If you follow me on twitter then you may have seen me post about my scuba classes last week... Although I was apprehensive to give scuba a try, I did and it was fun! Until Saturday....
All last week, Scott and I took scuba classes in preparation for our honeymoon to Honduras in April. I was nervous, excited, and ready to learn. Heck, I've never had any real issues with water so I was like why not.
Let me recap my training.
Monday: Class. Going over chapter reviews.
Tuesday: Pool. Practicing tasks like flooding mask and clearing it, taking regulators out and putting them back in, sharing air with buddy, etc.
Wednesday: Pool. More of what we did Tuesday plus practicing emergency ascent without mask, pretending like we were out of air(in the deep end), sharing air, etc.
Thursday: Class. Took our final exam.
I did all of these things with ease. I scored a 96 on the exam and felt really comfortable with the underwater tasks.
Saturday rolled around and that meant it was time to test our skills in the open water.
What could go wrong, I thought to myself... Welp, a lot.
We arrived at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, Texas. We were using the quarry at the ranch for our test. It's relatively more clear than the lake and we wouldn't have to hike a mile to get in the water.
Lake Travis.
Oh and I almost forgot. The water was
54 degrees... That's 14 degrees colder than Barton Springs, for those of your familiar. Basically
effing cold!
We wedged ourselves into wetsuits, hood, gloves and boots and jumped in. I'd say there was at least 40 extra pounds strapped to me. I was already feeling a bit claustrophobic with all the extra gear, but nonetheless, survived the first descent, less a nose bleed.
Next up, our second descent. This time we were to descend to the platform, and do some of the tasks preformed in the pool earlier that week. We were told to flood our masks half way, and all the way. These weren't difficult for me. Next we had to take our regulators out and put them back in(all while being underwater 25 ft!!!!). This is where I had a problem. I take the regulator out, go to put it back in, and my mouth doesn't completely seal over it.
I breath in gulps of water and my mask starts to flood. Cue freak out mode.
You can only imagine how I must be feeling. Of course I panic and immediately start to swim to the top, instructor by my side. He's feeding me air bubbles at this point as I'm fleeing upward, trying to breath out the whole way up (at least I remembered that part. You can cause your body a lot of harm when you hold your breath and ascend to the surface.) But of course on the way up I'm trying to get little snip-its of air but I just keep sucking in water. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. I'm tearing up as I write this because I was so frightened!!! :(
Talk about living out a worst nightmare...
I got out shortly after that and just felt like a complete failure. Everyone else had completed all the tasks, and stayed in while I had to get out and sit by myself and warm up.
I guess scuba isn't for everyone
especially me! I was really sad afterwards because I felt like I let a lot of people down that were counting on me.(Scott, instructor, other classmates). But in the end, I needed to do what I needed to do, and that was whatever made me feel comfortable. I wasn't comfortable scuba diving. My ears hurt, I had a major scare, three bloody noses, uncomfortable attire, etc. Sadly, it's just not for me.
I think I'll stick to snorkeling...
And to end on a good note...
A funny looking picture of Scott!
I'm very proud that he powered through all of the training and was able to get certified!
Maybe this isn't the end of my scuba experience, but for now, I'll say it is.
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| That's a fake smile. |
