Logbook: Soaring Over Scallops

Soaring Over Scallops

10th of November, 2023 / P D Cracker, Wales

We drop down like dead weight, but as soon as we hit the bottom we go flying on our sides into running drift. I pump air into my suit to stop myself from being thrown across rocks, like a puck in a savage game of air hockey. This drift dive is fast. I feel like I’m in a video game avoiding obstacles. Up over a boulder, down through a crag. We’re dragged over pebbles, which later turn to sand. I double-click on my torch but I’m on a waterslide tour that isn’t stopping to see the sights. I switch it back off. Enjoy the sensation of accepting wherever the sea takes me. We slow over an expanse of sand and I notice two dozen Cat Sharks. Two small ones attack the sand but I’ve soared past before I find out what they caught. One the length of my arm, startled, fins out of my way before I pass a sizable one that mimics the features of a shark. Blue-grey, rounded nose, quick tail. I’m still moving and the seabed’s changed again. The outline of shells appears in the sand. I pick one up as I fly. Inspect it. Camouflaged scallops. I begin to notice more. Two, three, four. The scallop bites me and I drop it. I clasp my hands and go back to surveying the sand.