It was just before the dive session today. I could see and feel the ocean's waves lapping, pounding, and tickling at the souls my feet as they dangled over the deck of the massive boat's deck. As I let my toes sway to the rhythm of the gurgling, ice cold water, I could clearly see the level of apprehension filling my dive instructor's eyes boiling over. His eyes were pools of ice blue color, and were splashed with a sense of concern. Deep inside, he seemed to be very concerned; the expression on his rugged, unshaven face only emphasized what his eyes conveyed.
The boat's Captain, and several of the other seamen that were helping navigate, were pointing to one spot not too far off in the distance. I felt the hum of the engine methodically slow down. My body, even with my feet firmly planted on the deck of the boat, swayed back and forth as the ocean pushed us one way, and the mechanics of the boat pushed us another way. We were getting closer and closer to the dive site. Having to be more vigilant than everyone else on the boat, I was the first to begin and also last one to be dressed in all of my dive gear. I spent more time watching for cues than my peers did; this was always my reason for taking extra time to do things, such as getting dressed during certain events in which directions were imperative to everyone's safety, including my own in this particular case.
Having had the dive instructor in my line of sight for nearly the entire trip, I was disheartened by the fact that I had lost sight of him right before we hit the dive spot. After looking around, I decided that something important must be going on. A small crowd of divers had started to gather near the center of the boat. Everyone's mouths were moving with chatter and excitement; in regards to a few of the other divers, I might as well have been able to smell the words coming out of their mouths; I purposefully moved a few feet to the left of this section of the crowd. It was not until the instructor shot his hand up into the air that he caught everyone's attention. Their mouths began to slow from the once boisterous chatter they had been partaking in.
My eyes intently and purposefully followed the gestures and movements of the instructor's face, lips, and hands as he explained what would be happening over the course of the next few minutes. The way his lips curled as he motioned towards the vast ocean during, what I am sure was a gripping pep talk about the intimidating dive session. It was that look that quickly set my spirit on fire as my excitement brewed even more intensely inside of my chest than it had in the culminating weeks. Shortly after this point, I had no idea what was going on because, in all of my excitement, I had forgotten to keep watching the instructor's commands. It was easy to assume from what everyone was doing, that I had indeed missed the directions of the instructor's pep talk because I was four steps behind everyone else. Everyone was lining up and putting on their breathing apparatuses, goggles, as well as making any last minute adjustments to their gear. Soon, I too began a similar process. I pulled my swim goggles over my eyes. Next, I stretched my swim cap and hood over my pile of hair. Lastly, with a bit
of a struggle, my breathing apparatuses made their way over my back, around my waist, and into my mouth. Most of the gauges seemed normal except for one, which wasn't registering any pressure at all.
The person in front of me hadn't put all of their gear on yet. I poked her on the back and motioned to my gauges, tank and hose. My hands worked their way around the several hoses connected to my mouth, tanks, and gauges only to feel the small whisper of a leak coming out of one of the ridges of my lead hose. I pointed to show the person checking my equipment. She put her ear down to the area that I was pointing to that particular airline. She must have heard the small whisper of air coming out of a hole in my hose, the one that I had
felt before, because she smiled and began to lead me over to an area in which I could make a quick swap of the equipment. It was no big deal because it was only a quick and easy swap-out of an airline, a check of my gauges, and a leap into the bone chilling water before my real adventure began.
