Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
October 17th, 2015:
Sosua, Dominican Republic
Hey guys! So first off, let me say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEANNE! (Tevin's mom back at home in Calgary!) We wish you could be here with us! We love you!
I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my scuba diving adventure yesterday! I was just too tired to even think about writing about it! Here's what happened:
Yesterday morning, we all got to sleep in. Our scuba diving lesson wasn't scheduled until 11:30 am in the pool. The only problem was that not everyone was sure that they wanted to do scuba diving... In fact, I was the only one who 100% wanted to go scuba diving. Like I mentioned before, Christian and I are the only ones who have ever done it, so everyone else was a little iffy about doing it. I don't think it was that they were necessarily nervous to try it, I just think that they didn't want to spend $115 on something that they weren't even sure if they liked or not. Christian has troubles equalizing his ears, Cayly is a little distrustful of the equipment and the whole idea of it, Janie couldn't care less about doing it and would rather save her money to use it on something else, Tevin also couldn't care less, and Jesse feels motion sickness quite easily. I feel sea sick a lot too, (I never used to be like that) but I love the peace and freedom of scuba diving so much I'd rather just take a Gravol and deal with it.
The other problem that we were having was that the company we were trying to book this scuba diving trip with was SO PUSHY! The guy kept asking us if we were still planning on coming, literally every time he saw us. Which was about 3 - 4 times a day. It was so annoying and frustrating that most of us decided not to do it just because of that reason. Also, on the resort website, it SAYS that EVERYONE gets a one hour free scuba diving lesson in the pool. Even the door advertisements on the scuba company says, "Free Scuba Lessons Every Day, Morning and Afternoon." Of course, this sounded perfect to us because over half of us had never done it before and wanted to try it to see if they liked it. But once we got there, the guy kept refusing, saying that the lesson isn't free. It's "part of the package deal you get hen you book the excursion." Of course, this didn't fly well with us because no body wanted to blow their $115 before knowing if they even like it. And let me just say this: That is a fair thing. Especially since diving has a major risk that goes with it. If you want to try it, you should be allowed to try it without paying the full amount. You should feel comfortable and safe doing it before committing to doing it in the ocean. Because if someone paid that money, and didn't end up feeling comfortable with it after doing the pool lesson, then they might feel obligated to go do it in the ocean because they don't want to waste their money. That's ridiculous. ESPECIALLY since the website claimed that we all get an hour FREE.
We had talked to our WestJet Vacations guy, and he got us at least a half hour free. That helped everyone lean more towards trying it. However, when we talked to the pushy guy again, he said that we only get 10 minutes!!! THEN, we went on Friday at 11:30 am like we promised, and the guide said that we only get FIVE minutes free!!! I was so upset. Because these guys were just being so dishonest and rude to my friends, and they basically pushed them to the point where they didn't want to do it anymore. And scuba diving was the one, single thing I was excited to do this trip... So I basically crossed my arms, told him "screw this, we'll find somewhere else," and I walked away.
Eventually Tevin found me at the free WiFi spot and explained to me that he'd do it with me anyway. Even if he didn't like it after the lesson. Everyone else decided against it, but Tevin wanted to make me happy and do it with me so I wouldn't be alone... ISN'T THAT ADORABLE??? I love him so much... He would literally do anything for me.
We finally walked down to the pool and told him we'd do it. The guide got us all suited up and started the lesson right away. I was actually shocked at how little he taught us. I was thankful that I knew a little about scuba diving already because I was able to fill Tevin in on a lot of the things. The guide only taught us the hand signals, how to clear our masks if water gets in, and how to rid the regulator of water if it accidentally falls out of your mouth while you're underwater. He didn't touch on how to find your regulator if it floats behind you, he didn't touch on how to buddy breathe in case your tank malfunctions or you run out of air, he didn't touch on how to equalize your ears and when to do it, he didn't touch on what to do if you have a panic attack or if you want to come up really fast, nothing! I was very upset and worried, because I knew Tevin was already a little uneasy about going. Having such a crappy "lesson" must have only added to his anxiety about it. I felt really bad. I knew he'd be okay, but I still wish that the guide had gone through everything with us. I tried my best to tell him everything I knew before we went into the ocean.
We hopped on the boat right after what felt like 10 minutes in the pool. He explained to us that the first dive we do would be a shallow, shorter dive. Which made me feel a LITTLE better about Tevin going... At least if he panicked, he'd be close to the surface so he wouldn't get the bends if he came up too fast.
