St Thomas

Our first port was St Thomas.  Jason and I booked a tour group to go Open Water Helmet Diving with Sharks.  It was truly exciting.  For those that really know me, they know that I DO NOT like the water.  And that is NO exaggeration.  This was quite a feat for me to actually get in the water.  I was really calm and really excited to tour St Thomas and head to the water until I actually got there and got suited up.  Then the anxiety hit.  When I got down to the water edge, the water was so cold that I just about called it quits.  I started to walk down the ladder into the water and was stopped by our tour guide and was asked to exit the water.  The individual who had gone in before me was having problems equalizing the pressure in his ears.  Jason later told me that he would have sworn that once I got out I was not getting back in.  He said the look in my face said there was no way I was getting back in the water.  To be honest though, getting in the second time was a lot warmer.  The water felt much better and it was a lot easier to proceed. 

Let me tell you a bit about the equipment.  The helmet we were wearing weighed 75 lbs each.  They are designed so that we can wear our glasses, not get our hair wet and not feel quite so claustrophobic but man was it heavy.  Even under water it was heavy.

We went into the water in groups of 12 and we spent about a half hour 30 feet under the water.  We got to see a lot of cool things and got videos and pictures.  It was so much fun.  We got to walk around on the ocean floor and view wildlife.  It was very sporadic because it was open diving so the animals came and went at their own leisure.  What our group saw wasn’t necessarily what the next groups got to see.  It was pretty great.

 When it was over we got to tour the aquarium that surrounded the open water dive area.  The aquarium held arenas of other sharks, large tortoises, iquanas, starfish, crabs, and other fish and sea wild life.  It was a great day spent outside and I felt great feeling like I succeeded in overcoming a small part of my fear of water.