I dont know how Charlee and Esme did it!

Today and for the next 2 days i will be scuba diving. today was the first day so we had to read a book last night – well 1 chapter of the book, which took hours. i was so tired this morning when we got up for a 9am start ar the dive shop. we then watched a couple of hours of dvds teling us even more stuff and repeating the stuff from the book. and then we were off to the beach to do our first dive. i was shitting myself coz the book had said we would have to do a swim and tread water to make sure we were up for the dive. but all we were asked was can we swim and have we ever snorkelled? the answer to both yes, we continued. sorted.

but then came the diving – i found it hard and very scary. we went in the shallow water at the beach first. thr currents were strong and the visibility poor due to the sand. we had to take our mouth piece out and put it abck in again, refind our mouth pieces, let water into ouyr masks and get it out and then fill the whole mask and get it out. i was worried about this as the salt water really hurt my eyes when we went snorkelling but luckily the process of getting it out is actually easier than it sounds and after a mini stress in my head when i completely filled it to begine with i can now do it ok…touch wood. we then had to regulate our bouyancy in the water to make ourselves neutrally bouyant….one of the most important aspects and one which i have not yet mastered. we soon found out that i had not mastered it when we went for our first 12metre dive. i was less scared than before and it wasnt till we got to the dive site, right in the middle of the sea when i started to worry again. neither me nor mark were sea sick on the way but when the boat dropped anchor i started to feel and and we feeling quite dizzy. we sat on the sides and fell backwards into the water. sounds crazy and i cannot imagine doing this in my head – lookign at me doing it that is if you see what i mean…

anyways so then we were to swim to the front of the boat to the line which dropped to the anchor and descend holding the line. however, i had difficulty even getting to the fron of the boat. i had changed masks from when we first dived as it had hurt my nose – too tight. so i had another mask which turned out to be too loose and in the choppy water it was filling quickly. this and the big waves out there was enough to stress me out and i forget all the calm thing i was supposed to be doing. i tried my best to swim to the rope but did so with difficulty ending up way too close to the boat. i tried explaining to the main guy (not too sure of his name right now, something mexican) that mask was too loose but i was getting so out of breath and had to take my mouth piece out to talk that the waves were just going right over my head and got water down my throat. this stressed me out more so by now i was just floundering. out of breath and knackered i wanted so much to just get back on the boat, i didnt want to dive. suddenly i was by the side of the boat and katana (the boat guy – well cool) was telling me to take my mask off and to breath slowly and deeply. i wasnt quite sure what to do with the mouthpiece but eventually decided that for it to be in my mouth would be best (lol). at last i swapped masks with the one on the boat and the guys were helping me to calm down. all i could see were the massive waves coming at me and so breathing clamly was hard. i kept breathing so heavily that the air supply was making strange noises but after a couple of mins i was fine again, thank god. then it was time to dive :s

back to the rope, we began to descend. easier than swimming to the rope. always swallowing to equalise. and blowing through my nose to equalise my mask. we found mark on the way down who was trying to equalise his ears. his “buddy” had left him though – the trainee instructor. so when my guy – the main instructor, saw this, he got a right bollocking under water. even though there was no noise to this telling off even i could tell the wrath due to the very harsh hand movements. was quite funny. but leaving a buddy is the worst thing to do.

after reaching the bottom we were off. this was the easier bit and i had clamed down now for sure. we swam around for probably about 10-15mins, maybe more. saw many pretty fish, was well cool. i just kept singing in my head “under the sea, la la la la la, under the sea…”, so that made me chuckle to myself and calmed me down more. but i definitely had trouble with the neutral bouyancy thing. at one point i just couldnt float – turns out i had too many weights on and so was being pulled down too much. and then i thinki got abit too carried away with stearing clear of the reef so i didnt cut myself and i just was floating up and up….woops. i was enjoying myself more now i was “inot it” but still couldnt wait to get back to the boat and for the day to finish.

i think im glad i have done it, but i dont think i have enjoyed it as mcuh as i hoped i would have. this is why i am so shocked that charlee and esme did it without complains or any stories and loved it. and it seems bad that now i am still worried about tomorrow with the same feeling i used to have for swimming lessons, which i hated when i was younger. and i just cant wait for the next 2 days and next….6 dives? to be over. im worried that the same thing will happen when i exit the boat tomorrow. if it does i will probably be completely put off…so fingers crossed the sea will be calmer or i will get used to it more. maybe it was just the madsk problem and with the mask fine i will be ok? hope so.

i will let you know tomorrow. charlee and ez, you def are the dive queens.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx im knackered, off to bed, night.

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