Monday, June 16, 2008
going down ...................................from P
It is a strange, unnatural feeling to breathe under water. It is also unexpectedly loud! When I was a kid and saw Jacques Cousteau on our black & white TV I thought he inhabited a silent underwater world. As it turns out, all those big bubbles make a lot of racket. But once you slip through the soft glassy barrier into that other world, and drop down just 8 or 10 feet the first time, all of your other senses are on full alert. I looked back up toward the more familiar side of the surface and really understood why divers get hooked on this sport. I was able to stand, walk (shuffle really), or suspend myself in perfect weightlessness. Even in this murky, unexciting lake I found myself hanging out with a few bluegill perch and a little bass. We were now "equals." Well, not really. I felt clumsy and inferior; definitely a stranger in their hood. When I surfaced I heard the dive instructor holler my name and wave me back over to my group where I was supposed to be practicing skills such as locating and clearing the regulator in an emergency, clearing the mask, etc. So I had to leave the peaceful, bubbly world to the perch and get back to learning how to do this without the help of the instructor soon. K and I have been wanted to learn to dive since our trip to the British Virgin Islands seven years ago, and now we are finally doing it. It is great to be learning this together. K is a natural. I have to work a little harder at the skills, but it is a hoot! I wonder if Jacques ever got excited looking at perch?
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1 comment:
Just wait till you get to the Caribbean...I don't know of any more incredible experience than staring at a sea turtle while he stares at you...glad you guys have "made the plunge" at last...we'll be diving together soon, I hope! K.
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