I haven’t dived since I obtained my open water certification two years and a half years ago. With that being the case, something I really looking forward to doing during my time in Cartagena was going SCUBA diving. Ultimately, that’s how I landed in Cartagena as opposed to another city. One of the volunteering opportunities I was interested in was finding a SCUBA diving project assisting in a conservation effort. I found one in Cartagena but after contacting the organization I learned they were no longer running that program. I decided to search for any other similar programs and that’s where I stumbled upon Domino Volunteer’s website. Their website touched on some diving opportunities with them. I hadn’t seen their information on any other resource but as I examined their site I was really intrigued. I don’t think I looked back after I delved into their profile and contacted them.
While they didn’t offer the sort of SCUBA project I was looking for, I figured staying in Cartagena would still offer me the opportunity to dive. Especially since Christina, Dominoes principal and her husband Jota own a dive shop. Upon arriving Christina and I briefly discussed me diving, leaving it at, we’ll figure out at some point during my stay.
My mate Alex and I were talking over a few beers last Saturday night when he mentioned he was planning to go diving that Monday. I’m immediately said, I was in! He’d made some tentative plans he’d finalize the next day and let me know the exact pricing etc. He got with me sometime Sunday, everything checked, and I sent my info to the dive shop the same day. We were booked for diving with a meet up at 8:00 am. Turns out it was via Christina and her husband’s dive shop which I learned when I was calling the dive operator to discover his number was already on the phone they provided me. Immediately I knew who it was. A slight familiarity helped with my anxiety.
Along with us on the excursion was a guy from Boston who I think was accompanied with his daughter and guy from Georgia with his pregnant girlfriend. The woman wasn’t diving but the not pregnant woman did go out with us on the boat to snorkel. Everyone had more diving experience than me which isn’t surprising since I only had certification experience, although, none had dived recently. The guy from Georgia dove most recently which was two years ago. Alex hadn’t in about 4 years.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous if for the only reason I had kind of forgotten a lot which is potentially problematic participating is in a life-threatening activity. Okay that’s being dramatic, but you get what I’m saying; there’s a necessity for safety. Misery loves company, so sort of relished in that fact everyone was a little nervous. Except maybe the Georgia guy.
While nervous I was also calm if that makes sense. My mentality was sort of, it is what it, just gotta do it, I want to do it, let’s go. It was unusually rough and windy this day causing us to bypass the first intended dive site in hopes of returning later. We made it to the second site. I was the second to go into the water. Put on my gear, which I sort of forgot how to do and propelled myself backwards into the water. It took me a few seconds to remember the feeling of floating around with the tank and other gear on. Also, I had to quickly get used to breathing with a regulator which I practiced before going under. After a few minutes, I was good. Now I waited for the other divers to enter the water.
For those unfamiliar, two of the trickiest aspects of diving are the descent and ascent. Because our bodies need a little time to get accumulated to the pressure the deeper you go, it’s important to descend slowly and vice versa when ascending. This is what I had me concerned the most because as I mentioned, I forgot how exactly. I mean it sounds simple enough, just go down slowly stopping periodically and go up slowly stopping periodically. You might feel pressure in your ears similar to the experience when flying, whereby, you squeeze your nose and blow to relieve the pressure. As simple as it sounds there’s a rhythm to it and couldn’t really remember the feeling. Well… it pretty much came back immediately. The instructors didn’t really give any instructions and just got us going which in retrospect was good. Gave me less time to think and just do. I descended fine. Once we got to our diving depth we were on our way. Another tricky skill of diving is maintaining proper buoyancy. Basically, keeping yourself steady and balanced as you slowly move about. It’s affected by your weight, how much weight your caring (I was wearing an 8 lb. weight belt), how inflated your BCU is and very important, your breathing. The pace of your breath and how much air you’re caring in your lungs is vital to proper buoyancy. It took me some time to recall how important my breathing was and how to do it correctly. It didn’t ruin the experience nor cause problems, but I just wanted to nail it correctly. Our first dive was for approx. 45 minutes and went about 35 feet deep. Deepest I’ve gone. It was Awesome!
Based on our last depth and time under we had to limit our depth and time under on the next dive. That’s determined by how much water pressure you’re exposed to and a complicated a math formula I’m thankful we didn’t have to do because have no clue how to do it. I learned it during my open water certification training but if you went 2.5 years of not using a complicated math formula after you barely learned it, you’d be clueless too.
We headed to the second dive which was a shipwreck site. It was too rough there, so we headed to another site. Everything looked good. We geared up and took the plunge a second time. We started our descent. It was murky and visibility wasn’t the best, but I was more concerned with descending properly. I felt the pressure in my ears quicker than I expected especially since we weren’t going as deep. I ascended back up a bit to get better accumulated to the pressure as I squeezed my nose and blew until my ears popped. Descended some more but had the same problem. I wasn’t concerned I just remained aware and followed the proper techniques. Everyone was doing the same. After a few minutes, the guy from Georgia swam over to me pointing to my depth meter. I looked and it said 70 feet! That’s DEEP! My first thought was why are we this deep because we’d been told we wouldn’t be going more than 15-20 feet. Then I thought, this is COOL! It was the first time diving I couldn’t see the bottom while the surface seemed aways away. I was just suspended in the middle of the water like I’ve seen in so many pictures. I stuck my arms and legs out as if I was floating in space. The stillness and serenity at that moment I won’t soon forget. It didn’t last long. We soon realized we couldn’t find Alex. YIKES! Everyone else was in eyesight of one another. We all kind looked around while maintaining our position, but it was pretty murky skewing visibility. I saw one of the other instructors go look for him and he was soon out of sight. The second instructor soon called the dive and told us to ascend up. We get to the surface and I still don’t see Alex. After a few minutes, I spot him far off with the other instructor. That was great BUT now we couldn’t find the boat. Because of the distance and the waves, we couldn’t see it. The instructor was like where did the boat go as he head swiveled around searching. Why did it leave? Was it because the water got too rough? Turns out the boat was where it was when we disembarked. It was anchored. We moved that far off because of an underwater current that pushed us away and down or something like that. This powerful current in addition to the poor visibility is what caused Alex to go out of site. I’m not sure how much time elapsed but the boat spotted us (the instructor had a floating device for aide in situations like this) and picked us up. The boat first went to retrieve Alex and the other instructor. I found myself being pushed away from the other divers and instructor because of the strong currents as I rolled over the waves. It was majestic.
They apologized for the second dive not panning out and offered a 30% discount. Very generous especially considering I had a blast. I probably not painting a good picture of diving, but I want to say I NEVER once felt in danger or unsafe, not once. It sounds more periling than it was and the land was always in eyesight. Diving is awesome and recommends it for anyone considering it. I found the whole experience great and one I can learn from. Looking forward to diving again during my stay.
Live. Laugh. Love. Travel. 