My husband lives by these words . . . “Do something that scares you every day.” Sing in public, enter a bicycle race, or wrestle with a cougar ~ that sort of thing. (No snide comments about me being a cougar.)
I totally disagree with his philosophy. My words to live by are more along the lines of, “Why do something that scares you every day when you could be drinking a perfectly good glass of wine.”
Well, yesterday, I did something completely outside of my comfort zone.
I went scuba diving.
I am a firm believer in not scuba diving. Why? I hold these truths to be self-evident.
- If God wanted us to breath under water, he wouldn’t have evolved our lungs into gills. (Are you allowed to mix creationism and evolution in the same sentence?)
- (Cue the music from Jaws.) A blockbuster movie star lives in the ocean and he was capable of eating Robert Shaw and turning Mr. Shaw’s fishing boat into splinters. Mr. Great W. Shark then used one of the splinters as a toothpick.
- A bevy of creepy things live in the ocean and their sole purpose on this planet is to sting, bite, or generally smother humans.
- Why swim with the fishes when you could be reading a book?
I could go on, but you get the gist.
So why, you ask, did I go scuba diving? I asked myself the same question.
My husband and I are soon taking a much-needed break from the dreary 70 degree weather we have been having in California and are going to a resort on an atoll off the coast of Belize.
My idea of a fun time in Belize is lollygagging in a hammock on the bungalow’s veranda with a cold beverage in one hand and a good book in the other. My husband’s idea of fun is being eaten alive by a creature of the deep. It is a wonder we ever thought we were compatible enough for marriage.
My husband said, “We are going to a scuba diving mecca, so don’t you think we should scuba dive?” My first response was, “Hell, no.” That was the same response the second through one-millionth time he asked. But like Chinese water torture, he wore me down and we took an introduction to scuba class yesterday. (Side note here. He is a certified diver but went to the class with me for moral support and in case I needed CPR.)
The only reason I relented, in addition to the whole water torture thing, was I knew there isn’t enough time for me to get certified before we leave for our trip.
About half of the 3-hour class was taken up with strapping 500 pounds of scuba equipment on our backs. Call me crazy, but it seems counterintuitive to weigh yourself down before going into the deep end.
The indoor pool was 92 degrees and the consistency of used bath water. Smart girl that I am, before I dipped one toe into the pool, I checked for sharks in case the teacher wanted to give us a true feel for the scuba experience.
We started in the shallow end of the pool, which is an excellent place to not drown. We practiced various maneuvers designed to keep you alive underwater. I was all ears for that.
Once we mastered breathing underwater through the regulator (the mouthpiece thingy where you get your oxygen, that life-extending essential), filling our masks with water and clearing it out, and removing and replacing our regulators, the class set out to the deep end. I set out to the medium end and hung near the ladder.
When the panic subsided, I discovered one very important thing. The bottom of a swimming pool is pretty boring. I think that is an evil trick of the dive school. They want you to sign up for more classes so you can learn to dive where the landscape is covered with creepy things that want to sting, bite, and generally smother you.
I’ll be waving to my husband from the veranda, once I set down my cold beverage, that is.
Robin Coyle 
I’m with you…I’m always wary of the creatures that live in the ocean and can’t be seen until it’s too late. Well done on having a go though.
I’ve always wanted to try scuba diving! Good on you for trying something you’re afraid of, and I still think you should try to go out where the creepy things are; it might be more fun than you imagine!
Sorry I’m late in reply. During the week prior, I thought about you as I turned green on the boat, acquired a splitting headache in the middle of every dive, and cursed you that you got out of it. 🙂 However, it did give me a small thrill to have the photos I came back with… When I’ve finished for the day, I will head to your veranda for a end of day drink…
Well done for doing something scary. Scuba-diving is one of those things i’ve always wanted to try. Never seemed to have the chance. Kudos 🙂
Haha, well… Good on you for trying. I tried scuba diving last year and convinced my usually un-adventurous husband to try it too. Guess what, I chickened out after one dive, whereas he absolutely LOVED it!
That is funny. Did he continue on the with classes and get certificate?
We didn’t have enough time on that trip but he wants to go back to get the certification!
Well done for trying it!
And I’m with you re the whole being a sane person and staying above ground thing.
I’m all for being safe and sane.
Kudos to you on breaking out of the comfort zone. 🙂 My brother and his wife are HUGE dive fanatics, taking at least two trips a year to a scuba-diving mecca. I prefer to keep my ocean visits to the shoreline, maybe letting the waves lap my feet.
Have a great time in Belize!
If you take up the sport, it requires a huge investment in the equipment. Maybe they do all that diving to get their money’s worth out of it!
