Sadly one of the most momentous (to me!) I've ever done was the Night Swim with Mantas in Hawaii. You spend 2 beers in a boat Then another beer watching the sunset while divers drop milk crates full of lights. Its dark and surreal floating in the sci fi environment waiting for the Mantas and when they come they come from below they come from the shadows they come and keep coming until hundreds of illusive shadows spiral up from the bottom feeding. The first thing you think is how tranquil and nice it is.. Then out of the corner of your eye a great shadow slips by. You involuntarily exhale and immediately have to fight the primal urge to get the fuck out of the water. And then a flash of white and You cant move if you had to your caught between equal amounts of panic and wonder, because these fucking monsters are 50 times bigger than you ever imagined. They slowly come up and roll off you inches away collecting the algae between themselves and you. The gaping mouth is vast I spread my arms and the mouth was wider Never mind the great fins that drift off into the dark. You can literally see down the prehistoric throats. You float holding the board drifting watching captured in a moment that you know you'll never repeat That you know .0000005 per cent of humans will every experience. And you cease to exist as yourself no different than the algae or krill afloat in time afloat in space. Drifting being and Your floating thinking about the oneness of it all the grandeur of... and the lights go out and you exhale... Then you remember the guide said if sharks come they will turn off the lights.
