I went scuba diving!

Ok so now you know what I did let me tell you the back story and the adventure.

When I was 16 years old I got certified to scuba dive. At the time I smoked cigarettes. Smoking gave me sinus infections that made diving nearly impossible. So I never pursued the sport. When our son, Kris,  was about 16 together we got certified. In Monterey Bay I kept getting seasick and disoriented. I didn’t get an explanation as to why. One day, diving with Kris off Lovers Point in Monterey Bay I got totally disoriented.  Kris saw that I was in trouble. He took me to the surface. My hero!!!!!!

After two significant attempts at scuba diving I gave up. And then I was walking down the very dusty street in Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia.  Labuan Bajo is a world-class diving area. All along the street there shops after shops selling diving experience of all sort. Walking along there is the sandwich board partially in the path.  I looked at it for at the most a second but the message grabbed me. It was about a fun dive not requiring experience. Initially I walked by it but I decided to go back. I asked Jules – the young man manning the shop-about it. He said it was basically a refresher course. Two dives and lots of training. I explained my story. He suggested a different program. One dive refresher then two exploring the reef dives. All under the guidance of an instructor.  I consulted with Missy and signed up. About $180. Everything included!!!

So Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn and at the dive shop at 7:00am. A few minutes later we were walking to the boat about 15 minutes away. Off go our sandals, feet in a tub of water to rinse them off. Coffee, juice, light breakfast in the front of the boat.

There were about 12 customers. Median age of about 40. I was the outlier at 65. No one came close. They were all wondering why I was there. They soon figured it out. They were all very nice and encouraging. We headed to the dive site.

All the guests were assigned a number and a diving guide. When my name came up I was surprised and pleased that not only was I in a group of one, me, I also had the dive master as my trainer and guide. His name is also Richard. Flores is a mainly Christian Island and western names very common. Soon after Richard met me on the top deck under the canopy and training began. Busing a flip chart over about 45 minutes we talked scuba safety and equipment. It was very thorough for a brief presentation.  At the end he went over the lessons we would practice on the sandy floor of the ocean, at about 15 meters (45 feet). How to clear your mask, how to put on your mask if it gets knocked off, how to recover your regulator if it gets knocked out of your mouth, how to establish a neutral buoyancy using the BCD.

It was time to start diving. Richard told me to go to position 7. By now I had my wet suit on (lighter weight of 3mm). I put on my weight belt. I sat in front of my tank and a boat assistant helped me put on my fins and tank. I put on my mask. We arrived at our dive location. As the only one for a refresher dive we were the only ones to get off.

Fix your mask, hold on to the weight belt, add some air to the BCD, hook on to the regulator and stand at the edge. Richard jumps in first. Then it’s my turn. I think, am I really doing this? I jump using a scissor motion with my legs. I’m in. The water is great. I’m floating. Too much air in my BCD. I have little control, release some air. Slowly I gain control. Yah!!! Richard motions to go down to the bottom. I start to but something doesn’t seem right. I have little control. I keep trying. Richard tapes my shoulder. Points down. I’m missing a fin. Duh! Back to the surface we go. Where is it?? We look and look with no luck. Richard calls over a small skiff from a different group to help. No luck as the current took it. 15-20 minutes pass, no luck. Call the main boat on the radio. No response.  Then about 100 meters away another skiff from another boat raises my fin. Yah!! Skiff #1 goes to retrieve it and come back without fin. Skiff #2 heads back to their main boat. What on earth is going on? Richard prepares to get into skiff #1 to go to the other boat when skiff #2 comes our way with an additional person on board who asks whose fin it is. I raise my foot. What boat are you on. Richard responds Manta Rhei. With that the fin is returned.  I asked what happened. No real response, so I didn’t pursue it.

With both fins tightly on my feet we headed to the bottom. I tried letting out all of the air in my BCD. I should sink. I floated. Richard added all the extra weight he had to my belt. Eventually I got to the bottom. WOW!!!! I’m on the bottom. I was able to equalize the pressure in my ears. Yah!! Went through the training drills just fine. Still having buoyancy issues but it’s ok. Too much air in BCD and you float up. Too little and you sink. With that we started the dive. Beautiful coral, brightly colored fish, big coral little coral.

I started with 200 bars of air. The idea is to start heading up at 50 bars. We dove around looking at all the creatures. Earlier I had given Richard my simple Fuji underwater camera. He took many of these pictures.

Link to all of my photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bOzZw4SrXSYOeD0A3

Time was up and we rose to the surface. Richard has a 2 meter balloon that alerts our boat to where we are. The boat came quickly. There is a blue rope to grab onto to help us get to the lader. Hey wait I lost the other fin but found it immediately. I handed both fins to the deck crew.  Richard helped me get off my weight belt. I went up the ladder with tank on. Sat at space 7. Assistant unbuckled me. I stood up. Dive #1, complete. Lots of adventure but all good.

In preparation for Dive #2 Richard and I met again. This time to review the dive plan we would go down to about 20 meters. Slowly zigzag back up the wall of the reef. The water was a bit cloudy but fine. Lots of sea life. Schools of fish small ones, large ones and a turtle. I breathe too deeply and use up my hours of air in 50 minutes. Back on the boat. Dive #2 complete.

Off came the wet suit. A wonderful lunch served.  Naps all around. Talked diving with others.

Richard and I met to see the dive plan for #3 dive. Basically to go down about 20 meters and let the current take us.  Now I had the camera. Wonderful sea life. Another turtle. Huge clams. A shark about 100 feet away. With the cloudy water you could make it out but not clearly. Dive #3. Complete.

About two and half hours of diving with no ill effects. What an experience!!!!!! On deck with snacks and time to reflect. What an amazing day. I really didn’t expect to do any dives but I wanted to try. In the end I did 3 dives with lots of glorious misadventures. Heading back to port on this slow-moving dive boat we had a fantastic sunset. About 11 hours from start to finish.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat, yes.  Will I try for certification? Probably not. In this magical environment diving is a joy.  I am so glad I was able to have small taste of it.