As a kid from landlocked Indiana, it may seem random that I have such a strong connection to the ocean, yet when I took my first breaths under the water in the Galapagos Islands, I knew there was no turning back. Since that first inhale, I have been fortunate to dive around the world, and I often face the same question: What’s on your bucket list? The answer I give is unexpected: I simply don’t have one. Nature is unpredictable and spontaneous. That’s what makes diving so alluring. To me, having unrealistic expectations is a quick way to sour what could be an amazing dive trip. Sometimes, the best experiences happen when you least expect them.

My wife and I recently found this to be true on a dive trip in Curaçao. We have been dive buddies for nearly 15 years, yet recently our diving changed when my wife developed persistent vertigo underwater. A visit to the ENT revealed a specific mask could help with this problem. We decided to try it in Curaçao, where the abundant shore diving in shallow water and lack of pressure to dive with a group seemed the perfect testing environment.

So, there she was, armed with new equipment to see if she could overcome this setback. Neither of us had any expectations for this trip. We weren’t worried about seeing turtles, rays or moray eels. We simply wanted to see if she could continue diving safely. For two days, we went at a snail’s pace and covered barely any distance, but her ears held up and there was no vertigo. Success! Had we seen anything mind-blowing? No, but we were both underwater together again, and that was perfect for us.

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By the third day we were feeling more confident and went to check out a double reef with a canyon of sand in between. As we glided over the first reef and approached the canyon, we saw a dark cloud on the horizon. As it got closer, we realized that it was a massive baitball, moving in perfect unison as if it were one organism. As opposed to racing toward it, we waited. Soon we were completely engulfed. My wife, eyes wide open with excitement, was blanketed by thousands of mackerel. She swam toward me, and the school quickly parted in both directions as if completing a beautiful dance. We spent two dives with just each other and this school of fish, and I captured some of my favorite photographs of her with the baitball. To me, these images capture the awe and wonderment that come from spending time in the ocean. It makes you realize that you are a very small part of something much larger.

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I have been fortunate enough to see the schooling hammerheads of the Galapagos, humpback whales in French Polynesia and massive fevers of mobula rays in Baja California Sur, but to me, the spontaneous moments like the one in Curaçao are even more special. If you give it a chance, the ocean always delivers. So, my advice: Forget your bucket list. Leave your expectations at home. Dive in with an open mind and prepare for it to be blown.

PADI Club Member Spotlight

This story is brought to you by Phillip Whitley, a diver since 2005. One of his favorite sites is Magic Mountain in Raja Ampat, where his wife saw manta rays for the first time. “She pulled her reg out with a huge smile and said, ‘That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done!’” His favorite Scuba Diving magazine stories highlight destinations not on his radar. “The magazine helps me escape and makes me feel like I’m on a journey, even though I live in Indiana.”