Scuba

I got some of our pictures today from the scuba/snorkel trip in Belize. We went with Ecologic Divers, whom I highly recommend if you are ever in San Pedro. First we did a snorkel at Shark Ray Alley, where we were able to see the most colorful and varied marine life I could imagine. It was truly beautiful to see all the shapes and colors of coral at the reef, and see schools of brightly colored fish swimming in and around everything. I was a little freaked out by the sting rays, but the sharks didn't scare me. The grouper were 5-6 feet long, and really funny looking. It was a beautiful scuba experience.

And then Mark and I did the "Discovery Dive, " which meant that because we were not PADI certified, they gave us a quick course and then we had an instructor right with us while we dove.

Mark came out of the water saying that was one of the coolest things he has ever done, and he was ready to go get his PADI. However, I spent the entire dive feeling like my eyeballs were exploding, and watching my air meter wondering how long the torture of the dive would be. I was able to equalize the pressure in my ears alright, but for some reason the pressure of the water severely hurt my eyeballs. Yes, I am a freak. It would hurt more than anything, and then for a few minutes I would be OK. But as soon as we went either up or down again, I would have the same excruciating pain in my eyeballs.

There were two other girls with us on the "discovery dive" and they were weenies. They had to keep going up to the surface, and finally the instructor came down with one of them and literally held on to her arm to make her stay down, and he sent down another guy from the boat to stay with those of us who were a little more with-it. He was great, and showed us the hiding places of many different fish, lobster, and other crabby things.

When we finally surfaced, my eyes were hurting more than ever. I was grateful to have seen all that marine life, but I am resigned to be a snorkeler forever more.