The dive boat was packed, we were six divers and two Instructors. It was only when the dive briefing started that I realised I was on a dive with the Big Boys. I was the only girl on the boat and only started diving 16 months ago. The other divers appeared distinguished, well-travelled, experienced divers, but having worked in a male orientated environment my whole life, I didn’t give it a second thought, until the briefing.

We were crossing the reef again and that in itself thrilled me as my previous dive was just the day before, on the Lobster Cave dive site, at 23 meters. I heard the dive of the day would be Colorado. Just a name to me, until the briefing started – the vistas reminds of the Grand Canyon and it is famous for its sensations of flying through the canyon as well as exploring its tunnels. We were going down to an expected 35 meters! Now that’s where I gasped quietly and whispered to the dive instructor that I’ve never been that deep.

The great thing of diving at the same dive centre repeatedly is that you end up diving with all the instructors and they get to know you well. Not only your skill set, but also your limitations. This specific instructor knows me as sucking air fast when I get happily excited, luckily that dive was quite a while back and my air consumption has improved since. At 35 meters though, I was nervous that I would be the rookie who turns the dive because of reaching 70 BAR first.

We were speeding beyond the reef, further out than I have been before. Once on site the divers started their back rolls. I was to buddy up with the instructor as dive lead and two more divers followed us. The other four formed a separate party. We started our descent into the biggest and deepest all surrounding blue! Yes, the Biggest Big Blue! The instructor had the sense to take my hand for the first few minutes, to give me the confidence he felt I needed (knowing me all too well).That enabled me to relax and focus on my breathing from the first moment of the dive. I am very aware that uncontrolled breathing in those first few minutes of a dive, is where air is lost unnecessarily.

 As we continued descending to our planned bottom depth, I forgot about my breathing as the vastness of blue in all directions overwhelmed me with its beauty. Watching the other dive party, I saw the longest bubble trails ever and at that moment the vastness of the canyon and the Big Blue took the dive to a next level of awesomeness and a personal highlight. There were two tunnels to swim through as well as a beautiful arch.

 I was thrilled at how comfortable I felt following my torch beam and my buddy through the tunnels. I loved how my adrenaline level heightened slightly, as these were longer than the tunnel I dived the day before and turned in such a way that the exits were not visible. Being my first time on Colorado, I didn’t know how long the tunnels are – so quite a thrill. Fun – no fear! I only realised how narrow they are upon exit, when I turned to look at the sea fans growing on the outside.

The dive had a technical side that was great practise for me, as we had to watch our dive computers to change our depth, ensuring that we stayed out of the no stop decompression limits. So every few minutes we would ascend slowly, giving us a 43 min dive where I turned at 35.1 meters. There were Nudibranch sightings and my happy Moorish Idols, Fusiliers and larger pelagic fish species, but I must admit that my attention was fixed on the vastness of the Big Blue around me!

“Live without Limits” was the Jeep logo on my second skin! Oh, how fitting! I dived the Colorado Dive Site with the big boys and had 50 BAR left in my tank once back on board! Only my 30th dive since qualifying. I was in a state of bliss, long after having tea and biscuits, back at the dive centre. What a dive!

By Lynette Gerber-Lochenkov