Scuba
This morning, I signed up for an introduction scuba diving lesson. I’ve snorkeled many times and done something called snooba (breathing compressed air where the tank floats on the surface of the water and you are limited by the hose line) a couple of times but I’ve never scuba’d before.
I love snorkeling (except for the getting into and out of the water) mainly because of the fish and corals you can see. Snooba was fun but it was a group activity so a lot of effort was dealing with others issues so the time under water was limited. In fact, the last time I did it, I actually tore my ear drum by changing depth too fast.
To scuba dive, at least the group activity I was involved with, involved me being at a beach point at a park by 7:30am. While I was waiting (I’m chronically early you know), I saw the 3 organizers getting the equipment ready. While I was excited to try scuba diving, to them, it was just another work day. I also saw a woman in a wedding dress having pictures taken (I asked and found out that that is a frequent occurrence because Diamond Head could be seen in the distance).
Finally, they gave us instructions and taught us hand signals (you can’t talk under water) and started putting the air tank on us and giving us masks and fins. Then we started walking down to the water. It surprised me how heavy and unwieldy the tank rig was on my back and scared me that I’d fall over and be like a turtle on his back. It was even worse when we started to walk into the water. We walked out until we were about chest high in the water. The beach had an artificial wave break a couple hundred feet out so there was only a little wave but still worried about turtle.
We practiced breathing and sitting down in the water to put our fins on (I thought sure I wouldn’t be able to get up from a seated position under water). Then we swam out about 100 feet or so to this floating inner tube type thing with hand holds. The instructor took us, one at a time, to start diving within a fairly small radius. My ballast was a little light so I struggled to dive. They adjusted my ballast and I had a blast.
To me, it seemed like I just got my ballast right when it was time to go back in. The activity was scheduled to last 2 hours but with the instruction and getting in and out (same thing with getting out of the water, the air tank became heavy and unwieldy as soon as I emerged out of the water), we probably were underwater for 1/2 hour or so.
When I go somewhere unfamiliar to me, God’s majestic creation seems to jump out at me from every direction. How someone could see saltwater fish in a reef and not marvel at God’s handiwork is way beyond my comprehension.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.” - Genesis 1:1, 9-11, 20-23 ESV
“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” - 1 Timothy 4:4-5
Two follow up comments. The first is that I intend, with Gods help, to try to be more cognizant of his majestic creation on a daily basis and praise him for it. Second, is that after I was done, I had to come back to our room and take a nap. That was a lot of effort for a man my age.
