Egypt

Imagining my opinion years ago about me being under water frightened me a lot. Impossible to think about diving at all. Even the feeling when snorkeling after a while caused somehow panic, I started breathing heavily as soon as my head just got beneath the water surface.

Going on several snorkeling trips in the Philippines last year or this year on the Galápagos Islands gave me more confidence and comfort. I was impressed by the under water world and calmed myself down wanting to enjoy this experience. Still the depth of the ocean looking far down not knowing what was down there made me feel scared. Distracted by fish, sea lions and sharks I forgot about my fear. I wanted to see more and get closer, but the thought of diving was far away. On the Galápagos Islands I came across the opportunity of Discovery Dive, which even inexperienced people could try. Despite the costs for my last day on the Galápagos I signed up for my first dive. After theory with a video and some practices in shallow water we went down to 12 meters. Breathing felt different and water in the mask felt scary, but I got used to everything and even a bit comfortable, then excited when hammer head sharks appeared. Ok this was it, I wanted more.

After two more discovery dives in Colombia I decided to get my Open Water Certification in Egypt.

I flew in on a Wednesday evening and immediately next morning my dive instructor gave me the first theory lessons. After lunch we took our first dive. For experienced divers this might sound boring, but for me of course every step was new and I was impressed how much there was to know. Starting from the knowledge of your equipment, the right breathing techniques to the risks to face. In only 5m depth we practiced clearing the mask when water inside, keeping the right balance under water and equalizing. I learned quite fast and was confident this will be an easy one to accomplish. So many people can do it, so why not me.

Full of self confidence my instructor Aiman and me went on the second dive next morning. Most pressure on the body and thus the ears occurres between 0 and 10 meters. As long as I didn’t feel pain on my ears, I thought everything was fine. Suddenly on about 8m I started floating up a little and feeling dizzy. I was scared. What was happening? Aiman gave me the signal to breath calm and not hectic while letting air out of my west. This was exactly the scary feeling I didn’t want and I was always afraid of. We continued after the dizzyness disappeared and I focused on my breath. Frustrated lunch break followed and Aiman had to calm me down, explained what the problem was and the physical background. It was clear to me and so next dive in the afternoon went well. Next thing to learn was the right paddling technique and also that worked well after a while. 12m depth on each of the two dives gave me confidence that step by step I could reach my goal.

The evening was filled with theory, reading through in total 5 chapters including multiple choice questions. Lots of information but necessary to understand and gain knowledge.
After the next 12m dive the afternoon was again all about theory, the test. I passed with only 3 mistakes out of 50 questions. Happy me I could get prepared for my 18m dives next day. Unfortunately in the morning I woke up with a blocked nose, so took some nose spray. We went down and already on 12m I felt pain in my ear. Never dive with a cold, theory says. Reality proved it.
On my second dive I was surprised to find my certification card under water, I was now officially an Open Water Diver!

Headind back slowly with security stop on 5m suddenly headache started and seconds felt like minutes. With every breath the pain went through my head and reaching the surface still kept on getting worse. Back at the Dive Base I took off my jacket and before taking off my wetsuit I ran to the back door and threw up. Feeling heavy headache and dizzy I went to my room and had to close my eyes for a while.
It got better, but even though I should have been happy about my certification I couldn’t celebrate, just weak and tired. Probably the blocked nose caused to much pressure on my head under water, which I underestimated at first. The day after I had to take a break to relax, sleep and drink a lot. Luckily by the evening I was kind of recovered and on my last day could go diving again. A fun dive without problems, but amazing sights of animals, which this time I could fully enjoy this experience. Looking forward to many more experiences like this one all over the world :)!