For the past couple of days, it’s been a bit lazy for us as we relaxed in the Unawatuna beach and ate and drank…and ate and drank. Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfect. I get to eat the most delicious food and stay in a fantastic room (thanks, Cocobay Unawatuna). But most of all, I get to hang out with my closest friends and not go back to all the obligations and responsibilities of life, at least temporarily. Being able to actually step outside to pretty much paradise was more than I had asked for when I first started booking flight tickets to escape the gray, boring office life.
However, after my friends and I had gorged ourselves and were swollen with food last night, we came to the conclusion that it’s been a bit too relaxed lately and if we’re not careful, we might just waste away the holidays by just loafing around. One of them suggested we go snorkeling the next day and we were all immediately on-board!
But as I woke up today, I felt a little rush of adrenaline from excitement and fear. I was more nervous than I had expected. I still wanted to go snorkeling though! I’ve never tried it before and I know that I’ll be blown away by the beauty of what the sea has to offer. I’ve seen meteor showers and the Northern Lights so I’ve got the sky related bucket list items covered, but never have I seen anything under the sea in person! And for some odd reason, I never really gave a thought about it either. Until today.
So after we had much lighter meals than our usual monstrous amount (by our standards anyway), we left the hotel and took a tuk-tuk to a Diving School. The tuk-tuk rides never get old for me! Before we knew it, we had already arrived at our destination. The adrenaline rush came back but I tried to ignore it, and we all stepped in. The diving team were a friendly bunch and after a little chit-chat, they started explaining the equipment, the dos and don’ts as well as some useful tips. One of my friends noticed that I was a little troubled and calmed me down. The instructor joined in as well and after some pep-talk, my fear had subsided. We geared up and then went off to explore the undersea.
At this point, I was filled with a lot of excitement. I was glad that the fear had gone away but now I just wanted to get in the water as soon as possible! When we finally got in the water, I did some final breathing exercises, dipped my head in the water and then it happened. I was blown away. The colorful coral reefs were beyond beautiful and the blue, clear water itself looked magical. I already saw about six varieties of fish just after a few seconds in the water and as the more time passed, the more I found myself being entranced by this gorgeous aquatic world. I couldn’t believe I was actually scared to try this earlier! I saw everyone swimming by with amazed looks on their faces. One of them was frantically pointing to every single fish in excitement and it took all my effort not to burst out laughing! Around fifteen minutes later, everyone had calmed down, took in the sights and a couple of them were taking photos. There were barracudas, parrot fish, eels, a few scuttling crabs and I got lucky and even saw a turtle swim by.
The 45 minute snorkeling experience went by in a flash. We climbed back into the boat, sat in awe for a few minutes and chattered away all the way back to Cocobay Unawatuna about the undersea wonderland. I’ll definitely be trying this again and I highly recommend you to try it too!
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