Scuba Scuba

I'm officially a certified scuba diver! If you would've asked me if I was going to make it to the end of the class after my first pool practice I for sure would've said no. Breathing underwater took a lot more getting used to than I thought. I had 4 classroom sessions, 2 pool sessions, 4 ocean dives and 1 written test before I was officially dive certified. I had to pass a lot of pool tests before I was allowed to go in the ocean, a few of which I didn't even need scuba equipment for. The hardest part was removing my scuba mask, putting it back on and clearing it of all the water without getting a nose or mouthful. I choked more than once in the pool and each time just shot up to the surface. You definitely can't do that in the ocean because of the pressure changes-- if you shoot up too fast your lungs can overinflate and you'll stop breathing-- yikes! During my skills dive, my instructor took my dive buddy and I about 30 feet down. Before we started doing mask clears, he grabbed our vests to hold us down so we wouldn't shoot up. We both managed to do it without getting a nose or mouthful-- thank god! After that we worked on compass navigation. I know, many of you are thinking that I must've bombed this portion of the test but I actually was able to successfully navigate underwater and end up back where I started-- SUCCESS! It might've taken me 15 years, but I finally corrected my 4th grade faux pas :) After getting all of the skills out of the way, we went on an aquatic life dive- I got to see spiny sea urchins, rock fish, seahorses and coral up close. Finally, I got to navigate my own dive. I came across an awesome coral wall with hundreds of fish. I'm so glad I became dive certified and I cannot wait to dive again off the islands in Thailand!