I grew up in a myth

[Lia]

Deep down...

It was not a difficult path to thread on, but having an extra twenty five kilograms strapped to my back and waist made the whole deal a bit harder to swallow. To top it off I was wearing light soled neoprene shoes and it felt as if I were walking barefoot on myriads of broken pieces of glass. But it had been too long since the last time and I was blaming the whole discomfort on that fact. The sun was blazing and it was very humid, especially in a wetsuit that retained heat like some sort of weak solar panel, but it was a clear day and even though the wind speed was a bit higher than we would have wanted, it didn't look too rough.

We stopped walking as we reached the slippery ledge, and I leant over Meissa to check her gear so she could do the same for me afterwards. AWRF - Air, Weights, Quick Release, Final Okay- was the acronym for the most important thing to do before we carried on. Her air gauge indicated two hundred bars, just like it had shown back at the centre. I took a deep breath from her octopus and the air tasted fine so I moved on to her weights, making sure that the buckles could be easily undone in case of emergency. She gave me a quick nod and after the buddy check was over, I set the mask on my face and put the snorkel in my mouth, just in time to realize that I had completely forgotten to put on the fins. I looked around at the waves breaking on the sharp rocks and hoped that the visibility was still good, even with the strong currents of the day before that must have disturbed the sea bed quite a bit. I adjusted the straps of my red fins and got in position for the entry, timing it with the dive watch that I had been dying to use ever since I had managed to get my hands on it. I was anxious despite knowing that it was best to keep my cool; otherwise I would end up with little bubbles flowing through my space cadet head. Literally.

Closing my eyes returned my heart beats to normal and cleared my mind, aided by the breeze and the smell of marine algae and salty water. I squeezed Meissa's hand and surrendered myself to the sea in a giant's stride, breaking away from the surface and its sorrows and longing and sadness. In a split of a second I became once again Lia, the deep sea diver, aware that the adrenaline was starting to pump through my veins in a mad rush. I exchanged the snorkel for the regulator and recalled an amusing situation when one experienced diver from the group actually descended about 3 meters, until he realized that for some odd reason all of us rookies got it right when he had forgotten to replace his. The poor Divemaster never outlived that story.

I enclosed my lips on the mouth piece and signaled to Meissa that we were about to make our descent. Taking a deep breath while deflating my BCD, I exhaled as much as my lungs could carry me and pushed them even more in order to start my journey to the bottom. Once I started to feel the water above my head, I pushed the purge button on my regulator and took my first breath underwater in a very long time. It felt exhilarating, different, strange and yet as bubbles were streaming above me in a playful way, I stayed calm and watched the rays of sunlight shifting underwater in a serene motion. It felt just like magic, an unexplainable hybrid of emotions that could carry you anywhere, mixed in with the colorfulness of the fish that swam past us and the swaying of the kelp forest nearby.

...you are a diver

End of Part I

I am a bit rusty but I'm certainly not afraid of people pointing out my mistakes. I just felt like writing about my experiences as a scuba diver since the desire to go back underwater has been bursting within me lately.