I did it!
It took Kevin four years of nagging, me not being pregnant, grandparents to watch our children, and a beautiful tropical location to get me Scuba certified, but I did it!
I was very nervous about the whole process (what if I can't equalize? what if I choke on water when I have to take my regulator out and clear it? what if I forget something?) but with Kevin by my side calming me down and helping me through it, we had a great time. Kevin completed his open water certification in Maui four years ago when I was pregnant with Colin and then Advanced Deep Water certified in Kauai two years ago when I was pregnant with Reagan (you can't dive when you're pregnant), so it was about time I got my courage together to finally do it!
The PADI certification is in two parts - the online book portion and the dives. I finished the book work before we left Dallas and we were diving the morning after we got off the plane!
We did four dives in two days to pass off all the skills necessary to get my C-Card.
And how did I like it?
I didn't. I really didn't like it at all!
After the first dive I was trying to think of nice ways to tell Kevin that this dream he had of us travelling and diving together just wasn't going to happen. I didn't like the feeling of having the regulator in my mouth or the fact that the air dries out the back of your throat. I didn't like trying to clumsily equalize (pop my ears) while trying not to hold my breath while figuring out all the equipment.
It was awkward and uncomfortable and I just didn't like it.
However, I told myself that I should at least finish the course and then I could tell him.
I finished the course and did really well on my skills but at the end I didn't love it. It got more comfortable, and I figured out how to swallow to wet my throat, but I didn't love it.
But we decided that after the course we would do a fun day of diving and asked for a recommendation for a dive site from my instructor.
The next day of diving changed everything.
It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced!
Even though we had seen some cool reefs, fish, and turtles during my certification dives - diving at Black Rock and at The Pier blew all of that out of the water!
It was fun.
It was beautiful.
It was magical!
Cheesy, right?
We held an octopus, we saw turtles everywhere, and the fish - they were so colorful!
The Pier was just amazing! In 1992 a hurricane destroyed part of a pier in Lahaina and where it crumbled into the ocean, it created this beautiful reef system with turtles, fish, and sharks!
Swimming under a pylon from the old pier looking for sharks!
There were several reef sharks sleeping under the pylons. They are nocturnal and when our dive master squirted bubbles at them, they would swim around for us and then go back to sleep - crazy!!
See how close we got? Kevin's in the middle and I am on the far right.
So a funny story about this picture - Our instructor told us to kneel in this spot, hold on to the pylon, wait for him to squirt the bubbles, and hopefully then the shark would swim around. As he was swimming right in front of us (within arm distance), Kevin turned to look at me and I was looking the other direction at six turtles that were swimming overhead. Thankfully (or not?) the shark swam by us again so I could get up close and personal!
I LOVED my dive and even though I had problems descending again (not enough weight!) we had the greatest time and I feel like I finally get it. In fact, after our fun dive day we went snorkeling and all I could think of was how much I would rather be under the water swimming with the turtles and the fish and checking out all the sea life.
I am excited that now Kevin and I have this fun hobby that we can share when we travel! Bora Bora here we come! (one day!)
PS - if you are considering getting certified in Maui, I would HIGHLY recommend the Maui Diving Shop and our instructor Mike Wakashige. He has been a dive instructor for almost 20 years and was the same dive master that certified Kevin! I felt completely comfortable with him and was thrilled that he was able to take us on our fun dives too! Sometimes people that work in dive shops (like people that work in ski resorts, etc) come off as too cool or high on pot or flippant, but he was none of those things!
