By Charlie Fellows

The hardest part of scuba diving is the moments immediately before you actually dive. There’s a period of two or three minutes after you’ve geared up, but before the instructor tells you it’s time to dive in. The hot, Mediterranean sun beats down on you as your pitch-black wetsuit is sealed to your sweaty body. You can’t really hear anything, do anything, or even turn your head that much.

You sit, back facing the beautiful crystal sea, feeling the boat pitch back and forth from the force of others wriggling into their suits or pitching themselves over the side to begin their adventures.

Equipped for the world down below, still burdened to the one above. You’re a blobfish. Something that looks normal in its natural habitat, but warped to a comical degree when extricated from it.

¡Vámonos!

By design, the only agency you get is to push your legs back and send yourself flipping backwards into the sea. Now you’re a blobfish with an anvil strapped to it. Not quite home yet, but on your way.

You free-fall for a moment.

Then everything is blue, and you swell up to normal size.

Charlie Fellows (he/him) ‘25 is a broadcast and digital journalism major with a Spanish minor, from Scarborough, Maine. He is an avid sports fan and aspiring sports broadcaster, and is involved with on-campus outlets such as CitrusTV, WAER, and ACC Network. He enjoys swimming, hiking, or simply taking the rare chance to relax.