{"id":9007,"date":"2011-10-03T01:00:22","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=9007"},"modified":"2013-05-02T13:12:30","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T23:12:30","slug":"postcard-from-the-reef-surface","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=9007","title":{"rendered":"Postcard from the Reef &#8211; Surface"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The needle on the air gauge is edging into the red, time to consider the inevitable.  I must soon head for the surface, the end of the dive.<\/p>\n<p>For over an hour I have lived in a world so different than the normal human existence.  I have navigated in three dimensions, swimming not only down and around obstacles, but over them, sometimes hovering above the terrain.  A breath in, maybe a breath out, I fine trim my buoyancy to glide up or down, maneuvering just inches above the coral.  A few times in the dive I add or release air from the BCD to trim buoyancy.  This is a form of locomotion so very different than walking on land.  It is so much like flying that you can not help but to make the comparison.<\/p>\n<p>I have no choice, my tank exhausted, I turn and head upwards.  Just below the surface I hit the button, air hisses and the BCD fills, I am soon floating amongst the waves.  Removing the regulator I take a first breath of un-bottled air.  Looking about, I consider the blue water, the waves and beauty of the moment.  It is nice to be back into the world above water.  As I swim back to shore I wonder about getting a drink of water, maybe some food for my tired body.  How soon can I download the memory card to check the photos?  Was that last shot in focus?<\/p>\n<p>There is always another thought&#8230;  I roll and look downwards to the coral below&#8230;  How soon will I be back? <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9008\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9008\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?attachment_id=9008\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9008\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CE16-57-11225-DC-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"Surface\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9008\" srcset=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CE16-57-11225-DC-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/CE16-57-11225-DC.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9008\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Arrival at the surface to see a setting sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The needle on the air gauge is edging into the red, time to consider the inevitable. I must soon head for the surface, the end of the dive. For over an hour I have lived in a world so different than the normal human existence. I have navigated in three dimensions, swimming not only down &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=9007\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Postcard from the Reef &#8211; Surface&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[2100,98,37],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}