A Slow but Exciting Sunday

It was a tired Sunday. The curtains were closed tight. The door was shut and my room was dark. I could hear a whisper of rain faintly but unmistakably above the humming of my fan. I was content, realizing that the darkness would continue for a while and I could eat a quick breakfast and go back to sleep.

My phone rang. The light from outside had somehow crawled in and snuck into my room: for the moment this confounded me as I thought only shadows could do that. It rang again. The effect was like a shock of static electricity; it was enough to stir me but not quite enough to wake me. I struggled to find the energy to move and found it in my dangling forearm hinging off the bed. Now if I could just push my face against the pillow with a sufficient amount of force, my oscillating arm would be in reach of the phone and I wouldn't have technically moved at all.

My eyes opened in a grey fog. I read the message, "Going to the beach in 5 minutes. Get ready."

I breathed in slowly and deeply and compressed the air. I could feel its volume in the back of my throat and somewhere near my stomach. I exhaled. The oxygen was moving now and it was time for me to get my ass in motion. I swiftly snagged the essentials: snorkel, keys, towel, sunscreen... crap, forgot my wallet. As I gauged how much time I had remaining, I glanced outside and was greeted by the familiar happy deet-deet-beeping of a silver/greyish 1990 Toyota Corolla. I knew it would pass by and turn around and I also knew that it was being piloted and copiloted by 2 of my favorite friends, Mike and Gretchen.

The windows were down and it was mistily humid as we floated along. There was still evidence of rain on the pavement, but somehow instead the usual hotness that follows, it was slightly cooler. This was a nice change from the 90 degree weather that we have everyday. It was still hot, but a good hot and breathing in the mist was like the cold sensation of water droplets that form outside of a cold glass on an arid day. The sky had cleared and puffy cotton had replaced the grim puddles of the sky. Ironically, peaceful Christmas music accompanied our car journey. It was truly a good way to wake up.

By the time we had reached Caracasbaai, we had all been awakened by the surprise Christmas song in the playlist. It was a song by the Jackson 5. Normally I would have embraced such a song vigorously, but at that time it was too exciting for my dull senses.

It was a tiny, remote beach made of many long-ago-living coral stones. Their lack of color, however, only added to the brilliance of the colors of the sea. 15 yards out, there were a few karate kid poles standing like bamboo thrust into the ocean floor. A couple of birds rested on them while looking for food.

Mike and I put on sunscreen as Gretchen got right in. She doesn't believe in sunscreen as in her words, "I'm sure the damage has already been done." As Mike and I conversed, I noticed (as I have many times), how much he loves Gretchen. He is a man that pays attention to detail and is always good about getting a smile out of people. When Gretchen decided to turn back into a human from being a Mermaid, Mike had to comment, "I see the gleam has returned to your eyes sweetheart!"

Mike and I tip-toed our way over the coral stones and in an act of courage, I submerged my whole body at once into the water. It was freezing and tingled as I had accumulated a thin layer of sweat from sitting in the sun. The tiny air bubbles that seemed to be holding me afloat popped or searched for less crowded spaces, sending slight shivers through my body.

As we coasted along, I noticed that the reef dropped off pretty quickly but there was still very good visibility. From previous Scuba dives, I pondered at what could be below us. We could probably see 50 feet down but the depth kept going.

It wasn't there that the action happened. We weren't expecting anything really. In fact, Mike got cold and probably a little bored of not seeing anything and went back in, leaving me to snorkel by myself. After 10 minutes or so, I too decided I should make my way back. I was shallow enough to stand on a huge rock and make my way out walking when I spotted it.

The rock I was standing on was huge and void of any color. On one of the sides, I saw a slightly larger hole than were found on the rest of its mass. A faded but brilliant reddish color coming from one of the holes caught my eye. As I looked closer, I noticed there were curvy lines and some spots of yellow on what might be a being of some sort. I came up for air and to clean my googles extremely well so I could be sure of what I was seeing.

Deep breath. ... I see... a ... suction cup... and that means... this is an octopus? I found an octopus? I FOUND AN OCTOPUS! OH MY G-CAN IT POISON ME?! I HAVE TO TELL MIKE!

"Mike! Mike!" He was only 10 feet away but couldn't hear me. I don't know if it was because I was so excited that I was whispering so as not to scare the octopus away or if it was from the sounds of the ocean. Gretchen saw me and got Mike's attention. "Mike! Mike! Come here! You have to see this!" I saw him take a step in my direction and I went back under water to make sure it was still there.

I pointed at it underwater. We both came up. "Dude, what is that?" "I think it is an octopus. What do you think?" "I think you're right. Should we mess with it?" "Okay." Mike and I have a history of doing dumb things under the sea and the story that came to my mind in that instant was the time we scared a fish that looked like a rock: that fish we found out the following day is called a scorpion fish... for obvious reasons.

Do octopus bite? Is it going to spring out and attach to my mask making it impossible for me to breath? I better make sure it is an octopus first. I picked up a stone and gently dropped it in the hole. At first nothing happened and I was a little disappointed. If I had looked closer, I would have realized that it was just a colored rock. Then the rock started to move. The octopus was pushing it out! We called Gretchen over. She wanted to see it come out into the open.

After many failed attempts and me being scared to touch it, I got into a tug-of-war over a rock with its tentacle. It's strength was incredible and it took me 3 times to finally steal the rock away. Well, after that, I had had enough excitement for the day and was quite content with just seeing the pussy and so we swam away and left it alone. It must have been pretty big though as it had half dollar or bigger diameter tentacles. I hope someday to see it again and watch it hunt another sea creature. What a fascinating world we have to explore.