Nearly In the Ocean

Guest Writer
David O Brown

When I was ten, I wanted to be a scuba diver. I am now 50 and finally I'm making that dream come true.
As soon as we got back to Kuwait, I went to a local hotel/resort and signed up for diving lessons. Anna and I spent two sessions in the classoom learning what to do. Then, we had 5 lessons in the swimming pool. This has been one of the coolest things I've done though at times it has been a bit sobering. When we were learning about nitrogen narcosis and the bends, it gave me pause that a person could die doing this.

In the pool we have learned how to get in and out of the water - it's a lot harder than it sounds. We learned how to take our masks off and on underwater. There was alot to learn - like the 5 ways to get to the surface. One of the biggest things to learn was to keep breathing. When you are underwater and hold your breath, your lungs have a tendency to collapse. This apparently is a bad thing.

This has also been fun as I'm also spending time with Anna. She's done well. She is much better at hovering than I am. -Hovering - using just the breath in and out staying at one level in the water. I kept bobing up and down.
Now all is left to do is two ocean dives and then it's off to Egypt at the end of September to dive in the Red Sea.

I knew I'd do it - I just didn't think it would take 40 years.