It’s My Carribean Blood!

By Simply Diving’s Natasha Johnson Bell

Okay, so I am what one would officially term a ‘diving prude.’ As much as I love diving, I won’t do it in the dark, I never pee in my wetsuit and the water’s got to be hot. Yes, hot. Not warm, but hot. So as you can imagine, although I have the charms of the Mediterranean sea on my doorstep, my diving forays are limited to my bath tub and our heated pool.

There’s normally more chance of seeing a Whale Shark off the coast of Spain, than seeing me kitted up!

Now, however, is time for a change. My Caribbean blood may demand 28ºC warmth, above and below the water, but it’s time for my British brain to help me say goodbye to my delicateness. And where better to do it than at Marina del Este on the Costa Tropical.

Natasha finally back in the water!
Natasha finally back in the water!

When the day arrived, I had forgotten how heavy a tank could feel, not having had one on my back for a few months. But all was forgotten as soon as we stepped in off the beach and into the blue. If I’m honest, even though we were only going down to 12 metres, I did have that jingly apprehensive but excited feeling usually reserved for a deep and eerie dive. But that was soon gone once I watched Simon go through the skills with the Discover Scuba Divers and realised that not only could I do them with ease but that I actually knew what I was doing. It really was great to be back in the water. 21ºC really isn’t cold and I don’t know why I ever thought it was. And with my 5mm suit, 5mm oversuit, hood, gloves and vest, I was actually quite toasty!

Once the Discover Scuba Divers worked out how to kick properly, I pointed out an Octupus to Sam, the most confident of the four: And when a school of Zebra Bream went by I could tell by how big her eyes had got that she had got the diving bug. Simon pointed out lots of  bright, colourful nudibranchs – his favourite sea creature – and when we got back to the surface for our debriefing he launched into one of his David Attenborough-style explanations.

One of many octopus spotted on the dive
One of many octopus spotted on the dive

It would have been asking too much to have seen the resident Sunfish, nine at once having been spotted not long ago. But all in all, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect welcome back dive, even more so because I didn’t feel I needed to have a swig of West Indian rum to warm me up when I got out.

And to top off my return to diving,  a week later we got an email from Sam saying she was going to do her PADI Open Water Diver course in the summer because she loved the Discover Scuba Diving course so much.

Look out for more blogs to come from me.  Now I’ve been back in the water, there’s no keeping me out.

Next step, PADI Divemaster course!