Scuba Dive

“My very first dive will always be in my memory — the very first time I was able to become a part of the underwater world. [...] On that day of my first dive, the thing that struck me most was that I could actually breathe underwater. I took a deep breath in, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I could see the surface was a good fifteen feet above me, but I was breathing. I floated above the sea bottom and just breathed. I beheld the world around me, as I descended into the blue. Everything was behind me now, as if in another life. I couldn’t hear anything but my own inhales, and those were very quiet, although Darth-Vader reminiscent. When I exhaled, I could hear absolutely nothing else. I now understand why the ocean is sometimes called the ‘Silent World.’”

“And people who really wanna be with themselves alone and the quietest possible place on this earth is Yes its underwater deep down inside the Sea. It is indeed so peaceful down there. So quiet. All I could hear was only my breath… breathing in.. breathing out..and my heart beat ,while enjoying the “green world” and its inhabitants around me.. and proud that even after being a non swimmer I made it..”

“The next day was my first real dive in the open sea, and I was freaking out. [...] The first dive was... okay. I struggled with equalizing my ears (which hurt like hell and this is something you should not overlook and get out of the water asapa), but overall, I lived. Then came the second dive. Let me set the scene: I was at the bottom of the sea, about 15 meters deep, about to do one of the most important scuba diving exercises—removing and clearing my mask underwater. [...] I took my mask off, super easy. And then… I accidentally inhaled a litter of bloody seawater through my nose as one does clearly. Let me tell you, swallowing water underwater is one of the worst things that can happen to you [...] My brain went into full-blown panic mode. I was choking, my heart was racing, and I was convinced this was it.”

“My first scuba diving experience turned out to be the most terrifying experience of my life!!! I was overwhelmed by the theory modules even before I reached Goa; just reading ‘buoyancy’ and ‘air pressure’ took me back to my maths and physics exams in school and made me nauseous. Further, I wasn’t expecting to be tested on skills like mask and regulator clearing, wearing and removing one’s Buoyancy Control Device under water, emergency actions in case of no oxygen, and so on- in the deep sea! All I had imagined was playing with fishes… It also didn’t help that the underwater visibility in Goa was quite poor (between 2–5 meters), leaving me overwhelmed, scared and wondering how I got myself there!”

“First dive, 8 meters depth. Tried hard not to panic. “What the hell am I doing?”, I said to myself. What if something bad happened?” My friends encouraged me to do it. It was a do or die situation for me. But I kept a positive thought: “It’s gonna be a wonderful I experience. Just do it now once!” Then I sink myself and went down… deeper.. and deeper.. I could feel my heart beats fast and my ears hurt as I went deeper.”

“Along with the instructor and my family we began to descend compensating ears as we showed down to the sand, 10 meters deep, I felt I was in another world.. When we touch the sand, I turned up and realized how amazing it was to be in that place at that momento, nothing else mattered. I was so lost that could have been hours swimming and sailing across the ocean. We found a huge number of exotic fish of various sizes and all colors! Corals, beta fish, clown, barracuda, jellyfish, starfish and huge reefs with different fish inside, just like in the movie Nemo. Also turtle slowly sailing towards the sea surface, they were beautiful!”