Salt
By Geneva Wood
I’ll never forget the first time I went scuba diving, or rather wore scuba equipment. My family had to take a trip to Hawaii for my grandparents anniversary, and my dad had asked if I was interested in checking out what it would feel like to scuba. I said yes in a flash, so we decided to go to the class.
When we got to the extra deep pool I got really nervous. I was by far the smallest person there, almost everyone was an adult, and the closest people in age to me were nearly twice my age. Looking back, I’m so glad I wasn’t intimidated by the large age gap and still took the class. The feeling of weightlessness that came from stepping into the pool and still being able to breath was magical. After going in that deep pool I was super bummed out I too young to go scuba diving in the ocean but soon forgot my disappointment.
Little did I, or anyone else, know that that first surreal experience would spark an interest in me that years later would drive me to get a scuba diving licence.
I don’t remember what made me decide to try and get a licence at that exact time, but I do remember going onto PADI’s website and studying for a few hours everyday until it was time for the final test that determined if I had to retake the exam and study again or not. Basically, if I didn’t get 75% or higher, I would need to redo the entire week's worth of studying. I took a deep breath, pulled out my notes, and clicked start.
After passing my online exam, I was super excited to actually get in the water. While I wouldn't be actually in the ocean yet, I would finally get to scuba for the first time in almost five years. My mom picked me up from camp early that day, and we headed out to a scuba shop to get fitted with a wet suit and get gear. As soon as I got there, I was handed the only two wet suits in the shop small enough to fit me and held them both up to see if either of them would fit. Unfortunately the black one was an immediate no, as I was far too small, however the dark blue one looked promising. After trying on the wetsuit in the changing room, the person at the scuba shop told me it was a good fit although a bit short at the ankles, saying it should be fine. After being fitted for the wetsuit, he determined the proper size of the air tank and helped me to pick out a mask and snorkel that I bought, then put everything and a couple extras including defog, weights, and a Buoyancy Control Device, AKA BCD into a large box. We rented everything but the mask, and put the box in the car.
The next day I was buzzing with excitement as we drove up to the scuba shop again to meet my classmates and instructor. There were about twelve of us in total and we all had a seat in the classroom towards the back of the shop and waited until everyone was there. Once the instructor arrived, he did a quick rundown of everything, and everyone who took the test online filled out a quick test to make sure we hadn’t cheated. After that we were to meet at a pool not too far off so we could start. The first time we all met I was nervous but immediately given a warm welcome by one of my peers. We had a nice conversation about scuba, and after that we all partially changed into our wetsuits.
The classes that followed were fun yet challenging, and we practised everything from scuba signals, to having to float and tread water for fifteen minutes. Eventually we all got passed to move on to the ocean. Sadly I had to say goodbye to everyone as I was too small to wear warm enough equipment to scuba Monterey Bay, and had decided to return to Maui instead. A few weeks later, my family was packed so we hopped on our flight and landed with few complications.
After we got off our flight we picked up our luggage, then took the shuttle to our hotel and just crashed. The day after we arrived, my dad and I cleared everything up with the scuba people, so we decided that I would be starting the final stage of my exam the very next day.
My dad and I woke up at five or six A.M. that morning and headed down to see if we could find something to eat. Looking back, I can’t remember if we managed to find anything as all I could think about was my upcoming dive. My dad walked me over to the table next to the scuba pool and we got signed in. After I had been signed in I pulled out a wetsuit and some flippers to put on, putting them aside for the time being as I set up my gear and got the correct weights. After grabbing my tank and BCD my scuba instructor helped me to load it into a cart, and I took my wetsuit and hopped in the pool to make it easier to put on. After we both suited up we decided to leave our shoes and things behind and walk down to the ocean where everything was explained to me. I rigged my tank to my regulator, reviewed the signals, grabbed my flippers ,and walked down to the beach with my stuff. My scuba instructor and I started to wade backwards into the ocean until our BCDs were causing us to float and we could barely feel the bottom and popped on our flippers.
The dive that followed was amazing. We started by swimming at the surface, then descended down until we were around ten feet from the sea floor. As soon as I started to swim below the surface all of my apprehension left me and was replaced by a sense of calm. The visibility was great that day, and I got to see some of the beautiful hawaiian coral reefs before we headed back to shore. When I came back from the dive it was with a sense of success and exhilaration.
I passed the day by swimming in the pool and went through the same steps of preparation for the dive the next two days. On the final test I was extremely nervous. If I screwed up all of my work would be for nothing. During the previous dive I had had some trouble equalising my ears. This test would be the navigation test and I would be using the compass attached to my wrist.
We headed down to the ocean only to see huge waves, but we still decided to try. We had a buoy and some extra weights for the test and we started paddling out. My scuba instructor was having some trouble with the buoy, and I kept being pushed back by waves. Suddenly a huge wave came at us, and we were powerless to do anything about it as it went straight over us and knocked the weights off the buoy. We searched for them in vain. Sadly, the conditions were super bad, but we decided to try, also realising that the visibility was awful. After I got in the water, I realised I was unable to equalise my ears. This was bad, really bad. If I couldn’t equalise, I couldn’t dive. We decided to try again the next day and to head back. As I was waiting for the guy to untie the buoy from the ocean floor I noticed a tiny fish swimming around me and as we were heading back to shore the tiny fish continued to follow me, hiding whenever I pointed it out.
After I got back to shore I was really upset. What if I couldn’t finish my test? Unless I did it the next day I would be unable to complete my test and get my certification as you can’t fly within twenty-four hours after multiple days of dives, and we wanted an extra forty eight-hours to be safe.
The next day came, and I was down at the beach again, this time after taking an allergy pill. We headed out and the visibility was still poor but manageable. The waves were a bit smaller. Thankfully, once we got further out, the waves were a lot better and we proceeded with the test. I floated a couple inches below the surface, then swam out into the ocean head down with mild direction, so I had no idea where I was, I was told the direction of the buoy and pointed my compass and started swimming, after a few minutes I found myself back at the buoy and riding on this high, continued to do my exam.
When we finally got back to shore, I rinsed off my equipment like normal and went to meet up with my dad. Once I got back we filled out everything and I was finally awarded my junior open water diver’s licence and enjoyed the rest of my trip. I feel this trip really showed me how much I can do if I put my mind to it, and really inspired me as one of the few women with a scuba licence under the age of 18.
