Scuba
One of the primary goals in going to Okinawa was to go diving. Apparently, the conditions are great there for diving, lots of reefs, clear water etc. In fact prior to the trip this was the only plan any of us (and by “us” i mean “danielle”) had made in regards to our trip.
Our first day consisted of what they called a beach dive. This consisted of us all getting a brief lesson about the equipment on shore then getting suited up. Then we walked out into shallow water up to our chests and practiced some of the skills we had been discussing. Then it was under the water out to the edge of the reef and down.
I am sure some of you trained and experienced divers are all horrified now. “This is not safe” some of you might say, “What would happen if you ran into trouble?” you might ask “you can’t know how to use the equipment.” Or, for in experienced divers, “Aren’t there things in the ocean that can eat you?” Well, danielle for one would agree with you on all accounts. At the edge of the reef, as we started our first real dive, danielle had a wee bit of a panic attack. This apparently is truly not safe, but the dive instructors handled it well. They had her up to the surface looking at the great big sky and breathing regularly in no time.
Meanwhile the rest of us, me angus and ella, had fun on our first of two dives. Limited to 30 minutes we didn’t get to cover a lot of ground, but we did get to see a sea snake, and lots of different fish. Very cool.
The next day we did a boat dive. Danielle, who could not dive, but only snorkel, served as photographer. The dive was again limited to 30 min and a certain depth. However, I had great fun. We got to see a couple of octopus eggs, and a lobster. The dive instructor also said he was impressed with us. Apparently the usually can’t go the full thirty minutes because people are breathing too shallow and too quick to make the tanks last. I certainly breathed very fast at the start, and had to keep telling myself to slow down. Anyway he urged us all to attempted getting certified, even danielle, although he recommended she take a three week course with several pool dives. (sales tactic? maybe… he may say this to all the tourists.)
The day on the boat was great fun, first the dive then about an hour of snorkeling.
Very cool! First time diving? I did something similar on a cruise recently which was my first dive of any kind. Probably didn’t see anything nearly more exotic or exciting than what the professionals get to see with their deep sea wrecks, though. But it was still a lot of fun and I felt a little like James Bond down there. And nice mask line, fun stuff isn’t it?
First time diving indeed. Although, I have been snorkeling numorous times. Scuba was very cool, and did feel pretty james bond-ish. However, I still feel much more free and happy snokeling. Pehaps that would change as I got more comfortable with the equiptment, or went some cooler places. At present I was very glad to try scuba, and I had a lot of fun. But, snokeling seems like almost as much fun, and loads less work.