Grandma’s First Cayman Experience – more from my diary

I’m enjoying re-reading my diary and writing these blogs a few years later because the memories, in this case of that first trip, come flooding back literally in glorious technicolour

As a wiser and older person I decided to make it easy on myself and we were staying at a small dedicated dive resort which had a great ‘ two for the price of one’ offer on the price. The resort was designed to make life easy for divers and diving. This meant that every day there was only a very short walk from the room to the boat where the gear was all set up for us. This was my first introduction to ‘valet diving’ and I loved it – more about this in a later blog.

First there was a ‘refresher’ in the pool. This is routine and means a run through of safety issues and an opportunity for the dive master to check you’re comfortable and safe to dive. I now take a refresher session on each trip because it allows me to get to know the dive master, who first of all knows the ocean where we’re going to dive, and also lets him get to know me. On this trip it was important for him to know I was a ‘Newbie’ PADI qualified diver of a certain age. We were in business. I was ready for my first ocean dive.

Stepping off the boat and into the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean was a mixture of apprehension, fear, survival, excitement and, when I hit the water, amazement that I’d actually done it. I looked down through my mask and I could see the sandy bottom some forty feet below.  My buddy  Merlin swam close by making sure that my descent was under control.  Suddenly  I experienced pain in my ears because of the pressure of the water and had a slight panic before I remembered the way of easing this is to hold your nose and gently blow to relieve the pressure. It worked .

Gradually I started to descend and as technicolour fish rushed around to see who had entered their territory I forgot all about my ears. Lana, my dive instructor from North Carolina was also on the trip, so the whole first experience was one where I felt supported by friends. I knew I’d been trained well for my PADI and the rest was simply ‘look at the ever changing view’ and experience the joy of swimming freely in the ocean. I felt like Alice in Wonderland – as if I’d stepped through an incredible underwater Looking Glass. I was hooked.

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