Nervous Nelly

I was very nervous to dive.  When Garvey got his certification in January I was jealous, but in a way, it was a relief from the nerves.  And then I realized, if Garvey already had his certification, I would have to get mine alone.  Even scarier.

Then, arriving in Koh Lanta and hearing there was no diving, I felt a pang of relief again.  Well, I thought, this is completely out of my control.

Signing up for the course, my nerves started to stir again.  I knew how badly I wanted to be able to scuba dive, but the idea of it was frightening.  The idea of being suspended underwater, breathing through a tube, yikes.  It gave me goosebumps just to imagine it.  What if there was a problem?  What if I had a panic attack down there?  What if I was attacked by a shark?

First, I had a day of classroom work to complete.

I arrived at the dive shop before 8 am on Thursday morning.  I had already completed the first three chapters in my dive book on my own, so I had to watch the instructional video and take the quiz.

I passed the quiz with a 100%, so we quickly moved to the swimming pool.  Julie wanted to get our pool work done before it became too sunny and hot.  We spent about two hours practicing various skills.  I had to put the equipment together, take it apart, put in on, and take it off.  Then, in the water I had to breathe with the regulator, then breathe with my snorkel, then breathe with my regulator and take my mask off and put it back on.  At the end, I had to tread water for ten minutes and swim twenty laps.  I passed.

While we were in the truck on the way back to the dive shop I told Julie how nervous I was before we went into the pool.  She just looked at me and said, “I know.”  And she was so confident about it.  She said, “you were very quiet before, so I could tell you were nervous.”  Wow.  Kareem used to always tell me I was easy to read, but I didn’t know I was that easy to read.  This woman had barely known me for 24 hours!  I need to work on my poker face.

The rest of the day I spent in the dive shop watching videos, completing chapter reviews, and taking quizzes.  Before I knew it, I had completed the entire course of bookwork.  Julie came upstairs and asked me if I wanted to take the final exam.  Usually, they spread the coursework out between the three days, but alone, I had gone through it pretty quickly.  I took the final exam, and I scored 100%!  What did you get, Garvey?

I was back at the resort, which more travelers had trickled into, by around 3 pm.  I spent the rest of the day reading, laying by the pool, and freaking out about diving in the REAL OCEAN the next day.

I was picked up from my resort just after seven the next morning.  We drove across the island to share a boat with a few other dive shops.  Some people were completing their rescue diver course, a few were just snorkeling, but I was the only one getting my open water certification.

This is the first island we would dive around in Koh Haa.  

(Koh= island, Haa= five)

In the two hour trip to Koh Haa, I tried to read, but my nerves were running high.  I ate one of the chocolate croissants for breakfast, and I quickly regretted it.  For one, it wasn’t very good.  So, it definitely was not worth the calories.  But I was also very, very nervous, and my stomach was feeling off.

Julie gave me my pre-dive talk, the boat’s horn blew, and it was go time.  It was suddenly a mad rush of people on the dive deck preparing to dive.  I didn’t even have time to be nervous, I just had to keep up.  We had barely stopped the boat, and I was being shuffled into the water.

Left hand on the weight belt.  

Right hand on the mask and regulator.  

Big step.  

Scissor kick.  

And we’re off!

HOLY MOLY.  

I was petrified, but after one dive, I was hooked.  I saw Nemo!  He actually lives in an anemone.  I saw a humongous banded sea snake!  I wasn’t attacked by a shark!  I didn’t have a panic attack!  I loved every second of it.

The Nemos of the ocean really do swim in and out of the anemones.  And the parent clownfish are super protective!

Just after my first dive!  

While Julie and I ate lunch, discussed the dive, and prepared for our next dive, she of course mentioned that she knew I had been nervous.  I am way too easy to read.

We dove a second time that afternoon, and twice more the next day.  Each dive was completely different, and completely wonderful.  I am officially hooked on diving.  I am a certified PADI Open Water Diver, and I am looking into getting my advanced certification!  Yes!