Anybody up for some Scuba Diving????

September 21 & 22, 2013-

So…here's the deal.  

Mark finished up his PADI Open Water Scuba Diving certification while we were in Cebu (that was early June).  The girls both tried out scuba diving at the Shangri-La resort we stayed at in Cebu and they both LOVED it.  

Now, I've said all along that I would NEVER GO SCUBA DIVING.  

Never, never, never.  

Nope.  

Not gonna happen!

NOT EVER!!!!!!

So guess what I've been doing over the past few weeks???????????

Working towards my Open Water scuba certification.

Sigh. 

If you can't beat 'em….join 'em!  

I didn't want to be the left all alone on the boat or beach while the other three went diving.

Yeah, I'm eating my words. Too bad those words don't taste like chocolate.  (mmmmmm…..chocolaaaaaaate)

So, the short story (which is already too long. Whoops!) is that Annika and I completed the eLearning portion of the PADI certification together (that's the online coursework). 

AND….

This past weekend we zipped on down to Shanghai via the bullet train and completed the confined water dives portion of our certification.

We completed our confined water dives through Big Blue, a PADI certified dive center located in Shanghai.  

So…Annika and I had a super easy and relaxing train ride (except for the loud little boy sitting in front of us) and one subway ride over to our hotel.  After checking in at the Marriott we ventured over to Big Blue to fill out the necessary paperwork and visit with our diving instructor.  We also learned that another girl (13 years old and from Spain) would be joining us.  That's not a bad student to teacher ratio!  Annika and I had a fantastic salmon dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants and promptly plopped into bed to get a solid night's sleep.

(Oh, are you wondering where Ava is????  Jen, a good friend, watched Ava during the day until Mark returned home from his trip to the USA on Friday evening.  That means that Annika and I started this Shanghai adventure on our own!)

Saturday morning- up waaaaaay too early.  We grabbed a light breakfast at Starbucks (which wound up being too light – next time remember to get more protein before spending the day in a pool!!!!).  Walked the umpteen blocks to the dive center.  After rendezvousing with our instructor and the other girl joining us we were driven to the pool.  A pool with lots of Chinese swimming in it and several swimming lessons for Chinese children taking place.  My goodness – they don't give those little kids any slack when it comes to swimming practice!

First thing – jumped into the pool and swam four lengths of the pool in one go.  Easy!  Next we learned about the equipment AND how to assemble it properly.

Now, have I mentioned at all that I've never ever tried scuba diving????  (both Annika and Ava have).  

The instructor had us go through lots and lots of exercises and I learned two things:

1. it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it'd be

and

2. I couldn't clear my mask when it was filled with water – no matter how hard I tried!  AAAAArgh!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes, I kept calm. Yes, I told myself I could do it.  No, it didn't work.)

After many hours of being in the cold water (do they heat any of the pools in China?????) and chattering teeth and blue lips (that being Annika's) we finally called it a day for the pool work and headed back to the dive center.

Once at the dive center we took the final exam AND – best of all – got to see Mark and Ava.  :-)  We also assembled and disassembled the equipment three times.  

 

 

Which brings me to another sad point about Saturday – we were supposed to go eat dinner with Mark's old high school friend, Randy, and his family.  Sadly, Randy was sick.  Bummer!  We just found a restaurant to eat at on our walk back to the hotel….Swiss food.  Funny…the only Swiss food I can think of is fondue.  Do they really have any other food?  (ummm…yes they do!)

After a wee break we hit the hotel's swimming pool where I proceeded to practice the mask clearing exercise.  Yes, I could do it!  Mark also discovered a potential reason for my failures (not a proper seal).  I feel so much better now that I KNOW I CAN do it.

Early to bed!!!!

Sunday – we ordered room service breakfast- omelets, hash browns and Greek yogurt.  Good protein!  Hopefully that will help both Annika and me last a lot longer than yesterday.

Annika and I walked over to Big Blue and after rendezvousing with the others we were driven over to the pool for Round #2 of exercises.  

One of the first exercises I did – complete the three mask clearing exercises I failed on the previous day.  Oh, I forgot to mention – we'd just bought Annika a narrow dive mask the previous day.  Annika very reluctantly let me borrow her brand-new mask – which, by the way, I'm extremely grateful for.  As it turns out- the mask size was definitely the main problem for me.  I had absolutely no trouble at all clearing out the narrower mask (while underwater you flood your mask with water and then you have to clear it by breathing out your nose).  YAY!!!! We finished up all the exercises and were back at the dive center before our teeth started to chatter.  

Then it was back to the dive center and we were done!!!!  YAY!!!  We did it!!! Annika and I successfully completed our confined water dives.  

PS. The instructor was not at all worried about the kids completing the course successfully but she did mention that she was concerned about me. 😉  

I just proved to myself that I CAN conquer fear and that you CAN teach a dog to do new tricks.  Okay.  Did I just compare myself to a dog????? Oh dear.  I think perhaps it's time for me to hit the bed.  

PPS….Here's what Ava and Mark did while Annika and I were busy at the pool:

 

 

After a few painful hours that we managed to somehow kill in the train station we boarded the bullet train and headed home to Tianjin.  

Whew! 

What a weekend!

The plan is for Annika and me to finish up our certification in Cambodia (we're heading there the first week in October).  Can't wait to find out what that will be like!