I have completed my Deep Diving specialty, and it is the most fun course I have taken to date!

My final dive of 3 was a shore dive to 40 meters. I didn’t bring a camera, because I know it shuts off at that depth. However, I did bring a mesh bag and we removed quite a bit of debris from Shangri-la Marine Sanctuary off Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines.

In fact, my instructor, who was a different instructor because the instructor who started the course was unavailable that day, was amazed by my ability to find debris in such a relatively clean dive site. She said that everytime she looked around to make sure I was still with her, I was always picking up a new piece of debris.

Ironically, deep diving is fun even though there is relatively little to see down there. The corals stop around 30 meters or so, so our scenery becomes much more sandy.

However, there are little pockets of life scattered around. I think that is part of what keeps it interesting: wondering how and why these little pockets of life exist at a depth that seems relatively inhospitable compared to real estate that is only a short swim away.

Then, of course, there is narcosis, a side effect of inhaling nitrogen at depth. I have not felt narced up (comparable to being drunk), however my behavior has indicated otherwise to my instructors. Maybe that’s the hidden reason behind why I have enjoyed deep diving so much?