Picture this, all around you are fish, water, and sand. You try to look up, but all you see is water. Terrifying, right? Well, that’s how I felt my first time going scuba diving. This all took place about a year ago, in Aqaba, Jordan, when I decided to go scuba diving, and it was one of the scariest and most fun things I’ve ever done.
After deciding I wanted to go scuba diving, I had to go to a place that offered it. Once I arrived there I went to the front desk. Before anything was official, I had to do one of the scariest things ever, signing the waiver. So, when I went to the desk, they had to make sure I understood what the paper said, so in English, not knowing I could speak Arabic, the woman at the desk said with an Arabic accent: “Make sure you read everything on the paper”. “Of course”, I said. “Oh yeah, here’s a paper with a checklist (hands me a paper), check off anything that applies to you”, she said. “Will do”, I replied. After approximately five minutes after finishing the checklist, some guy came up to me and asked in Arabic, “Have you finished the checklist?”, to which I responded with, in Arabic, “Yeah, I'm done with it”. And this was when the desk lady responded with, in Arabic, “You should've told me you can speak Arabic, it would have made this a lot easier on me”. All three of us laughed.
Before going scuba diving, I had to learn how to communicate underwater, in case something goes wrong or if I feel uncomfortable, so in a quick ten-minute lesson they taught me all the hand gestures I would need to know underwater. Next, I got suited up in the scuba suit, the rest of the gear would be given later, and got on the bus that was planned to take me to my destination, the Red Sea.
When I arrived, I noticed how blue the sea was. When I first saw it, I felt like a kid who had seen a rainbow for the first time. Before going into the water, I got my oxygen tank, flippers, and goggles. The air tank on my back was very heavy, and because it shifted my balance, it made it hard for me to walk straight. I ploddingly went into the water, feeling the water all around me, and slowly being swallowed by the sea. The more I submerged the air tank, the lighter it felt, to the point where it almost went unnoticeable. After going into the water, my instructor and I headed about ten feet above the seafloor, and this was where we checked to see if the oxygen tank was good by going down about one foot underwater. When I first went under with the mouthpiece on to breathe, I felt as if I was suffocating. This was one of the first times in my life that I was not given the option to breathe in through my nose for a long period. I began to feel as if I was hyperventilating, but as I slowly realized everything was fine, my breathing slowed down, and I was able to relax as I prepared for my descent. But not only did this cause panic, but so did my sudden loss of the capability to speak and hear. After my minor panic attack, my instructor quickly tested me one more time to see if I retained my memory of the hand gestures. After I passed the quick verbal test and we confirmed that the air tank was working, it was time for me to descend into the water and go down to where many could only wish to go.
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After dropping to about eight feet below sea level, I had to do the Valsalva maneuver, which is when you squeeze your nose and blow to equalize your pressure and clear your ears because of the greater pressure underwater. If this is not done, barotrauma could occur, this is when your eardrums rupture. I had to do this a few times before going to my lowest depth. After only about three minutes underwater I began to panic; luckily, I remembered the hand gestures and tried to communicate. It was working. My instructor and I were able to communicate. After he patiently walked me through what to do, we continued with our journey. Slowly, my brain went from thinking I need to get out of here to thinking everything is going to be fine.
While underwater it got scarier and scarier the deeper, I got because of the greater biodiversity within the sea. I could also start seeing more coral. After getting down to sixteen feet, I noticed the seafloor beginning to change, and when I looked up, so did the surface of the sea. The floor went from being rocky and sandy to being pure sand, and I went from being able to see the sky through the water, to barely being able to see where the sea began and the sky ended. As I got deeper it became noticeably cooler, but the temperature change was nice, compared to the one hundred-six degrees Fahrenheit temperature above the water. After this, I went down to about twenty-four feet and then to about thirty feet. After sixteen feet, everything began to look the same. While underwater, I was lucky enough to not see any sharks, but I still saw some decent-sized fish, ranging from one inch in length to about two feet. Because this was my first time going scuba diving, I only got to go down to about ten meters. When I got down there, I stayed for only five minutes or so, soaking in the view, taking pictures, and observing the fish. And then, after taking the pictures, I stayed for my final moments and then made my way back up with my guide.
On my way back up to the surface, I had to get back up slowly, because the same concept that applied with descending too fast applied to going up too fast. On my way up, I was reminded of all the things that happened, it felt like it occurred only a couple of minutes before. This was probably because it did occur only a couple of minutes before. As I got higher up, I noticed the water slowly getting warmer and warmer. As a person who enjoys the cold, I didn't like this. Right before reaching the top, my instructor snapped a few more pictures of me, and then we went back up. While exiting the water, I could feel the surface tension breaking as I emerged on top. A could feel the blazing sun cooking the top of my head. My black hair absorbed the heat quickly, and it felt like you could cook an egg on me. Next, my instructor took his final pictures of me, and we swam out of the water, and once we reached the shallow end of the water, we took off our flippers and goggles. While walking out of the water, I could feel the air tank slowly getting heavier. After reaching the station where I put my air tank and goggles on, I took off my air tank and goggles and handed them to a worker there, not my instructor. Next, I went and showered to clean myself of the scent of the ocean, and changed back into my normal clothing, a tee-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a hat.
If there is anything I learned from this experience, it would be to do things you want but are afraid to, do because I know for a fact that even though I was terrified going into this, I would have felt a lot worse had I not gone in. And even though I had fun and faced my fears of going in, I would not go back because this felt like a one-time thing, and I wouldn't want to ruin something special by overdoing it.
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