a love letter to the ocean

I can't exactly remember when was the definitive moment I grew to love the ocean. Neither should I. As far as I know, I spent many times in my childhood going to the beach. Any beaches. That, and being combined with living as Indonesian, my urge to travel always wind up bringing me to beaches all around Indonesia. That led to some snorkeling. That led to diving.

It feels like home, that's all I can say. Perhaps for having known it so long. Perhaps for that familiar feeling of having my feet touch the sand, or the salty wind brushing off my hair. It's always different each time, breathtakingly gorgeous and varied. But they all are offering this sense of calmness that soothes, a vastness that carries.

I don't know how much my love for the ocean has gravitated me towards my decisions to date. To take Ocean Engineering as a major. To research on ocean renewable energy. To take projects in cleaning up the ocean. To pursue my professional track in diving. Or to have 'Segarra', the Sanskrit word for ocean, on my body. 

I can still remember them all vividly; my first solo-trip to Derawan (broke my finger on Christmas eve while having no doctors around, locals ended up giving me traditional oils that worked), Karimun Jawa (got a whole boat for my own, and accommodation in the middle of the ocean, again, locals), Nusa Lembongan (my first diving certification, one trip where I could not stop wonder how my luck and kindness from the people around me could bring), Weh (first night-dive experience, so beautiful I still shiver to remember), Togean (that 12-hour ferry trip and amazingly gorgeous remote beaches),... I mean, yes, the list is no way exhaustive and it will do no justice.

With diving, it intensifies the whole experience. There is definitely something magical in being immersed under the water. To be a humble visitor to an underwater town, as I'd like to see it. Seeing, witnessing, experiencing, another set of living altogether. The living creatures, the corals, the majestic rocks. There is something thrilling with every entrance to the water. Something indescribable every time we discover the types of sharks we have never seen before. Something quite extraordinary to see what looks like a huge sunflower garden, but transported twenty-meters below the surface. Or believe that a dive-spot is just a translated version of Seville, under the sea.

Yes, I just got back from another diving trip and it's been hard for me to move on. Bear with me.

You know, it's wonderful to have a place you call home, wherever you are.

It has shaped who I am, thus far. And continuously will.