Close Encounters of the Shark Kind

I'm pleased to let you know that I escaped the clutches of Bangkok's most heinous security force, and jetted far far away to the otherside of Malaysia, to a tiny desert island where dreams are made. It is a tiny uninhabited jewel in the Celebes Sea, a small forested interior framed by ivory white sands that drop gently into perfect pale turquiose water. The water drops away only a few metres from the beach into a deep rich coral ecosystem dazzlingly vibrant and brimming with rainbow painted fish, huge turtles, and occasional sharks in deeper water (if you're lucky)!

The truth is that my life is forever changed since my diving adventure to Sipadan island. I have experienced the more unusual and extreme side of recreational diving, and in doing so have come closer to the awesome beauty of mother nature first hand.

Imagine if you will a city office block, so tall at 60 metres that you are little more than a tiny insect at its base. Now imagine the same sense of distance underwater, where you are hovering a few metres off a steep vertical drop of a seemingly infinite reef wall. When you float on your back and look up to the surface you can see misty sunlight far far above. To look down is to stare into the mouth of an inky dark void, stretching endlessly down for hundreds and hundreds of metres. On your right side, the open ocean is huge and blue and dizzying.

My maximum depth was digitally recorded as 60 metres, and at this depth the spell of nitrogen narcosis was powerful and intoxicating. In effect, I felt the world going by in slow motion, my bubbles sounded metallic and echoing, I found myself impulsively giggling out loud and I felt a huge rush of euphoria. (Please note however that I was aware that this was narcosis, and reacted with caution to my own impulses!)

Suddenly I became aware of my dive buddies shrieking loudly enough for the sound to reach me. Our dive leader began to rap on his tank rapidly with his dive knife.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I turned my head towards the open ocean.

Time stopped. I'm sure I forgot to breathe.

Not 30 metres from us, and in slightly shallower water swam a shoal of large hammerhead sharks too numerous to even begin to count. I would estimate hundreds - maybe even a thousand. These magnificant creatures moved as a cloud, momentarily blocking out the sun.

Stop. Breathe. Think. My dive training kicked back into my awe-struck mind and I remembered to breathe! At this point half the group started chasing the sharks at top speed, and I thought about it for just a second before I joined in the chase! Of course we could never keep up with them, and it wasn't long before I watched the last of these graceful gorgeous creatures disappear back into the deep blue sea.

There are many divers out there with years of experience who have never had the opportunity to get so close to so many sharks in the wild, and this is a moment I will take with me for the rest of my life!