won’t be able to comprehend its grandness until you see it.

When we arrived to the reef, my friends Liz and Yaz were as happy as me. We sat on a bench near the deck of the boat. A staff woman named Manon put on our lifejackets, air tanks and respirators.

My legs started to tremble.

‘Alright, you are going to give a step off the edge and you let yourself go, ok?’ The captain shouted at me. I was terrified! But I figured that if I did not jump she might as well cast me overboard.

So I did it.

The chilling water put me on immediate alert.

I fell into the ocean with my head up, trying to get air with my mouth wide open. The salty water flooded my nose. Once I recovered from the initial shock, I put the air regulator on. Then the instructor began to deflate the lifejacket and the weight of the tank started to sink me. I was certain that the sound made by my heartbeats was the cause of a series of circles on the water around me.

Then, in front of me a giant field of coral materialised. A garden of small statues and bushes were breathing with the flow of the water.

I could feel my eyes trying to stay open as long as possible. Focusing, zooming to everything around me. I was taking pictures, seizing every glance to absorb the beauty of that scenery.

The blue crystalline ocean turned turquoise as we continue descending.

All of a sudden a wall of reef welcomed us to enter their world. A group of small yellow fishes interweaving their colourful paths up and down crossed in front me. They lightly caressed me with their fins like humid feathers. I wish I could have stayed with those yellow traces on my body, still shining on.

Bubbles next to me caught my attention. My instructor was pointing under us. I saw a big orange ball with a soft, fluffy, spongy cortex; it had a rupture with little purple ruffles popping like streamers coming out of a surprise box. Later on, I found that was an anemone.

Astonishing.

‘W-O-W’ was drawn in the ocean by Liz with the sign language they taught us.

We continue moving forward, but actually we were heading back to the boat.

Twenty minutes or so under the ocean, I felt absorbed.
I knew the Great Barrier Reef and its greatness. It was the year 2012.