Page 39 of The Wedding Pact

‘The best place to start is over there,’ our instructor says, bringing my attention back to the task at hand. ‘There will be lots of fish.’

He moves off slowly in the direction he’s just pointed, keeping his speed low.

I wave for Ida to go next, not wanting her to know how much it’s bothering me that she’s such a natural at this.

Seemingly like everything else she does.

She’s so effortlessly cool.

This is the first time I’ve been envious of someone in a very long time.

Once she’s on her way, I bring up the rear, enjoying the sight of her gliding gracefully through the water in front of me.

When we get to the site, the instructor shows us how to dive with the seabobs and we both just go for it, taking deep breaths before dipping the noses of the jets into the water and pushing down whilst accelerating until we’re submerged.

We head incrementally deeper towards where the coral reef is waiting for our visit, keeping our speed steady and slow enough to take in everything around us.

The snorkelling visors we’re wearing means we can see everything underwater perfectly. The brightly coloured tropical fish flit between the gold, lavender and pink coral, giving this world beneath the ocean a cartoonish technicolour-like appearance.

We can see where large frames have been planted into the seabed and new coral is growing, bringing the reef back to life and attracting stingrays, parrot fish and butterfly and clown fish to come and live within it.

It’s great to see the project is having such a positive effect.

It makes me reflect on how little attention I’ve paid to the natural world in the last few years, chained to my desk, staring at a screen in an air-conditioned office.

I’m suddenly very grateful to Ida for persuading me to come and do this with her.

It’s reopened a world in my mind that I’ve shut out recently.

Perhaps I need to look at how much time I’m spending indoors. I mean, I’m aware of how little fresh air I get on a month-by-month basis, choosing to go to an indoor gym instead of walking or swimming outside.

Time to reassess that, maybe.

When I have a moment, that is.

Work, right now, has to come first.

I can’t drop the ball when I’ve worked so hard to get this new business venture to where it currently is. I’ve lived and breathed it for too long to let it slide now. And I’m not ready to hand over the reins yet to my CEO-in-waiting. There’s more I can do to get it to where it needs to be before I step away and sell it, profitability wise.

Once we’ve spent a while exploring the seabed and enjoying swimming amongst the fish, the instructor gestures for us to head back to the hotel. The seabobs only hold their charge for about an hour and I definitely don’t want to have to swim all the way back to where we started.

Just as the instructor sets off back in the direction we came from, I hear Ida say beside me, ‘Okay, race you back. Last one to shore is a loser.’

I catch a flash of her wide grin before she speeds off in front of me, whooping her delight at the look of bewildered frustration on my face.

Right.

The game is on.

I accelerate hard, hot on her tail.

The water slaps at my face as I bounce through the gentle waves back towards our destination. I’m determined to win this. I get the feeling I’ll never hear the end of it from Ida if she gets there first.

Not that I’d blame her. I’ll probably be exactly the same if I win our race.

I actually like this about her. She’s not scared to compete with me and it makes me feel like we’re well matched. As friends, that is.

It occurs to me that I’m at a disadvantage though; her seabob is carrying a few stone less of bodyweight than mine, not that I’m about to use that as an excuse if I don’t win this.