A New Diver

As some of you may know, I recently got scuba certified. Last year I had the chance to do so, but foolishly decided not to. This year I did not make the same mistake, and even before we arrived here in Puerto Rico, I expressed my desire to get certified. Mom got re-certified last year, and she had a great time so I decided to get my certification through the same place, Aquatica dive shop in Aquadilia. I had an amazing time doing this, and saw many really cool things on my dives, so I thought that it would make for a great post.

The absolute first “dive” I went on was not very amazing. It was a confined water dive, so I didn’t really see anything, and even if it was just a normal dive, the water was so stirred up we wouldn’t have seen anything anyway. The second time I went out was much different. We went out at the same beach, which is called Crash Boat, and which was much more clear. The first hour or so was spent just practicing skills such as replacing a mask underwater and helping a buddy who is out of air, but then once we (the instructor, another student, and me) finished, we went on an actual sightseeing dive and saw lots of cool stuff. We saw a huge nurse shark laying underneath some rubble. On the opposite side of that same piece of debris, we spotted an octopus hanging out right in the open. After a short break to rest and get new air tanks we hopped right back in. We swam a little more and spotted a turtle, and just a few minutes later Damien (the instructor ) pointed out a seahorse!

The second day of proper diving was just as fun. It started off the same, practice of skills, some review some new. After that is when the fun really started. We drove down to crash boat and saw many of the same things as last time. No sharks, but we did see an octopus, turtles, a lobster and even an eel. My favorite was the eel. It was a very young moray eel, less than a foot long. Once we finished up there we packed up and drove to a second dive site called El Natural. The big reason we went there was so we could dive super deep, we got all the way down to 71 feet. There were fish everywhere, and I saw another eel, although nobody else did.

I now love diving, and I can’t wait for the next time I have a chance to do so. It is a real thrill to breath under water and I am so glad I realized my previous folly in not getting certified. I am also excited to see more of the underwater here in Puerto Rico, and in other places like New Zealand!