Drifting

Holding onto the side of the boat, I watched the effect of the sound of the cooler closing on the world below. Fish scattered. A sea turtle startled out of its resting spot. It rose to the surface, taking a short breath, so close I could see its nares opening and closing. 

Since arriving here, I had seen dozens of them— the sight never gets old.

“Or,” I said, pulling my face out of the water and turning to my cousin. “We could drift.” I blinked up at him through my mask.

 “Or we could drift,” he agreed, grinning. 

I put my face back into the water, returning to the world below. The boat rocked gently as Porter walked up to the bow, the anchor line growing taught before finally giving, and the silver spade shaped weight swung through the clear blue water before being hauled onto the boat. She was free.

The current wasn’t particularly strong, but it was enough that as soon as soon as the anchor was free, we began to move.

It was one of my favorite things, to drift along with the current. You never knew what the reef might offer that day.  We were carried over new reef and terrain. Bouldering rocks rose off the seafloor, some hollowed on the sides or the bottom allowing hiding spaces for creatures from the very tiny gobies to turtles and large grouper.  The growth atop the rocks held the most life; festively colored sponges and coral, and the array of multicolored fish that swirled around them. I felt like I was in a hot air balloon, drifting slowly and silently, observing a bustling city below.

The anchor compartment closed with another audible sound that vibrated through the hull of the boat and down into the metropolis below, scattering a group of small, blue striped fish. They separated at the noise, returning to their formation a moment later, looking about them to ensure all was well. They cruised over a particularly large bouldering rock, its pitted face covered in blue, green, gray growth.  A flash of white caught my eye. It stilled, settling just behind the rock, and then moved again.

Curious, I let go of the boat and slowly swam over.

 “All right there, coz?” Porter called from somewhere above me. I gave an incoherent reply through the snorkel, but he understood. “You see something? Can you tell what it is?”