There will be waves lapping at my feet in Belize. You can count on it!
First congratulations for doing something outside your comfort zone.
I have many family members who dive, in water and out of planes. I personally think they are crazy. I am with you give me the veranda and a great glass of wine, or even a good glass of wine.
I think sky diving would be way more scary than scuba diving. Way more.
I am looking forward to veranda time!
It looks like it was an amazing experience!
Frankly, it was a lot of work and the reward was looking at the plaster on the bottom of the pool!
Congratulations for doing something out of your comfort zone! Years ago I worked for a scuba diving manufacturer and half the people there told me diving was awesome, while the other half told me it was crazy dangerous and not to bother. I didn’t bother, mostly because I have enough inner ear and balance problems, I don’t need to make things worse. But I also won’t jump out of an airplane, or do some crazy stuff like that, especially with two little kids who rely on me to me around for many years. I did something really scary though this week. I finished two picture book manuscripts and sent one of them along with my query letter to an agent. First time ever, and now I have to rinse and repeat. Aaaaaahhhhh…..
Wow! Good for you! I am very impressed. You will keep us posted, won’t you?
Haha, trust me, if an agent was interested in representing me, I’d be announcing it from one end of the blogosphere to the other. Heck, you may even hear me all the way from San Diego! I have another manuscript with the same characters completed and I need to work on the third one. I’d love an agent to be interested in all three since they go well together. Fingers crossed!
And my fingers are crossed for you as well! Tell me about your picture books.
Two funny guys, one more serious, the other more goofy. The first book shows how they become friends (it’s a funny story), the second is an interactive book that shows them play jokes on each other, and the third one is a sweet story about Christmas Eve and what good friends they are. That one is a little harder to put together so I’m going to have try a lot of different things to make it work well. I want it to be funny and cute.
Knowing you . . . it will be funny and cute! Are you the artist as well as writer?
I’d love to illustrate these books because I have an interesting idea of what they could look like. But I understand it’s up to the publisher to decides who illustrates. I think I’d be happy just knowing my books are picked for publication, but illustrating them would be the icing on the cake.
Diving is a gas. I haven’t done it for many years, but loved it. BTW nice nails! 🙂
Thank you. I just had them done!
Fantastic (I mean both the scuba diving and the wine), but I don’t buy the “do something every day that scares you” mantra.
To do something every day that challenges you on the other hand…
I am a firm believer of “do something that challenges you every day” too. Preferably from the safety of my sofa.
Congratulations on doing a fearful aactivity. May I suggest, perhaps, that you rent a snorkel, mask and fins and putter around just off the beach at the resort. There, you can stand easily, you will almost never see scary sea creatures, because the resort keeps the swimming area clear, and you can be back on the beach in seconds. At a resort in Mexico, I followed this advice, and ended up watching a little fish digging a hole by mouthfuls and spitting big round sand balls like a fence around the entrance. A lot of fun, and no strain at all. Have a lovely vacation in Belize!
I think I will do some snorkeling. I understand that there is very little surf where we are staying so I don’t have to worry about a rip tide or undertow, two of my other fears about the ocean.
After I read your post, I dug out my photos from Tulum, Mexico, and found the little fish. I’m going to look for someone to scan it for me. It’s not well-focused, but I can see his big mouth and his bug eyes. Adorable! You will have fun, I know.
I’d love to see it! Fish do the craziest things.
They certainly do!
Hey, I give you credit. I wouldn’t have even gotten that far. I feel the same as you about the deep, slimy ocean waters. However, once on a trip to Cancun, I relented to a snorkeling expedition where they took us on a 45 minuted jet ski ride out into the middle of nowhere to a reef. Aside from the horrible bouncy ride that made me feel like I’d been riding a horse for three days straight, and also a bathroom debacle (a story for another time), I loved the actual snorkeling part. I was very proud of myself for doing it too, because fear usually stopped me.
Belize sounds wonderful. Enjoy the trip and have an umbrella drink for me.
45 minute jet ski ride? Wow. I bet you were sore!
I will be perfectly content with snorkeling as long as I want wear those floaty things on my arm like toddlers wear.
Yes, I would have the same concerns as you. I’m not one for deep water, I like going in the sea, but only as deep as I can touch, and preferably only in clear water where I can see what’s underneath. I too would probably have eventually let myself get persuaded to try it in the relative safety of the pool though! I can totally understand why people like to go scuba diving, and I hope they can totally understand why I’d rather join you on the veranda with a glass of something lovely!
I tried to think of a way to work in your octopus post but it didn’t work. Given your love and concern for the poor guy in the too small tank, I had you pegged for a creepy ocean creature lover and spent all your free time communing with them under the sea.
