Ever had a bucket list item but not sure how you are going to complete it because of a fear of something inside you? That’s me…….

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to have my PADI license and I have always put it off when given an opportunity. It’s too expensive, it’s too soon, I don’t have three days of my vacation to waste on it and so on and so on.

Well if this sounds like you, my advice is, get over it and do it, now!

Were my excuses real? Are yours real? No, my honest and only fear is the open water. I am not afraid of a shark biting my butt, or a crab hooking onto my little toe. I have an honest fear of water because I know I am not a great swimmer, there is nothing that makes me out of breath more than to stick my head in the water and go for a swim. I am not a fish or a slimline torpedo going through the water with any grace. More a cross between an insect fallen in the water and a large cat that has just been thrown overboard.

Meet Max. We heard through another traveling family how great he was, and being from the North West of the US, he had to be alright in Kristi’s books and he was more than alright.

We contactd him and he and his partner Liz met us in a Cafe for almost two hours, he told us, in particular Lara and Kristi what each of the steps were, what to expect and put zero pressure on any of us. My mind was tuned out perhaps? Can we do all the lessons in a pool? Or No, it is too expensive for all three of us to do, what about the boys? I can’t swim that well, the excuses were pouring through my head.  Kristi, unbenownst to me was also thinking negative thoughts, but not the same as me. She was thinking about the shark and the crab biting her butt. Ha, I thought, that’s not fear, here have some of mine, in your mind you get a pinched bum, in my mind I get lungs full of water and a free ride in an ambulance.

Up steps Max again, putting no fear in Lara’s little head at all suggesting that Mom and Dad should try a discovery dive, while Little Miss does her course and that our discovery dive day will be her first open water dive day, if, and only if I thought, we liked it we could continue the course and this day for the two of us would be included towards our three or four day requirement, dollars and all….thanks Max, how could I say no to that? My fear was looking for an answer and no answer could be found.

So off we go the next day or so, with Max explaining that we would do two 12 metres dives, I am thinking, your American, don’t you mean 12 feet? Nope, 12 metres it was. Along the way Max explains about my life line for the 99 minutes I ended up being under water, a little tube connected to a regulator that goes in your mouth and supplies the gold I need called air.

Lara looked excited, Kristi was looking nervous for her butt, me? I have no idea what I looked like. Max was great though, explained everything crystal clear and what we would be doing, here are a few:

• Filling my mask with water and clearing it out at more than 5 metres

• Taking my mask off and puttting it back on at the same depth

• Having my air supply turned off just to make me realise what no air feels like

• Taking my kit off completely underwater, looking at it and putting it back on.

• Have 5 kilos strapped to my waist in case I floated away

What he failed to mention though was my worst nightmare:

• Swim around the boat six times on the surface with out my air supply in the middle of the ocean, it felt like the boat was 100 metres long
• Stay afloat for ten minute

I joke in the text about being lured into doing this but to be honest, I cannot thank the big guy from Seattle enough, through his calm nature, patience and quiet acceptence of my fear, he knew I could do it and I did. 

Because of Max, and Kristi gently encouraging me and giving me no choice to back out, my whole world has been changed. The words cannot describe how beautiful and breathtaking the underwater world really is. I was in a different world.

Max taught me amid panic to be calm, Kristi taught me, if you have a dream, do it. Don’t regret not doing they said, heh that’s my line for this whole trip I thought.

How could we forget Lara, she was magic, so calm, and enjoying every minute, until it came to cleaning your gear then it was a bit like “keep your room tidy, wash your dishes up”.

Kristi, kept her butt to herself and did not point it towards any sharks and was so excited I can see diving becoming a part of who we are going to be after this trip.

Her funny part to me was at the end of the last dive, day three. We had been told the sign for a turtle was to place your hands on top of each other with your thumbs sticking out and wiggle your thumbs to looklike the turtle flippers. Looking over at Kristi she was excitingly gesticulating to me with arms and hands everywhere, I thought she had perhaps got that crab on her butt. No, she had seen our next beautiful turtle.

We were each in awe of different things, and the dives seemed to get shorter but we were so ralaxed we were having fun at a million miles an hour. Max taught us to be basically neutral boyant, a bit like no gravity. I felt like I had this moment at last on our last dive until he grabbed me at 10 metres, turned me upside down and I felt the air come out of my boyancy jacket, now I was there.

We floated along for almost 45 minutes, again knowing it was our last dive lapping up everything our eyes could take in one go. It was magic.

So the world has three more qualified open water divers, Lara has her whole life to enjoy using her new skills all over the world. Kristi and I have another bucket list item ticked off.

The last thing to do is to thanks Pam for helping us, Kristi for encouraging me and especially thank our American instructor Max for guiding me slowly through my fear.  We are so glad that we had you as our instructor and now friend. To Liz, his partner for agreeing to change diapers for us for the two days we went out to sea. The boys will be forever grateful for hours of watching the Smurfs.

The world that awaited me and will await you is truly stunning, you just cannot see it on the surface, it is a bit like wondering what space is like…… mmm another bucket list item.

As we leave this post with a few more pictures of our dives, remember if this is you, find yourself a Max and regret doing it, not regret not doing.

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