I’m obsessed with ocean sounds: ‘I can’t see but I can hear the whole reef, like an orchestra’

Padi's first South African blind scuba diver describes how her other senses enhance her experience underwater

I went on my first dive in Mozambique and as I was descending, I could hear this weird chirruping noise. As we got closer to the reef, it got louder and louder. It was so weird and different from any other sound I've heard. Other scuba divers call it the crackling" of the coral reef. That's what I was hearing: the actual coral. I could hear the whole reef, being alive - and it sounded absolutely amazing, like its own kind of orchestra. A sea orchestra.

I am Padi's first South African blind scuba diver. I have a condition called optic atrophy, caused by a brain tumour that pressed on my optic nerves when I was 11. After it was removed, my central vision turned completely black, but with pinpricks of light that almost look like stars.