had been taught at a younger age when experiencing what we as adolescents considered to be cliff diving but in reality was simply jumping from tall rocks. Don’t think, just jump. And with that I hopped over the edge, ungracefully, and broke the surface with a greater splash than that of Jordan. I did not allow myself to stay under for long and immediately began to swim up with the mental vision of something emerging from the darkness to inspect its new visitors.
I took a deep breath and clawed my way back to the edge as Jordan laughed and swam toward me. “See? Not bad at all!” He reached out toward me and gently pulled my arm to bring me in toward him. In panic I kicked him away to regain my progress toward reaching the edge. “Alright, sorry!” He held his hands away and kicked back to give me space.
Grasping the edge I found finger holds and gripped them tightly as I slowed my breathing and closed my eyes. No matter how many times I told myself that there was nothing to be scared of I could not help but shake the panic that lay in my depths. I could hear Jordan as he surfaced from swimming across the hole, gulping the fresh air before diving beneath the calm surface of the blue hole.
I looked down, something they always say not to do when a fear of heights wheedles its way into your head. The rock wall was full of holes as time wore the lime stone away creating a smooth surface covered in pockets of various shapes. I found a hold for my toes to grasp on to and looked beyond them, visually making my way down the wall until, engulfed by the blackness below, I could no longer see it. Curious at whether swimming at that level would allow one to be seen from the surface or not I returned my vision to the ground in front of me. Seeing a small stone I picked it up then dropped it into the water away from me. I watched as I followed its descent into the mysterious depths below until it was swallowed in darkness.
Something poked my finger and I yelled out, quickly letting go of the side and jerking myself toward the center. I was caught between a rock and the dark abyss that lay below, with who knew what watching us, knowing we were unable to discern its presence outside of our own imaginations. A splash came toward me and I turned to find Jordan swimming back toward me. “What’s wrong?”
“Something poked me,” I shakily stated while treaded water as far away from the wall as I dared go. “I was holding the wall and something touched my hand”
“Poked you?” Jordan inquired as he swam to the wall. I watched as he found holds for his fingers as well and then I slowly swam toward him, making sure to keep him between myself and whatever it was that had encouraged my panic to resurface. He stared at the limestone that lined the hole as he slowly maneuvered himself from hold to hold. The wall stared back with its many eyes, most perhaps only an inch deep but others had sockets of greater depths surely hiding a variety of horrors. Suddenly Jordan stopped and began to laugh. He turned, holding on to the wall with one hand and reaching out with another toward me. “Come here. See what you were afraid of!”
I slowly swam toward him as he coaxed me along, gently holding my hand as he pulled me toward the wall. I stared at the wall as he verbally guided me to look near his hand. The limestone slowly revealed one of its secrets to me as movement began to materialize both below and above the water. When Jordan let go of his hold, the sudden movement caused the small crabs to retreat to the closest hole for safety. He laughed as he swam off while I slowly returned to the wall making sure to place my hands away from any visible crabs.
“Hey, look at that!” Jordan yelled excitedly, continuing to swim across the blue hole. I cautiously turned as he reached the wall on the opposite side and began to climb out. The water dripped off of him and deposited onto the limestone, filling small pockets as he walked toward the trees that surrounded the location.
“Be careful,” I cautioned, both fearful of the limestone becoming slippery as well as not knowing what might lay behind the brush in the woods. “What did you see?” I inquired while looking back to my hands to shoo away any daring crabs, still uncertain what he had found. Suddenly a loud splash disturbed the calm that the location presented itself as and I quickly turned to find Jordan out of sight. “Jordan?”
The swing of a rope caught my eye, revealing where Jordan disappeared to. I looked into the water to find Jordan having dove a good 4 meters below the surface thanks to the boost gravity gave him. He appeared to level out and swim toward me. The blackness below him caused the beat of my heart to quicken as I worried about him being so close to the unknown. He began his ascent and I began calming myself with deep breaths.
