Facing My Fear of Scuba Diving

If you asked me at the beginning of our trip, I would have said that I would probably never go scuba diving. The thought of having a huge tank on my back so far under the water and breathing through a small tube was too much for me to consider. Fast forward three months, and Sam had talked me into considering taking a PADI course while we were in the Galapagos. For those of you who don't know, the PADI course takes 3-4 days, and after completing it, you have the ability to go scuba diving on your own without a certified guide. The Galapagos Islands have many amazing places to go scuba diving, but because of strong currents, your choices are limited for scuba diving here without the PADI license.

Once we arrived in the Galapagos, we explored all of our options, and settled on something we both could be happy with, the beginner's Discovery Dive. We had talked to some of the other volunteers after they dove at the beginner's site in North Seymour, and they had a great time. They got to see rays and hammerhead sharks, which we had yet to see in the water. The entire PADI course is very expensive to take in the Galapagos compared to other locations, such as in the Caribbean. We decided that if we really loved it, we could always invest in the PADI license on our next trip (I can't tell you how many ideas for more trips we have made already!).

I had willingly agreed to go on the beginner's dive, but my nerves were still running on high. The night before our dive, I even had a dream that I was bitten by a shark! (Funny enough, the possibility of swimming with sharks again wasn't my fear at all). We woke up early that morning to meet just before 6am. We found out we would be diving with another couple from The Netherlands. We also met our guide for the day, Oscar.  We gladly boarded the boat to start the day. Then, Oscar mentioned that we had a choice of where we wanted to dive, but never mentioned North Seymour, which is where we had booked when we scheduled the dive. Apparently my angry face came out (Sam says I can be good at this, but I just wanted to do what I signed up for! Wouldn't you?) and Oscar called the manager to verify we would now be going to North Seymour. Whew! We were back on track.

This is Oscar, our guide for the day.

We rode for about an hour before stopping to learn about all the equipment and start our introductory dive in the shallow water. Once all geared up and in the water practicing with our gear, he took each of us down 5 or 6 meters, one at a time. Considering each one of us stayed at the bottom to wait for the others, I volunteered to go last. All the others did great, and as I watched them disappear, I only knew they were below from the bubbles coming to the surface. Oscar looked at me and said, "Ready?" "No!" I answered with nervous laughter, but there was no putting it off. All I had to do was hold on to Oscar and equalize the pressure in my ears as he took us down. I didn't get very far though, and I had unbearable pain in my right ear. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get the pressure to equalize. After several attempts of going up and down again in the water to try to make it down to where the others waited, we finally went back to the surface. We hadn't done the real dive yet, but I already felt like I had failed.

Sam got used to being so far under water right away....

.....but it took me a little longer before I felt comfortable.

When we were all finally back on the boat and ready to go to the actual diving site, Oscar said he planned on staying with me at around 6 meters down (about 20 feet) while the others went with the second instructor to about 12 meters (almost 40 feet).  But as soon as we started sinking, the pressure in my right ear started equalizing just fine! I guess I just needed the trial run first. We all went down together for about 45 minutes. I found that breathing through the tube wasn't difficult at all, and you don't even think about all of the gear once you see the first animal.

Can you see the sea turtle right in the middle? Our underwater camera wouldn't go this deep under the water, so Oscar was taking all of the pictures.

Two hammerhead sharks in the distance.

There are signs for each animal that you can make underwater to tell everyone else what you see (since it's just a little difficult to talk). We first saw sea turtles, and then came the hammerhead sharks.  I couldn't tell you how big they were exactly, but they are much larger than the white-tipped reef sharks we swam with earlier at Isabela Island. Just a little further, and we ran into at least five different rays. The last one we saw was probably about 6 feet wide. Finally, we saw more of the reef sharks toward the end. They usually sleep during the day, so they seemed pretty docile, not paying any attention to us or all the other fish hanging around.

Behind all the fish, there is another hammerhead shark lurking.

We saw about five rays in total.  They usually swam by with their fins up like this one.

Hard to see in this picture, but when their fins are down, you can see the spots glowing on their backside.

Another reef shark sleeping on the at the bottom.  

Before we knew it, our tanks were low on air and we were all heading back up to the surface. I'm so thankful that Oscar was willing to work with me, and that I was able to go down with everyone else. We decided that diving was one of our favorite activities we have tried over the past 5 1/2 months (definitely up there with white-water rafting in Zambia). On the hour long ride back to Peurto Ayora, we promised each other that we will complete the PADI course (sometime soon hopefully!). The day was a great way to end our time in the Galapagos, and I would love to come back here some day.

(Written April 16th)