The Day I Fell in Love with the Sea

Being an avid freediver, water lover and creative type, I’ve arranged a collection of underwater photos to recall and share my earliest underwater experiences in Africa. The photos were taken in Tanzania from January – March 2014, a liminal time, juxtaposed of self and sea exploration. Each photo is accompanied by a one-line prose, written at the time, to authentically express my experience and emotion and to remember those first moments when I fell in love with the sea.

‘Where Sky Meets Sea’ – Mafia Island
A seam of vast expanse, and a liminal landscape, captured in a marginal space

WHERE SKY MEETS SEA © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Beneath the Boat’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
Obscure and shifting, a blanket of silver flecks beneath the silent waves

BENEATH THE BOAT © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Trumpet’ – Nungwi, Zanzibar
Teemed among turquoise tides, lie sunken secrets in a reef abound

TRUMPET © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Spotted Puffer’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
What big body with wonderful spots gliding through the water like an undersea zeppelin

SPOTTED PUFFER © RENEE BLUNDON

‘A Dynamited Hole’ – Bongoyo Island, Dar es Salaam
Boom! A deliberate hole of death, followed by so many more, a dying reef crying-out

A DYNAMITED HOLE © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Schooling Dagaa’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
I swim, as one of them, a fish in a school, and wonder where, this fish will go…

SCHOOLING DAGAA © RENEE BLUNDON

‘The Sun Always Shines Above The Clouds’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
Storm clouds drop down into the sea, adding darkness to a radiant sky

THE SUN ALWAYS SHINES… © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Mindlessness In Itself’ – Mbudya Island, Dar es Salaam
“It’s really when one stops thinking about oneself and become oneself” -Sergio Tiempo

MINDLESSNESS IN ITSELF © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Nature’s Scheming’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
A filefish crouches beneath the shaded sea and dissolves into a barnical backcloth

NATURE’S SCHEMING © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Birds of the Sea and Shore’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
Mostly white with some tarnished gray, a carved instant of unchallenged flight

BIRDS OF THE SEA AND SHORE © RENEE BLUNDON

‘A Rock in the Sea’ – Mbudya Island, Dar es Salaam
Floating over a rock, untouched by human hand, full of unseen creatures

A ROCK IN THE SEA © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Platax Close At Hand’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
With compressed bodies, they swerve, curve and follow along, in a state of potent curiosity

PLATAX CLOSE AT HAND © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Peaceful Surroundings’ – Kismani, Mafia Island
Motionless with a panting fish surround, immersed in illuminated hidden depths

PEACEFUL SURROUNDINGS © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Dynamited Reef’ – Kingamboni, Dar es Salaam
A moray eel hiding beneath what was once a flourishing coral reef, now just fragments & urchins remain.

DYNAMITED REEF © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Puffed-up Puffer’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
Puffer fish, with big black eyes staring, and fluttering fins, one minute a fish, the next a balloon, where shall we go…?

PUFFED-UP PUFFER © RENEE BLUNDON

‘Here Comes the Rain’ – Msasani Bay, Dar es Salaam
Being in, what feels like, the middle of the ocean during a rain storm is, an experience in itself…

HERE COMES THE RAIN © RENEE BLUNDON