I’d like to be under the sea
In an octopus’ garden in the shade
He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been
In his octopus’ garden in the shade

After my solo adventure you’d think I’d have had enough of being underwater but no. I love the ocean with all the fish. I miss scuba diving. I think it is much easier than snorkeling. I forget that I have to keep the snorkel tip above the water in order to get air. I’m just so used to being able to breathe easily through a regulator!

Anyway, we scheduled a ride on a submarine and it was today! Sandy’s willing to go “Under the Sea” as long as she doesn’t get wet. Kathy said she had been on a submarine before so she stayed behind.

We’ll be going more than 100 ft below the surface. That means entering a blue world as colors will slowly filter out as we descend.

To get to the submarine we boarded a smaller boat to cruise out to the dive site.

Once there, the surface support boat let the Atlantis know that the next group had arrived.

Pretty soon we could see a ghostly outline as the gleaming white sub rose toward the surface.

Then there was bubbling and rushing water as it broke the surface.

Hatches were opened and the previous group transferred from the sub to our boat. Then it was our turn to board the sub.

Inside seats run down the center of the sub facing the portholes.

There’s room for 2 people per window.

There was a map on the wall between the port holes of our undersea cruise.  I forget if there were 4 or 5 stops before we had to surface. At one point the depth gauge read 127 ft.

My favorite was the artificial reef called the Carthaginian. This ship was scuttled in 2005 and it hasn’t taken long for the fish in the area to take up residence.

As long as we were on or near a reef, there was plenty of activity. We saw a huge puffer fish, some reef sharks and even some spotted eagle rays.

Lots of reef fish schooled around but the minute we left a reef and headed over the sandy bottom we left the fish behind.

Our 50 minutes under the sea passed quickly. Too soon we were the ones making an exit so the next tour could board.

Going down! Dive, Dive Dive!