Well I would be one of those if I wasn’t such a scaredy-cat.
My husband is a scuba diver and I do not understand a sport that takes half a day to get ready for–finding all the gear, putting all the gear on, being in the water for 20 minutes, taking all the gear off–and what really crowned it is when he bought a pony bottle after his tanks gave out once and he had no air–great sport!
My feelings exactly. Oh, and the expense of the sport. We wandered around the dive shop before the class began and I was shocked at how expensive the equipment is. Since your life depends on the equipment, I’d say it is a good investment if you are crazy enough to fling yourself into the deep end.
I’ve done quite a bit of snorkeling at various places around the globe, that’s as deep as I’d like to get. I think the veranda with a drink and a book sounds much more attractive. Have fun in Belize. It’s much better than the pool.
I’ll do a little snorkeling and do a LOT of reading. I should have asked for book recommendations in this post. Darn it.
I’d recommend Dan Chaon’s book of short stories called “Stay Awake.” “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” is a good beach read.
I read Where’d You Go, Bernadette and loved it. I laughed out loud many times and I love it when a book can make me to that. I am not generally a short story reader, but after reading the reviews of Stay Awake, I ordered it! Wow. Rave reviews. Thanks for the suggestions!
I would trade places with you in a heartbeat! Never taken diving classes but as a kid, my hero was Jacques Couteau…I love all those icky things that swim under the water! 🙂 🙂
I loved the Jacques Cousteau shows. And Flipper. And Sea Hunt. But I could look at icky sea creatures from the safety of my sofa. How about you dive with my husband. I’ll chill the cocktails and wait for your return. If you aren’t eaten by a shark. More cocktails for me then!
By the time I’m done, I’m sure I will need a drink! 😉 I certainly don’t plan on being shark bait..
I loved Flipper too. When we were kids we used to tie weights on hoola hoops and drop them in the pool and then we would pretend we were dolphins swimming through the hoops. I think there was a little Sea World and Marine Land influence in there too.
And when I was teaching, I always made the kids play sharks and dolphins when we went swimming. 🙂 Oh… and I was the shark.! 🙂 🙂
I didn’t know you were a teacher. What grade? Or do you mean swimming teacher?
I taught K-3rd, primarily 3rd in a Bay Area private school which I helped start. I’ve been retired for almost 10 years. Third grade is my favorite. The kids are old enough to have quite meaningful and thoughtful conversations, they understand the concept of reason, still enjoy helping and most of all…haven’t hit puberty. 🙂 I taught all subjects, we had weekly field trips and I even drove the bus!
I am VERY impressed!
I’m not sure chicken-hearted me diving in 92 degree water in the safety of a pool is impressive, but I’ll take it!
Haha!
I’m with you! I’ve never scuba dived and have no desire to!
Then you can join me on the veranda for an adult beverage. Or two. Or three. Heck . . . let’s make it an even half-dozen.
Requesting a chair on the veranda, too. (Texting abilities are rather slow – but the pace of life there is more relaxed anyway?)
I can snorkel, but putting on all that stuff, jumping off a boat and breathing underwater and letting the boat get out of sight…and constantly worrying about getting left behind accidentally (shiver)
Sounds like a party at the Coyle veranda is brewing. I’m so exciting you are all coming along with us! Pack light. The weather is tropical (duh) and we don’t have a lot of space in our bungalow . . . think Gillian’s Isle. Are you Ginger or Mary Ann?
I’ve tried snorkeling … and I’m not even sure you can call what I’ve done snorkeling … but I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough to try scuba diving! The snorkeling thing I did once in the ocean in Key West on a romantic sunset cruise. After a few minutes in the water I spent the rest of the cruise trying not to throw up! I tried to be a good sport and took pictures with the beautiful sunset as our backdrop. I blame my green tint on the camera 😉
The other two times I did it in warm (and still) Caribbean water shallow enough to stand on and saw plenty of pretty fish and a turtle. That was good enough for me. I only skimmed the surface and never tried going all the way under the water. Still, sometimes I’d remember I was breathing under water and I’d panic. Lucky I was able to just stand up. Silly me, I know!
Romantic sunset cruise and green around the gills doesn’t go well together.
I have done some snorkeling and am fine if there isn’t any wave surge. If there is the slightest wave surge, I panic and am sure a rip tide is about to give me a free trip to Japan. Or an undertow is going to put me in Davy’s Locker. I feel much safer on the shore looking at a book with pictures of the fish I could be looking at if I was brave enough to go in the water.
Brave, adventure girl. Very impressive
Not brave. Batty, but not brave.
Brave and a very good wife.
