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Very cool, Crompsin, I'm glad you survived the PADI. I got a cool feeling once I got my card, knowing I was OK to dive.
Water's never been an issue for me, I spent many a summer near the ocean, often in adventures with my cousins where we would go snorkeling deep, while holding our breath, collecting urchins to bring them back for soup later. We also loved taking risks and jumping off of rocks and cliffs into the sea, where depths and waves had to be examined carefully before jumping.
Looking back, I'm fortunate for having the opportunity to do so, and also lucky for not having injured myself. But I think it's a part of growing up.
Scuba diving does take it to the next step, though. You're in a medium where humans aren't meant to be in, and once a certain depth/time has been reached, one has to wait and decompress before returning to surface conditions. I mean, there's always decompression tanks, but the dangers of quick decompression are multiple and not to be taken lightly. So, in a way, it's a sport that's unlike many others.
It can get a bit scary, the concept of waiting in an environment with no surrounding oxygen except for the one in your tank. Especially since there's been a few times where I've noticed a faulty O-ring on somebody's tank, or some other problem, right before the dive. These kind of things force you to know it's best to have a buddy you can rely on, in case things turn ugly.
As soon as I return to the Mediterranean, I'm gonna try SCUBA there. There's a few local caves/underwater landmarks I've heard about many times in my childhood there, that I'd like to take a closer look at.
My dive instructor said he befriended an octopus/squid, not far from Marseille, where he lived and worked as a professional diver. The squid would come out and play when he recognized him, messing with the BCD, and wrapping it's tentacles around his face and limbs.
To me, it always felt like I was entering a sacred place when diving in the ocean. The way sound is, in the water, the feeling of entering a place completely alien to our own environment... I need to go back in there. NOW.
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