Monday, November 24, 2008

Cruisin', Part IV: The Excursions

We took two excursions on the trip. The first excursion was at Cozumel, the underwater helmet dive.


I was a little nervous about this one. There was a certain leap of faith that I needed to take in order to go about 15 feet underwater, under the deep blue sea, in nothing but a swim suit and a helmet that was attached to a hose that fed oxygen into the helmet. The helmet weighed 70 pounds which kept you submerged, and the pressure of the oxygen in the helmet kept the water from sneaking up into the helmet.


I was fine, just a little nervous, up until I had to climb down the ladder and have the helmet put on me just before going below the surface. RIGHT before that happened, I almost panicked: could I really do this? Was I actually going to be able to breathe underwater with just a helmet on me? But I followed through, and the helmet went on and down the ladder I went, to the ocean floor.


After that initial feeling of panic, this unbelievable wave of euphoria hit me as I followed the rope that was attached on poles to the ocean floor and walked to meet Gillian and Dan, who went down before me. All I could is giggle as I realized what I was actually doing! I felt a little bit like James Earl Jones' character in Field of Dreams as he walked into the cornfield. It was amazing! Here are some photos of us:































2 comments:

Johanna said...

That is incredible! Those photos are awesome! So, how did you get back up to the surface? How long were you able to stay submerged? Is that a plane in the background?

I want to go now. That is sooooo cool!

I'm now officially jealous!

Anonymous said...

Well, you DID it ! and you look so great under there !
I have tried to leave lots of messages but they seem to be switched away before getting published...
They must have sunk somewhere...
I hope this one will show...
GRAT post and GREAT adventure !!!
Marie-Noƫlle