I got in the water first, and the guide took me down to the bottom while Tevin was still in the boat. He made me wait down at the bottom by myself while he went up to go get Tevin. All I could think about was how the same thing happened with my first dive. The only difference was that my mom was the one who had to wait at the bottom by herself. I remember she explained to me: It was sort of dark, so she couldn't see the surface of the water. Looking up, the anchor rope of the boat kind of just disappeared into nothing. The guide had gone back up to get my dad and I, and she told me she was basically freaking out because she couldn't see anything and we were taking so long. It was my first dive, so she thought something must have gone wrong. The reason we were taking so long was because my dad was having troubles equalizing his ears. But I mean, it must have been so scary down there by yourself! She would have been all alone, PLUS she had just cut her hand in the washroom up on the boat moments before, so she was paranoid about sharks smelling her blood and coming to eat her up for lunch... Luckily we got down before she started swimming up by herself, and we dove together like normal.
For me, it was more shallow, and the water was much more clear. Everything around me was bright blue, and the sand was snow white. I could see the boat perfectly. I could even see Tevin's little blue flippers dangling of the edge of the boat. I was less worried since I could watch his every move. He jumped in the water, swam over to the guide, swam over to the rope, and began their descent. I watched the whole thing. It seemed pretty seamless so I was happy. When he got down to us, he looked find so I was glad!!! OH!!! I just remembered that I was wearing my GoPro the ENTIRE time we were diving, so in the video, you'll see literally all of this happening! You'll see what I saw as Tevin made his way down to me, and you'll see the entire dive as if you were there! And let me tell you, there's some pretty cool parts in that video!!! Here's why:
The guide took us swimming along the bottom of the ocean, lightly grazing the sand with our flippers. It seemed like really huge, deep pool because there was literally nothing in sight. Finally we saw this big dark mass emerge from the blur in the distance... It was the coral reef! It wasn't as colourful as some of the ones on other dives that I've done, but it definitely had enough to look at! There were tons of different fish, plants, rocks, shells, everything! The guide took out a knife and poked around the sand. A camouflaged fish revealed itself as it swam away from us... Same with one of those weird flat fish that have both of it's eyes on one side of it's head! I forget what both were called, but I'll see if I can find out what they were! I mean, I caught them on camera so I'll be able to go back and see what they were!
Probably the coolest (and scariest!) part of the dive was when the guide pulled out a plastic bottle from his pocket. It had a whole bunch of bread pieces stuffed in it. He had mentioned he'd bring some to "feed the fish." It sounded innocent enough, but once he took the bottle out, it was like the fish KNEW that it was lunch time! Seriously! HUNDREDS of fish swarmed us! The guide squeezed the bread out of the bottle RIGHT in front of our faces! So the fish swam right up to us, touching us and sometimes nibbling at my hair... It was so weird! I wasn't ACTUALLY scared, but it was just one of those moments where you get kinda jumpy and creeped out. You'll understand what I mean when you see the video! I made sure you would experience it the same way I did, so I took off the GoPro from my head, took the bottle of bread since he passed it along to us, and squeezed the bread out right in front of the GoPro lens. That way, the video shows exactly what it was like to get FISH IN YOUR FACE!
The guide even took the GoPro from me at one point so that Tevin and I could be in a couple shots together. That was sort of nice. Especially since we were the only two people on this excursion! I think usually it's supposed to be a group of people, but it was just Tevin and I, and the guide of course! But it was a cool private thing for us to do.
After the bottle was empty, we continued swimming along the reef. Of course by now, all of our new fishy friends loved us, and didn't catch onto the fact that lunch was over. They obviously thought that we still had bread to give. But we didn't!! So we just had fish following us for the rest of our dive. It was kind of funny, actually. I think at one point, I took the GoPro, turned it around, and filmed myself swimming with all the fish following behind me. I felt like Ariel, the Little Mermaid, with all her little fishy friends.
Pretty soon, we surfaced, and got back on the boat for a drive to the next dive location. We went to the reef near our resort, and basically went through the same thing. I went down first, Tevin second, and we swam along the bottom looking at things, feeding fish, etc. This second dive was kind of cool, because we kept swimming and swimming until the water became more and more shallow, and eventually we could stand up with our heads out of the water. It was really bright at first, but eventually I realized that we had surfaced right on our resort's beach! Right where we all swim! It was neat to see what's actually in the water where we swim!!!
So that was our dive! Tevin was such a good sport about it. He knew I really wanted to go, so he made it happen! Even though he probably didn't want to either, at least he tried it, for me! Shout out to Tevin!! I love you so much! Thank you for making my day and going diving with me, it was so awesome to get to do that with you! It all worked out! And the best part, NOBODY DROWNED! :)
Now we're all just getting ready for dinner. Same old rice, chicken, and potatoes! Woo hoo! Same old s***, here we come!!!
Talk to everyone tomorrow!!!
Love always,
Lindsay
- comments