and Doug why I dropped out before even starting, so I got in the pool for my first class. I had the most patient and wonderful teacher, Kiley Thueson. Some skills were more complex than others, but I was pleased to successfully complete the requirements for the first day’s confined water dives. My first open-water dive was that afternoon. I was excited but extremely nervous as I did a giant stride into the ocean. There was so much to think about - equalizing my ears, not holding my breath, monitoring my air, the dreaded mask removal skill, and swimming with fish. As I started to descend, the beauty of the coral and sea life amazed me. I was not afraid of the fish! Upon completing my first dive, I was proud of myself and started looking forward to the next day of diving. However, doubt and fear started to creep in after dinner about completing the class. Could I really do this? I was not sure. The next morning, I got up and forced myself to return to the pool and to my class, determined to be successful and complete the course. After three days of instruction and diving, I was a PADI-certified Open Water scuba diver
at age 61. I was proud of myself for completing something that I thought I could not do. Less than six months later, in December 2023, I returned to Roatan to complete my Advanced Open Water certification with Peter Kockisch. Kids Sea Camp’s structure and attention to detail - particularly to safety - were very important to my success. Being part of a group and realizing that the instruction specifically addressed many of my concerns played a massive role in building my comfort and enjoyment of diving. Becoming a certified scuba diver has opened a whole new world to me: an underwater world that is beautiful, intriguing, and like nothing I have ever seen. Experiencing this new world with my eyes was much better than Doug’s pictures and stories. MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME In the past year, I logged 90 dives in 6 countries and saw a wide variety of sea life, endless types and colors of coral and sponges, and the critters that live on and in them. From whale sharks and manta rays on a trip to Indonesia on the exquisite Arenui liveaboard to octopus, tiny seahorses, and nudibranchs while
muck diving at Lembeh Resort, I am obsessed with diving now.
DIVE BUDDIES FOREVER Scuba diving is an activity that
Doug and I can do together. It is so much more fun to have these shared memories. We have learned how to be dive buddies. Having him as my buddy gives me more confidence when diving because he always has my back. Our calendars for 2026 and 2027 are already filling up with more Kids Sea Camp & Family Dive Adventures trips. While we regret missing out on 15 years of diving together, the last year has been so much fun - and we have plans to continue to create new memories on future Kids Sea Camp adventures. In addition, we look forward to introducing our children and grandchildren to scuba diving with Kids Sea Camp. I am so grateful to Margo for encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I never thought that at age 61, I could learn to scuba dive or that I would enjoy it so much.
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www.oceanwishes.org
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