scuba update

I had my second scuba-diving class on Sunday. Let me tell you, they do not waste any time.

The instructors gave us all of the equipment--a huge tank of air, wetsuit, vest, breathing thingy, etc. We strapped it all on, together with fins, mask and snorkel, started breathing through the mouthpiece, and stepped off into a 14-foot pool.

It was like stepping off an 80-foot cliff.

I was sure I would sink to the bottom and kiss this sweet life goodbye, but, amazingly enough, I survived that first plunge. We spent the next hour and a half chilling on the bottom of the pool and practiced flooding our masks with water and then breathing air back into the mask again.

If you've never been scuba diving, you have to try this--it's like being able to fly. Now I understand why NASA does all of its spacewalk training underwater; you're completely weightless.

I have to admit that I did freak out once and scream to the surface when I got a big stream of water up my nose.

Did I mention that I sat on the bottom of the pool for an hour and a half??--it still blows my mind.