Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
It is a whole new world out there. Filled with excitement, mystery, and a pleasant sense of unexplainable tranquillity, the deep blue seas of Oman have a lot to offer to those looking for something, anything in them.
I was on the beautiful Daymaniyat Islands last month, on a bright, sunny Friday morning. Having reached there in less than two hours by boat from Al Mouj Marina, I was surprised by how much time we had to spend at the island and was also a little wary about what my two buddies and I would do there for so long. We had our shares of oohs and ahhs on our way to the island, amused by the clean and clear ocean. In some spots we could see the crystal clear water and the fish swimming below and, in other areas, it was an eerie darkness that gave me goosebumps.
Since neither of us knew swimming, we preferred to remain closer to the shore, though we all had the burning desire to venture into the gorgeous ocean and see what lay within. That is when, as though he read our minds, the friendly guides who were with us on the boat threw a few snorkels towards us before jumping in, all suited for their sea adventures. When I told them that we couldn’t swim, he said we didn’t really need to know swimming to go snorkelling. Overjoyed, we pulled the goggles over our heads, fit the mouthpieces properly as instructed by the men and then attempted to look underwater. Mind blown and breathtaken (figuratively), I kept going deeper and deeper and found that the high concentration of salt in the ocean managed to keep me afloat. But as I began to go deeper, I felt like I needed some help just to feel confident, Ayoub, an expert scuba diver, came to help me and with him by my side, I went completely underwater. There were a range of feelings that kept overwhelming my senses in regular intervals, from the excitement and adrenaline rush whilst swimming with the fish in the clear blue-green water, to the utter amazement at the gorgeous aquatic life I got to see down there, and finally, the state of peace I’ve been longing for since forever.
The underwater world is a magical new dimension. The fauna are different – the bright coloured, bold patterned fishes, the flora is different – huge coral reefs, planktons, and aquatic plants floating serenely, but most importantly, it is what you feel when you are in there that is different. It is calm and quiet, not in an eerie way but in a more tranquil manner. It feels like meditation in a better world. While you spend hours admiring the beauty of the unseen world around, you might even catch yourself lost in thought. But don’t be too lost like I was. I started getting a little tired, after what seemed like a few hours under water for me. Ayoub took me to a nearby rock and I put my head out of water, taking a while to come back to reality. I saw my friends perched on the same rock and their eyes and the look on their faces told me that they were feeling exactly the way I was. We stayed there quietly without speaking not wanting to break the pleasant silence but agreeing telepathically that this was one of the best activities that we tried in a long while. —[email protected]
