Well, this is the trip I took to get my open water certification from PADI. I have a wonderful instructor who I absolutely adore and trust implicitly. If it weren’t for him and him having faith in me, not to mention my husband, I would never have gotten my open water certification. I am absolutely terrified of drowning...so why would I want to take on the sport of diving? Well, it’s hard to explain. I have been interested in diving for a while, believe it or not. My husband got his OWC a few years ago and has worked his way up to Rescue Diver. He has really wanted me to become involved in the sport so we could take dive trips and enjoy the time together. I had taken the class a couple of years ago but never got beyond the pool classes. But, this last year, I decided this was something I wanted to do, so I did the bookwork again. Then we bought my equipment, not knowing for sure if I’d be able to finish or not. What a chance I took!!! But, I went to Daytona, where my instructor lives and he took me and 2 other students out to the De Leon Springs and did the class work. I did all of that just fine. The second day was out in the ocean in 6 - 8 ft swells. That didn’t go over too good because I panicked as soon as I hit the water. The seas were ROUGH!!! I get seasickness really easy and it was all I could do not to get sick. Even my instructor got sick...which is something he’s never done before. Does that tell you how bad it was? Anyway, I survived that day and then the third day it was back to the Springs. He worked with me til I finally got the nerve to take my mask off at depth. That was the one skill that terrified me the most because I’m not able to keep the water out of my nose like most normal people. I have a defect in the roof of my mouth that makes it impossible. But I did it anyway...and now I’m a certified OW scuba diver. It’s something I thought I would never be able to do. I did it, though. And, yes, I’m proud of myself. Next on the list, Advanced OW. Getting ready to do it in Tavernier, FL next month!!! Wish me luck!