If I was a good wife, I’d be a certified scuba diver by now and not simply making cocktail on the veranda.
At least you didn’t have Steven Tyler as a “breathing buddy” like David did when he took his certification! Proud of you, girlfriend.
Steven Tyler likes to scuba dive? Doesn’t that mess up his hair and make-up?
All I could imagine was that big set of lips on the same breathing thingy as David’s! It was a long time ago when David lived in San Diego, after Aerosmith’s heyday but before American Idol. You’ll have to ask David to tell you the story one of these days.
I will ask him the story. I have to say, I have a hard time picturing David in a wetsuit.
You are brave with a capital B. What would take my breath away would be strapping on 300 pounds of equipment and stuffing a hose in my mouth. I’d sink like a stone. Ha ha.
I can come along to keep you and Carrie company while you wait for your hubby return from the sea, I’ll bring extra refreshments. 🙂
Of course you can come along! The more the merrier, especially when they arrive with cocktails. I’ll whip up some appetizers. As Andy Warhol said, “Two’s company, three’s a party!”
Party! Won’t take me long to pack. 😀
WOWOWOWOWWOWOWOWOWOWWO!!!!!!!!!! nevermind doing it for the dare and adrenaline, the photo is amazing!
Thank goodness it was in about 5 feet of water. Otherwise, my adrenaline would have made my head explode.
Oh, good to know. I’m a tiny 5.3 and 1/2 and would have just managed to pretend I was taking the largest bath of my life! Now, talking about introverts (ha! like how I sneaked that one in?) please don’t think of me as rude but I just have to force myself to switch this machine off and go to sleep. The UK timezone is sooo unfair. I feel like I’m missing out on all the fun when US bloggers have a bit of a chat and a banter and I’ve passed my bed time hours ago!!! Can you stop being selfish and start blogging at your 3 am next time? he he he
I’ll set my alarm for 3 am and we can chat my night and and your morning away! I don’t mind accommodating my English friends at all. I may not be coherent, but that way you will have the upper edge in the conversation.
Oh no, please don’t! It would be cruel!!!!! Sleeping is important for creativity! The famous beauty sleep is not for faces but books, everybody knows that. On second thoughts, what was that about me sounding coherent? It could be my chance!
You are so brave! I would have a panic attack for sure. I hate sea creeps. Now, that pubic singing, I might give that a try. 😉
That is the most embarrassing typo I’ve ever made! I fixed the post, but pubic is in in-boxes around the world. I may die now.
No, don’t die; it tickled my funny bone. Please see Dianne Gray’s apology post. She still has you beat by a mile. 😉
http://diannegray.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/apologies-to-those-i-have-offended/
I did see that post and loved it. I cringe to think how many comment typos I’ve left in my wake.
I have a friend in public relations and he told me that he spell checks every document for the word pubic. It is a PR guy’s worst nightmare and easiest typo in the world to make.
LOL! Nice pick-up Maddie 😀 I think a ‘pubic apology’ post is needed 😉
Grrrr . . . Is there a rock I can crawl under? Maybe one under the ocean next to a killer whale and all his friends?
LOL! You both brought a big smile to my face. The best type of blogging! 🙂
I absolutely love being down there with the fishes (no – not in the gangster sense). I’ve been diving on the Great Barrier Reef and my favorite part is going to the edge of the shelf and over the cliff to see the ocean floor drop away into darkness. It takes your breath away! 😀
Having my breath taken away while under water is not my idea of fun. I am not an adventure kind of gal.
It’s like jumping off a cliff, only you float over it – very surreal 😉
I’m not a fan of jumping off cliffs either.
Did you see Maddie’s comment with a link to your Apology post? I had a horrible typo in this post . . . I fixed it, but do you have a place where I can curl up and die?
I haven’t seen it yet – I’ll take a look now. You can curl up and die under my writing table because it’s completely set up for incidents like this 😉
Her comment stream is the one directly above you.
Now why didn’t I think of setting up a place under my writing table for dying of embarrassment?
Saw it – and yes, it’s also in my email. Oh dear! I love it 😀 Have tears in my eyes now because I can’t stop laughing xxx
Oh fine. Point it out for all the world to see.
Wow! I’m impressed! I’d never be that brave. I think it’s more the creepy underwater things that get me, not so much the breathing thing (though I might change my tune once I was in the thick of it). On the other hand, I am very, very jealous. Belize? Oh man, even as an introvert, I’m tempted to invite myself along. 😉
Come along! We can hang out on the veranda together, send each other text messages, and not make eye contact. (People reading this comment will have no idea what I am talking about unless they read your blog post today!)
Well, all the more reason for them to read it then. 😉