OK Girls, you’re going to have a lot of travel posts to enjoy on the blog this summer. I have more cruise tips for you as well as details on our memorial day trip to Orlando. We love to travel and for a period of a few years in a row, John and I would go back to the same area of Mexico each summer.
He would always talk about wanting to scuba dive, and while I was totally fine with snorkeling, I was petrified of diving. Being under the water so deep, no air but this little tank, sharks, plus I can barely swim… No way.
I agreed to do a “discovery class” as it was called, down in the Mayan Riviera on one of our vacations. I honestly figured, if it was too scary I’d just stay on the boat and read while John enjoys his dive. (I packed a book just in case.) John doesn’t know this but I credit that class for solidifying in my mind that John was going to be my husband for realsies.
During the Discover Scuba course I paid very close attention to the instructor’s guidelines. All the parts about how not to die…I was all ears. I had about 700 “what if” questions, and the instructor gently answered them all. I kept sneaking peeks at John to see if he was annoyed with me, but his face only showed sweet concern. During the class I’m just getting more and more nervous. Convinced it was my last hours on earth. John was just holding my hand, giving me reassuring smiles and nods, rubbing my back and telling me how he loves me and was proud of me for trying it.
After the classroom part, we got geared up and went to the beach to practice the skills we just learned about. (TMI: I get the bubbleguts when I’m nervous and I also shake like a leaf and have to clench hard to chill out.) I swear my shakes were the cause of all the waves in the ocean that morning. John was just telling me it’ll be okay and how great I was doing. The instructor was very helpful as well. I guess he was used to dealing with nervous nellies.
Fast forward to after the course when we’re on our boat heading out to the big scary dangerous open water with sharks, and jellyfish, and darkness, and spooky things for my impending death… I’m shaking. I need to poo. And there is John… cool as a cucumber and reassuring me that I’m going to be fine. That I’m totally safe. Reminding me of the backup air. Telling me how he’ll not leave my side until I want him to. Letting me squeeze his hand til it’s purple. Reminding me to take a breath or two.
Time to jump off the side of the boat…backwards. WHAT?! I didn’t know about this part! Everyone else is off and in the water holding the guide rope. I’m sitting on the edge petrified like a wooden statue. John’s next to me telling me how proud he is, rubbing my shoulders, giving me reassuring eye contact and just being so patient. Before this…I don’t think I’d ever seen him as patient….ever. (And we’d been together like i dunno 7 years at this point)
The captain was getting impatient and said something I can’t even remember to John and John did that manly dont mess with me deepvoice thing to him on some “just wait a minute she’s good, she’s good.” (I SO wasn’t good.) And he sat with me for a while, as I held up the group, until I nutted up and jumped in.
SO anticlimactic too because I’m wearing a damn life vest puffed all up with air. I hit the water and just sat on top of it like… plop. LMAO. I had to laugh at myself. But John didn’t. He jumped in right beside me, asked me if I was okay and held my hand and we did our descent. And true to his word he was right beside me the entire time of that dive until I got all comfy and brave. (I may or may not have had one small panic attack and used up hella air in my tank…but that’s neither here nor there)
The world under water is incredible and MUST be seen first hand….even if only once. It’s just so amazing.
After we were back on the boat I knew I had to do that a billion more times. And I knew that if John could help me get over that gripping fear, without getting annoyed, upset, rushing me, and quickly regulating on the people who were… that he was a dude I needed around forever. I saw him differently from that experience on. I love how safe and loved and accepted (despite my irrational craziness) he made me feel.
After that dramatic dive I was hooked. It was in May and we went back to Mexico that August to dive some more. We both got our PADI open water diving certifications and we both want to go on to get advanced and eventually rescue certified.
So I say all that because I want to urge you to try it too!!
PADI WOMEN’S DIVE DAY IS JULY 16, 2016 … DISCOVER (or REDISCOVER) SCUBA DIVING
July 16, 2016 marks the second annual PADI Women’s Dive Day. It’s an annual celebration of women in scuba diving and provides special opportunities for more women to enter the sport of scuba diving.
During PADI Women’s Dive Day, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts, dive clubs, and other organizations around the world will offer female-friendly dives and events, ranging from first-dives to shark dives, beach clean-ups to special speaker engagements, and much more. Some PADI Dive Shops will also offer the opportunity to try scuba diving, for the first time, through the PADI Discover Scuba® Diving program. Others will focus on PADI ReActivate™, which gives lapsed divers the opportunity to refresh their scuba skills, rediscover the sport they love and reactivate their dive certifications!
The inaugural 2015 PADI Women’s Dive Day event was an historic day for diving. More than 6,000 divers from 65 countries participated in 335 special events on all seven continents. The PADI photo album on Facebook shows how women (and some with their their families) from all over the world enjoyed the 2015 event.
If you would like to participate in PADI Women’s Dive Day, you can find an event near you or get more information at http://www.padi.com/women-dive
If you’re not yet a PADI-certified diver you can contact your local PADI Dive Center or Resort to get started or you can explore options in the PADI course catalog.
If you are already a PADI-certified diver who is interested in participating in a the 2016 PADI Women’s Dive Day event, please contact your local PADI Dive Center or Resort to see if they’re hosting an event – and encourage them to get involved, if they’re not already.
Visit PADI’s blogsite at http://www.padi.com/blog/2016/03/03/womens-dive-day-plan-to-participate.
Do You Scuba Dive?
This is a sponsored blog; while the views expressed here were genuinely mine, consideration was paid to me by PADI to review this product.
I adore snorkeling and want to scuba just as much but you know how you got the shakes and they went away? My shakes never leave! It still takes me a good 30 minutes to relax in the water. Maybe if I try a PADI class I’ll do better. 🙂
The class will be SO helpful. July 16th go try it out. There will be lots of other first timers too. If not, let’s do it together in Jamaica in October!