Blue is my favorite color. At least that was my response during my “knee high to a grasshopper” years. Kids are required to have a preference and blue was mine. Right after a towering adult fired off the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” they often followed with a query as to my favorite slice of the palette. Blue was always my answer, but I think that has been established.
I recently called my dad and as soon as he answered I turned the question back to him. “Blue” was the immediate response. Blue is his favorite color and without doubt influenced my early opinion. As an adult, I wasn’t sure I had a favorite color, that is until November 28, 2021.
Six of us sat on the edge of the small boat. Like soldiers we were rowed up with three on each side, backs facing the water and flippers resting on what had been our seats moments before. Tanks had been checked, BCDs (Buoyancy Control Devices) had been tightened and all lingering air squeezed from their reservoirs. The six of us had mouthpieces from our regulators loosely clinched as the hoses ran over our right shoulders to the tanks on our backs that allowed this adventure. Masks had been defogged and pulled tightly in place. And we waited. Left hand holding our weight belts and right hands keeping our regs and masks in position.
On most dives, each diver waddles to the back of the boat, takes a precariously long scissor step from the boat, splashes down, and then kicks a few feet away to make room for the next. Each diver waits with air in their BCD holding them up until the divemaster determines that everyone is ready. Then air is released and heads plunge beneath the waves to the calm rush that awaits below.
This atypical dive had been suggested by our group the day before. It was advanced and the divemaster signed off on the readiness of each of us and it was settled. Located at Punta Sur, Devil’s Throat was to be the first of our two tank dives that day.
The captain had dropped anchor and our divemaster entered the Caribbean to verify we were above the entrance. We were and the captain pointed to the two furthest from him on opposite sides of the boat. They plunged from view as the next two were signaled. This was my turn. Before I was oriented, the last two splashes indicated the party of seven were accounted for. We dropped quickly and with out hesitation. Our destination allowed for only a few minutes of bottom time and air was a limited resource. The surreal life forms that make Cozumel the destination for 50,000 dives per month loomed closer. The brilliance and variety of fish catch your view first, but the coral formations are just as (pardon the pun) breath taking. But we were focused on the entrance to Devil’s throat.
At 83 feet (That’s two and a half times the atmospheric pressure of the surface) lights came on an we ventured inside. We entered the foyer carved like Swiss cheese through the red coral with a sandy floor. The tunnel leans eerily downward at about a 45 degree angle. My light picks out a three foot grouper, lobsters that are so large that my description would make you question my integrity, and a few invasive lion fish. A sea turtle swims by, much less interested in me than I in him.
At points my tanks scrapes the ceiling while the sand is inches from my face. Then the tight spots open up to huge rooms. As I drift further enjoying an incredible experience, I am very aware that the tunnel is darkening as it pulls us deeper. Past 100 feet I can only see the light from the divemaster. I keep him close, because he knows the way out and I don’t. As incredible as my position is, I can’t survive here. I have no immediate route to the air rich surface and my tank only allows for a brief visit. And the darkness chokes my lights effectiveness to just a few feet. And then nearing 130 feet I see it.
Not a fish, not a formation, but an opening in the side Even at these depths the sun has fought its way to my exit, surrendering the red, orange, and yellows, and greens of its light. The blue is all that remains. It is a blue like no other. Pictures won’t share its authentic hue, just like they can’t properly capture a sunset or rainbow. But it was the gaping hole carved in the side of a bottomless wall that would be my exit from this macabre cave. And it was the most brilliant vibrant blue I have ever seen.
Blue is my favorite color.