The thing about scuba that is totally cool is that it's like flying but underwater. At least once you learn how to do it.

I remember my first trip to learn scuba. I was quite nervous about it. We're not meant to be attempting to breathe underwater...but I did. You start off with a snorkle and swim around. As someone who had never even done that, it was a bit off-putting. I'm so used to breathing through my nose, but you can't or you end up snorting water (and yes, I did this to the kids delight). Then they get you into your gear. It's frickin' heavy above water. With a weight belt, strapped into a kit with a huge tank and in a wetsuit, you feel a bit claustrophobic. And we weren't doing this in a pool like most people...no, we were in the ocean from the start. So vision was a bit touchy. You learn how to use the instruments on the gear and as you release air from your BCD (like a life jacket), you slowly sink. As you head down into the water, you have to 'equalize', which means you learn to get rid of that pressure building up in your ears (like the pressure you feel when you fly but worse). If you can't do this, you can't dive. You have to go down slowly or you WILL feel pain.

Then at bottom (about 8 meters), you do tasks...like letting water into your mask and then getting rid of it. Now who in their right mind WANTS water in their mask? It's an awful feeling and you definitely get water up your nose. Ick! But you learn how to do it well. Then you learn how to take the entire mask off and put it back on. Even worse! But the hardest thing to do is to remove your breathing apparatus and breathe the air bubbles while letting it free flow through your regulator (the breathing ap). It's SCARY. But I survived this last year. And got my Scuba Diver certification.

This year was a walk in the park in comparison. Yes, I had to remove my mask and put it back on. Yes, I had to remove all my gear and put it back on. But I knew how to do it. And it wasn't as scary. I'm glad that I had this break in-between as I was able to have some time to think about it all during the year in the middle.

We got to go on dives that were amazing. At one point, I was hovering at 15 meters and a school of fish surrounded me. Tons of shiny blue & brown fish just swimming around. Orange starfish dotting the surface. An eel that seemed quite nervous. A fish that looked like the spiney coral bits below. It was SO COOL.

Never in my mind did I think that this would be something I'd want to do. But I really like it. I don't have the money to go on lots of trips and R. doesn't know how to do it so I'd hate to go on my own...but I may try it on my honeymoon in St Lucia. I'm just happy to have been given this amazing opportunity. I love working at this school!