My FIRST (and LAST) Scuba Diving Experience

Went scuba diving today! It was an amazing experience, and I saw some really cool things, but I don’t think it’s something I would ever do again. What really freaked me out was the way my instructors decided the dive was over…. More on that later. In general though, I couldn’t entirely get past the fact that I felt completely helpless being so far underwater.

Adjusting to the depth took me longer than I expected… my two dive instructors seemed to be able to descend and ascend almost instantly with no problems, but I could only go a couple of feet without having to equalize the pressure in my ears. When we finally got down to the bottom (only about 5 meters, which is not very deep at all really), my left arm went numb. Very odd.

Anyway, the things you see down there are pretty amazing. See anemones, coral, tons of fish. There was a chance, supposedly, that I could see a 3 meter-wide stingray. I didn’t see it, and I’m not sure that I’m sorry about that lol… I was feeling helpless enough without being next to something bigger than me.

But I got to see some beautiful, neon-colored fish, and it was really neato. And I did begin to get comfortable down there after a bit… in fact, I was swimming around so fast at one point that one of my instructors wrote on his underwater eraser board, “You fast, slow please.”

But every bit of comfort that I’d amassed about the whole situation disintegrated in a matter of milliseconds not long after that. So, to explain a bit, when I signed up to do this dive, I just assumed that it would last a set amount of time. Not so. Apparently, the sign that the dive is over is when your air gauge goes into the red “danger zone.” After we’d been down there for a while, my dive instructor taps me on the shoulder and pushes the OMG YOU ARE GOING TO DIE gauge up to my mask. As I said earlier, it took me ages to get down to the bottom, equalizing every foot or two; well, after I saw that my air tank was on the verge of empty, please believe that I made it back to the surface in record time.

Not the best way to end the dive… but it gets worse from there. Once back to the boat that we dove from, I managed to remove all of my gear except my wetsuit and mask. I thought I would spend a little time snorkeling around, looking at the coral from further away. “Much more comfortable,” I thought. “Yes, this is what humans were meant for: staying near the surface, without a million tons of pressure sitting on top of you.” Well I don’t know if it was the rapid ascent, the waves, or the entire scuba experience, but it was only a few minutes before the dizziness, fatigue, and nausea hit me. The onset was sudden, and it really knocked me for a loop. For a second I wasn’t even sure I would make it back to the boat by myself, but I managed to do that. The general feelings of crappiness went on for hours… once I got back to my hotel, I took a hot shower and then slept for almost three hours. I woke up feeling like I had run a marathon, and I still felt so dizzy that I wasn’t sure I could walk straight. Luckily, I got a lot better after I had something to eat.

So I’ve come away from this experience with a couple of insights about people who dive regularly.
++First, concerning people who dive for work, research, science, etc: I really respect you for being able to do this regularly and at much greater depths. Despite the fact that I love doing research, I now know that I could never be a marine scientist. I don’t know how you folks do it.
++But concerning people who do this regularly for “fun”: I’m not sure I trust you anymore. In fact, I’m going to recommend that you seek out a certified mental health professional ASAP, because you must be completely insane to enjoy this.

ANYWAY… Hope you enjoy the photos. I have one more full day left on my Island Tropical Paradise, and I’m going to spend it the way humans were meant to spend such days: drinking cocktails on the beach. Over and out!