Resurfacing with a gleeful shout, he pointed to the swinging rope that he had found tangled in the nearby tree. “It seems rather old but still works like a charm!” he exclaimed. He held his hand out once more. “I know you don’t want to but come here, I want to show you what I just saw down there. Don’t worry, I think you’ll find it interesting!”
Not wanting to be a complete downer I allowed myself to slowly let go of the wall, knowing that it would mean something to him for me to at least share some of an interest in the overall experience. As I kicked off toward Jordan I closed my eyes briefly. Who knew that vertigo could occur when you were not at risk of falling? I opened my eyes as I felt his hand grasp mine and pull me closer. “Do you see it?” he asked, turning me around to examine the wall I just came from.
I was so worried about looking down I never considered that beyond my line of sight a dark hallow would be lurking. Below where I had been firmly holding on to the wall resided one of the side caves that we had read about. Not only was there the dark abyss we were swimming over but who knew how many other dark caverns lay below?
As my mind began swimming with dangerous possibilities I began swimming toward the wall once more, this time in an effort to find myself back on land. “I need to sit for a minute, sorry,” I called back to him between breaths.
“It’s okay,” Jordan stated in understanding, swimming back with me. Reaching the wall I grasped a hold on the surface and began to pull myself out, no longer worried about the crabs my toes may be scaring out of hiding. Standing on the harsh limestone that felt so smooth in the water I turned to see Jordan paddling back toward the center. “Better?” he called out.
“Yes,” I responded then began walking back to the cart, careful of the sharp edges of the limestone, where I grabbed a towel and began to dry off. “It’s a very peaceful place, I am just feeling really uneasy about not knowing what is down there! I know we knew details about them but to see it in person the depth is just so… formidable!” I turned to find Jordan once more out of sight. The ripples near the center gave me a good idea that once again he was below the surface. I placed the towel back in the cart and began my cautious walk back to the wall.
Suddenly, a large brown object broke the surface. It jumped out of the water and plopped itself back down onto the surface where it floated. Worried about Jordan, I quickened my pace to first locate him and then determine what had revealed itself from the depths below. Looking over the edge my heart raced as Jordan was nowhere to be found. I looked toward the center of the water to see what was now floating on the surface. The thing that looked like a short, dark log took a moment to register that it was indeed just that. Movement caught the bottom edge of my vision and I looked down once more to find Jordan swimming his way out of the small cavern and back toward the surface.
“Well that was rather out of place,” he calmly stated, turning toward me after breaking the surface and brushing his hair out of his face. He put his back to me once more as he swam toward the log to look over his find. “What do you think it was doing there?” Reaching the log he held on to it with one arm and turned it over with the other.
“Well someone must have put it down there,” I stated matter-of-factly. “Either that or you found a strange natural phenomenon where small logs grow in underwater caves.”
With both arms now over the log, Jordan began to use his feet to paddle toward me. “It was probably kids,” he gathered. “Someone must have put this in here to help with fl
oating. Especially for those tourists who find themselves worried of sinking, never to be seen again.” The joke was not funny so I stared back at him, watching him paddle the log around.
A light rumble was heard in the distance and we both looked up. Neither of us had noticed the sky change from its brilliant blue to a color that had become desaturated.
“Well, guess we should have paid closer attention to the forecast. Guess we might be riding home in the rain. Good thing we’re already wet!” Jordan was always the optimist.
I slipped into my sandals and began putting on my shirt. Jordan pushed the log away and swam toward the other wall where he had found the rope. “One last swing and we’ll hit the road!” He announced as he climbed out and carefully walked across the limestone once again. He made his way to the rope and, rope in hand, pulled it away from the blue hole into the woods. I made my way back to the cart, shorts in hand.
“Better watch out!” he shouted. I placed the shorts on the seat, wrapped the towel around my waist, and turned to watch his big finale. Running at an angle toward me, Jordan hopped into the air as his feet were about to go from the lush forest floor to the harsh