They say you'll never forget your 1st time! Mine was in St. Thomas.
Ok, so my first scuba dive ever was actually at Scuba 2000 about a month earlier. That in itself had been a totally amazing experience, but to be completely honest it was also very disappointing. Nothing against Scuba 2000, as I would recommend them to anyone who wants to try diving!!!! but because after only about 30 seconds under the water in their pool I knew that I loved scuba diving and I just wanted to get out and explore the real water!!!
Ok, so my first scuba dive ever was actually at Scuba 2000 about a month earlier. That in itself had been a totally amazing experience, but to be completely honest it was also very disappointing. Nothing against Scuba 2000, as I would recommend them to anyone who wants to try diving!!!! but because after only about 30 seconds under the water in their pool I knew that I loved scuba diving and I just wanted to get out and explore the real water!!!
Tasha and I were on our big 06-07 New Years Eastern Caribbean Cruise and while in St. Thomas I decided to do a PADI Discovery dive. It wasn't Tasha's thing, but she agreed to come along for support & the beach time :o) I'd always wanted to scuba dive, but for some reason had never actually done it. Above is the 1st underwater photo that I took on that Dive. :o) I think that my parents may have given me that disposable underwater camera for Christmas that year. I am so thankful that I had it and that I have the photos from my 1st open water dive ever! (fyi, if you click on a photo, it will bring it up bigger)
Once our ship docked in St. Thomas we were escorted onto a modified school bus and during the 20 minute or so drive to the beach a woman stood at the front of the bus and attempted to reviewed with us the general principals of diving. I say she attempted as if I remember correctly the bus was traveling about 80km/hr through very windy roads while dodging what I think were goats.... I do remember learning a few hand signals & how to clear my snorkel..... ya..... in hindsight I don't think we were really appropriately prepared, but let's move forward... Once at the beach we had some time to snorkel & lay in the sun. I believe that Tasha chose to lie in the sun and I chose to be about 20 feet from shore hand feeding the fish doggie biscuits. (we were given the doggie biscuits for that purpose)
Once it came time for my groups dive, our gear was strapped on us and away we went. It was easy, it was perfect, just like I'd done it a million times before! It was just like I had dreamed! If I remember correctly we were a dive group of four. A father daughter duo, our Dive Master and I. We followed the shore line down for a little while, and I think if I had to guess, I'd say that we maybe got to about 20 - 25 ft (6-8 m) deep, although I really had no frame of reference at that time, (and I certainly didn't know how to ready any of my gauges, if there were any) so it may have been much less. There were lots of little colourful fishes to look at, and our Dive Master even got a photo of me holding a spider crab. It was a perfect 1st dive!
Tasha and I returned home from our amazing and crazy trip later that week only to find out that 2007 was about to really begin! The year that began almost perfectly while drifting somewhere in the Eastern Caribbean sea turned into what seemed like the perfect storm. The memorable year involved pregnancies, weddings, condo buying, house selling, broken ankles, failing kidneys, ICUs, a much needed trip to Disney World (yea Mickey) and wayyy too much other bullshit that's just not worth mentioning. Needless to say my opportunity to become a certified diver would have to wait until a weekend in February 2008.
