Day 4 - I hate my life

The next day was extremely exciting. We were supposed to go diving. Our first confined water dive (that means not deeper than something like 5m, in pool-like conditions) and our first open water dive. So we kitted up (I was already really fast) and went outside. Squeezing myself into the wetsuit was a disaster. I looked like an idiot, hopping around, trying to get this “outfit” on me. To tell you the truth, the wetsuit is quite comfortable when you get used to it. But I wasn’t then so it was extremely difficult and I had to ask Pete to help me. He gave me two strong shakes and I fell into place.

So we went down to the beach in all the scuba gear. It was extremely heavy. I was lucky because I don’t consume much air and I didn’t need a big tank (the standard is 12 liters), so I had one for 8 liters. The only catch was that it was steel and not aluminum. So it was quite heavy for me. Plus the weights (8 kilos in total), the BCD, and the hotness and humidity of the wetsuit and socks… The two-minute walk was living hell.

But after a few fall overs and nearly drowning...

So when we finally got into the water, it was a relief. Now we had to put our fins on. That was another challenge, one of the most difficult part of diving from the beach. But after a few fall overs and nearly drowning (the BCD was the only thing holding me at the surface), I got them on.

And we started the exercises. Pete told us to take our masks off and put the regulator in. we just had to breathe without a mask underwater. He made it sound like a piece of cake, but it wasn’t. But it was true what they said in the book: I will never forget my first breath underwater. It was great. But breathing without a mask was difficult, the water was flooding my nose and eyes and stuff. But I managed. After that came the “take out the regulator, put it back in and clear it” and “take the reg out, drop it, retrieve it, put it back in your mouth and clear it”. They were easy.

But then something happened. I couldn’t equalize my ears. I felt a terrible squeeze and my ears started hurting. So I had to gat out of the water, go to the doctor and he told me I had an “acute case of otitic barotraumas”. That meant no diving for two days.