Rewind to the summer of 2009, my 21st birthday was coming up fast and I knew I wanted to do something amazing. Instead of presents I wouldn’t remember in 6 months’ time I asked my loved ones for money towards learning how to scuba dive.
This came as a surprise for pretty much everyone as I had never been a huge fan of swimming or even going in the water! I hated swimming lessons at school and always found a way to get out of them. I didn’t properly learn how to swim until I was 12 when I realised, I didn’t want to be that kid that still wears armbands anymore!
Lewis has always been a great swimmer and a real water baby, he would live in the water if he could. He had always wanted to learn to dive so I thought it would be a good idea to learn to dive together and try and get over my fear of the water.
We went on holiday with my parents to Tenerife for a fortnight and signed up for the Padi open water course. This is where our obsession with Tenerife started and our eventual plans to move to an island!
Starting The Course
We chose a dive centre that was near to our hotel and on the first day of the course we met our instructor Adrian. He was fantastic and once we began he soon realised that most of my fears of being in the water came from having water in my nose which made me feel like I couldn’t breathe. This was a problem especially when I smiled underwater with my mask on it filled up with water, obviously this caused water-in-nose-panic.
Adrian didn’t give up on me though, instead he found me a smaller mask with bigger grooves around the nose and soon I was learning how to clear the water from my mask and even remove my mask underwater and take my regulator out without panicking!
Lewis on the other hand took to diving like a fish to water and after a few days we had completed all the skills in the pool sessions and we were ready to go into the big blue!
First Open Water Diving Experience
We arrived at the dive centre bright and early and packed up our kit ready for the dive. We did out pre-dive checks like we had learnt, then we set off on the boat. The dive site we went to was called Palm Mar and after a short dive brief and everyone started kitting up ready to get in the water.
But I felt sea sick…I hung onto the side of the boat as everyone got in, up and down I went. The boat handler convinced me that if I got in the water I would feel less sick so I got in. And promptly held tight to the anchor line which only made the bobbing and rocking worse.
Everyone else had made their decent and were hovering on the ocean floor waiting for me. I felt like such an idiot. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! I don’t even like the sea!
Adrian came back up to see what was wrong and I told him I was scared and felt sick. He was so patient with me and said he would stay and help me descend. So, I hung onto Adrian’s hand and I finally let go of the anchor line and let the air out of my BCD.
My head went under the surface and my breath caught in my chest. Adrian signalled to me ‘OK’ I replied ‘OK’ he was reminding me to breathe normally and relax. A few nervous breaths later and I hit the floor. I’d made it to the bottom of the ocean! Well, 6 meters down anyway but still!
I saw a parrot fish then another, I started noticing the life around me and I began to relax. Then I saw some trumpet fish and smiled-cue water in mask, no problem I got this! I cleared my mask just like I had learnt in the pool.
Part of the training was to demonstrate the skills we had learnt in the pool but in the sea. One by one the rest of the group were removing their masks, taking out their regulators and demonstrating their buoyancy control. Then it was my turn, I started doing the skills and I surprised myself I was actually enjoying being under water! We did the skills then pottered around in the bay watching the fish and practicing the skills some more. When the dive ended, I was sad, but I had conquered my fear and after my eventful first scuba diving experience I was hooked!
No Stopping Me Now
Over 100 dives and several underwater qualifications later, people are now surprised to hear that I used to be scared of the water and that I didn’t learn to swim until I was 12! We have been diving in many countries since then and clocked up lots of dive time. We even got engaged whilst diving in Tenerife of course!
I’m so glad I conquered my fear and I get to experience a whole other world when we visit new places. I can’t imagine not being able to dive nowadays… snorkelling on the other hand I’m still not keen on!
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What did you think of my first scuba diving experience? Have you ever tried something new when travelling even though it terrified you? Let me know in the comments!
