Diving, for me, is another way of exploring the ocean. It makes the sea more layered, more three-dimensional in my eyes, and I have come to love it more because of that. This is one reason I want to study marine science in college. Meanwhile, diving can be tied to ocean research and conservation, so that beyond a hobby, it becomes a skill I can offer back to the ocean community.

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My first dive was actually this summer, but my connection with diving began much earlier. Years ago I signed up for a diving camp. I couldn't go that time, for health reasons, and this summer I finally picked up that old, half-formed interest and started exploring the underwater world. It turned out to be one of the bast choice I have ever made. I can hold neutral buoyancy with ease, and I don't get seasick no matter how rough the water is. On the last day, we went out at four in the morning to chase a school of barracuda. Lightning flickered far off on the horizon while our speedboat cut through the waves, and for a moment I thought being a pirate might not be so bad. My instructor thinks I have some talent for it. Along the way I also found a certain adventurer in myself: I like to keep descending, of course, safely, and to see into every blind corner: the stonefish tucked under the coral, the sea turtle hidden in a cave. I notice the things other people pass over: a shell opening and closing in a crack in the rock, the eggs held in a small fish's mouth, a tiny sea worm chasing the light. The seafloor, in short, is my kind of place. Next I hope to learn cave diving, wreck diving, and scientific diving, and to explore its mysteries further.