For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Scott Aranha, Tarquin to my friends. I am an 18 year old island boy, born in London, England, and planted in the Bahamas. I spent my childhood surrounded by the ocean, and have a profound love of it, and all that it contains. This includes the things society so ignorantly suggests we be afraid of.
I started swimming at 17 months old, and have never looked back. Growing up in the Bahamas, I had the luxury of regularly going to the beach, snorkeling in schools of fish, and visiting my grandmother's island Bird Cay, located in the Berry Islands, 30 or so miles North of Nassau. As a young boy, I spent much of my time hand line fishing, spearing, exploring the surrounding islands, and lounging on the beach. Not much has changed, except the amount of free time I have to dedicate to my passion.
I began diving at a very young age, granted only in a pool, but soon moved on to the ocean. I got my PADI open water at 11, then Advanced Open Water, then Rescue Diver, and then Jr. Master Diver ratings, but couldn't submit the paper work until I was 12.
I went to boarding school at 13, and being the boy who rarely saw snow, I opted to go to Connecticut, because I wanted to snowboard. That was a mistake, only a few weeks into the winter, I realized why Connecticut was not a big tourist destination, and why my parents didn't live in a cold place. First off, I hate the cold, its okay in small doses, but when you are surrounded by nothing but dead trees, and fields of white for months, it sucks. Second, in the movies, and the ski resorts we had vacationed at, snow was always white and soft, but we were there for short periods, two days after my memorable first snow at The Gunnery (the school I was at), the snow around the paths had all tuned brown, and the snow in the fields was all covered in a sheet of ice. I realized I had made an error, but I stayed, serving a 4 year sentence, admittedly there were some good times. In my junior year, the college search started, and after seeing the Error I had made in going to the cold, I only looked at schools in Florida. After the application process ended, I landed here in Orlando, Florida at a liberal arts school called Rollins. I must say I prefer Florida to Connecticut, and Rollins to The Gunnery, but in hindsight, my time in high school was not all that bad, I had fun, made some awesome friends, and had some very eccentric teachers (I suspect that this has something to do with prolonged exposure to snow, and the lifeless hills of Connecticut, but this is another story.) Rollins is cool, I have met a lot of very interesting people, made some great friends, and enjoy the freedom of being in college. I have yet to decide on my major, but I am torn between Writing, and Economics, or both.
Anyway, back to Diving:
With hundreds of dives under my belt today, I still have not lost my love for the feeling of freedom that diving gives you. Every time I splash through the surface of the mystical sea I get the same rush of excitement that I did on my very first dive in the pool. The major source of my excitement is that no matter how many times you dive a spot, it is always different. I alway knew this, but it was only when I started experimenting with underwater photography that I became aware of the little things. Small spider shrimp, flamingo's tongues, and other easily overlooked creatures began to come into my sight. At this point I know that I can dive the same spot every day for the rest of my life, knowing that there will be something amazing, and majestic just waiting to surprise me each time.
I have to admit that the only place I have ever been diving is in Nassau, Bahamas, but this summer I will change this. I am taking what I can safely call the most exciting trip of my life. My trip will take me far away from my little paradise in Nassau, and over to the other side of the world,to Raja Ampat, Indonesia, and Cebu, Philippines. In both of these places I will be diving, shooting photos, and writing, I invit you to follow my trip here
