Diving in Santa Maria

On the fifth day of our holiday trip to Cuba, my boyfriend's father, Rob, and brother, Kyle, took me on my first scuba-diving adventure.

That morning, Rob and I headed over to an in-pool practice session for new divers, where I tried scuba gear for the first time in my life. Prior to this, I had been absolutely fearless and ready to go. The experience, as I soon realized, was actually slightly terrifying. At least, it definitely required the ability to remain calm and not panic, which isn't always my forte.

The first lap in the pool, I forgot to breathe altogether and surfaced for air halfway through. It was so instinctive to hold my breath underwater that I completely forgot that the whole point was to keep breathing. The instructor had me take the regulator on and off underwater as well, but that took several tries; as soon as I was disconnected from the oxygen, I would be reminded that I had seconds to put it back on again properly, otherwise I could die. Pressed with that thought, I would unsurprisingly panic and surface immediately. Nonetheless, after about 15 minutes in the water, I was cleared to go, and we embarked that very afternoon on two dives.

The worst part of the entire experience was waiting on the boat right before we went in. The equipment was heavy, the wetsuit was hot, and the rocking of the boat was doing a fine job of making me quite nauseous. As soon as I jumped into the water, however, I felt better at once.

As I had been very apparently nervous, the diving instructor stuck close to me and held my hand for most of the first dive, which was actually highly appreciated. Although the nausea and fear had left, having a guide was still very reassuring.

Once it set in that I was, in fact, not going to drown, I began to take in my surroundings and really appreciate the new world underwater. We saw schools of fish pass by, many with colours I'd never seen before. The instructor gestured towards a type of coral that was safe to touch, and it was one of the strangest things I'd ever felt: spongey, but also alive and very responsive to our touch.

The second reef we went to was larger and deeper, with an abundance of highlights, among which were sea urchins, a lion fish, and a water spider that the instructor passed around.

We also saw a green moray eel, hissing at us from inside its cave. A barracuda swam fairly close by, and I was surprised by how much smaller it was than I'd imagined, having only seen one from the perspective of a clown fish in Finding Nemo.

The entire experience was an extraordinary one -- incomparable to anything I've ever seen before. The unique views and the feeling of being immersed in a different world were well worth the initial discomfort and I would not hesitate to go again.