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indigo_rose99I have had good birthdays, ignored birthdays, tired birthdays and birthdays without celebration. This was an adventurous birthday.
As an early gift a few weeks back, T ambushed me by taking me to a dive shop. With the aid of an amused employee, I reluctantly chose a scuba mask and T picked out a super fancy snorkel. It did everything but breathe for me. A few days later we took them to a friend's hot tub and T convinced me that I could breathe through it while keeping my face in water.
But let me go farther back. I have a fear of water. My early swimming lessons left me with a clear memory of the feeling of drowning and a deep abhorrence of the smell of chlorine. I can swim to the point of getting to another side of a pool if necessary, but no one will ever call my strokes "proper." I do NOT put my head in the water. Up until the hot tub with T, it had probably been more than 20 years since I allowed my ears to get wet outside of a shower.
I tell you this so you will understand how traumatic it was to try to put my head in the water to watch the stingrays in Grand Cayman. I could barely stand in the sand our guides claimed "Everyone can easily stand" up in. Tall people. *sour look*
So I'm bouncing off the bottom to reach air, the waves keep trying to go over my head and I'm trying to keep from stepping on a stingray. They get cranky about being stepped on, you know. I had the mask & snorkel on. I have one word to describe my first 5 minutes snorkeling: Hyperventilate!
It took a while to convince my subconscious that I could breathe with my head in the water, but I did it. The experience turned kind of peaceful after that.
I was later very grateful I could reach the bottom on that first stop, because it never happened again. We snorkeled for two days on different cruise stops, three snorkel stops each day. That last stop was in water 40-45 feet deep. I snorkeled through the bubbles of divers below me.
In an exciting turn of events, my fancy snorkel stopped allowing me to inhale 40 feet from the boat on that last stop. Remember how tired I was, after a full day? 40 feet deep. With hefty waves. *sigh* T and I cannot figure out what happened. Stupid thing seemed to work fine when we got back on the boat!
T is thrilled. I actually enjoyed the whole experience and would be willing to do it again. Since I am opposed to pretty much all risk-taking outside of food, he counts this as a great accomplishment.
As an early gift a few weeks back, T ambushed me by taking me to a dive shop. With the aid of an amused employee, I reluctantly chose a scuba mask and T picked out a super fancy snorkel. It did everything but breathe for me. A few days later we took them to a friend's hot tub and T convinced me that I could breathe through it while keeping my face in water.
But let me go farther back. I have a fear of water. My early swimming lessons left me with a clear memory of the feeling of drowning and a deep abhorrence of the smell of chlorine. I can swim to the point of getting to another side of a pool if necessary, but no one will ever call my strokes "proper." I do NOT put my head in the water. Up until the hot tub with T, it had probably been more than 20 years since I allowed my ears to get wet outside of a shower.
I tell you this so you will understand how traumatic it was to try to put my head in the water to watch the stingrays in Grand Cayman. I could barely stand in the sand our guides claimed "Everyone can easily stand" up in. Tall people. *sour look*
So I'm bouncing off the bottom to reach air, the waves keep trying to go over my head and I'm trying to keep from stepping on a stingray. They get cranky about being stepped on, you know. I had the mask & snorkel on. I have one word to describe my first 5 minutes snorkeling: Hyperventilate!
It took a while to convince my subconscious that I could breathe with my head in the water, but I did it. The experience turned kind of peaceful after that.
I was later very grateful I could reach the bottom on that first stop, because it never happened again. We snorkeled for two days on different cruise stops, three snorkel stops each day. That last stop was in water 40-45 feet deep. I snorkeled through the bubbles of divers below me.
In an exciting turn of events, my fancy snorkel stopped allowing me to inhale 40 feet from the boat on that last stop. Remember how tired I was, after a full day? 40 feet deep. With hefty waves. *sigh* T and I cannot figure out what happened. Stupid thing seemed to work fine when we got back on the boat!
T is thrilled. I actually enjoyed the whole experience and would be willing to do it again. Since I am opposed to pretty much all risk-taking outside of food, he counts this as a great accomplishment.
