The life of an Air Force wife; the good, the bad, and the ugly: June 2014

Something I never thought I would do. When I was in 6th grade my school went on a 3 day trip to Catalina Island. One of the activities we did was snorkeling. We had to put on these freezing wet, wet suits and they were so hard to put on, so cold, and so uncomfortable that I started crying. That's pretty much all I remember about that experience besides peeing in my wet suit to stay warm in the freezing water. I know, gross.

Anyways, so Jared comes back from deployment and tells me that's something that he wants to do. I worried about the price of course because it is pretty expensive but I tell him that it's fine and he would have fun doing that with a friend. Then he tells me no, that he wants to do it with me... Wow, wow, wow hold on just a minute. First off, I HATE cold water, and I don't even like swimming, and second, I thought it was expensive for one person but then he wanted me to spend double the money. But of course I did it because its something "fun" that we can do together.

So we went ahead and paid 400 Euro each! And took the classes. When I got there they gave me this book and told me that I would be quizzed and tested on it. I had no idea how intense these lessons were. You have to learn about pressure, breathing techniques, buoyancy, picking out gear, using it and cleaning it. We also had to learn everything in meters because we are in Portugal. The scariest part was having to take out the Regulator, do an arm swoop, and put it back in. Once I did it it was fine but the thought of not being able to breath that far under water was scary.

Anyways, way more in depth than I thought. And the water was freezing. But once you get over the initial fear of possible drowning or having your lungs explode from swimming up to fast because you are out of air, it's not to bad. People think that snorkeling is fun, this is way better. You get to be up close with everything and swim through schools of fish. Really awesome!

The processes of getting the licensed was long and exhausting but of course worth it in the end. And there is no one I would have rather taken that adventure with than my husband.