As it turned out I'm rather scared .
The Padi course for you're open water, is a few day's work,you get a text book to read and study ,you then have to finish a paper exam on what you remember reading ,then you spend a couple of day's in a pool learning about the gear works and what you need to know to visit the great underneath.... our course it also aloud us to do our very first boat dive...
This all sound fantastic of course to most people, but unless you are the middle aged over weight women that looks like a seal in a wet suit,and has a serious fright of open water ,and all that lives in it.It was going to be a life changing challenge,to which is a rather funny story....On our course we did our first beach dive ..this was a great and exiting thin to be able to enter the water without being dragged in...when it was time to start to descend I was so anxious I was frozen stiff.Finally I got the nerve to go under a little way but realized I couldn't see the bottom so I crapped myself and swam like the wind straight to the surface(not aloud)It was almost the fastest swim in history,I had bolted straight to the surface in a split second.not a good sign for future dives...My heart was racing and I couldn't breath, panic was all I felt and was shivering in fear.But I was so angry with myself for not completing a simple decent that I had done in the pool a day before,What was so wrong with me,after a few agonizing minutes I give the OK and tried it all again.This time I succeeded.Wow what a rush.We made it to the bottom ,check that box off, I'm under the great green ocean ,now to manage to put all I have learn't into practice..This was one of the most amazing thing I have ever done.Of course except giving Birth to my three fab ferals(Phillip,Thomas and little Emily).
We swam around for about 30 minutes and saw so many fish and critters it was the coolest feeling that I was hooked.
Can I really do this?
Well the next day was our boat dive and we traveled to Brougton Island just north of Nelson Bay to dive with the Grey Nurse sharks,apart from crapping my pants on the boat drive out there it was the lovely'est day to be in the water,just a bit of a swell.
We geared up like all the other well experienced divers and the hole time all I could think of was that they are probably baby sharks no bigger than my arm..all fear started to leave me as I entered the water and swam over to the anchor line for our decent.We started to go down and about 4 or 5 meters I started to panic one again, couldn't see bottom ,couldn't see the bottom of boat ,and I was a long way from the bottom ,my heart rate went up and I couldn't breath,the next thing I realized I was breaching the surface like a whale..crap that was fast .I swam back to the boat and got out of the water,oh I was angry with myself frozen in fear and crying my eyes out,Why can't I do this I did it yesterday..Maybe it's the fright of the sharks or maybe it's something else,I just didn't get it at all.After all the divers came up and raved about how fantastic it was I was still so hurt that I didn't make it down there,
Something occurred to me after talking to the dive master, I'm rather scared of heights is that a problem ,Yer she stated you need a horizon to get your bearing's or feel safe,then why could I manage on the beach?Because the sand is you're security so we decided to try again just the master and me? But instead of going down by the anchor line we tried a line by the back if the boat and she held my hand and was in my face the hole way down..Yep you heard it the hole way down ..I made it...
We then swam over to a wall and tucked in beside it, and waited.Out of no where one of the most graceful but freaking scary giants swam by,my shock and fright told my to bolt but I was frozen solid and very curious of this big fish that had a mouth as big as my head.How majestic and beautiful she/he was,it just glided past me so gently in the big blue ocean as if I was not even there..I tell you If I was wearing pant's instead of my wet-suit I'd have probably pooped in my daces.But to my delight there were more of them ,this place is a nursery where they come to give birth and spend some time relaxing.It was the most captivating thing to me to see these creatures, that I'd grown up believing , they hunt you down to eat you ,were so close and not caring if we were swimming near them. It is the most unreal thing to face you're fears,And I think every time I enter the water I feel I've found the stair's to heaven...
This paradise can only be explained as such ,It's not like our land and it's peaceful and inviting,granted there are the big eater's of little fat seal's like me but I pray I don't ever come across one ..And every Dive is so exiting to go in search of new creachers to look at..I've found my heaven ...
1 comment:
Aaaaaand that's why I don't particularly like the beach!
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