A friend of mine had the biggest crush on a scubadive instructor while she was travelling in Thailand. She ended up staying with him for a few months and, of course, diving a lot. Thanks to this guy - i never met btw - it was the first time i could hear weird but amazing stories about the ocean. I thought it was cool, but i couldn’t imagine myself close to that.

When I finally went to Southeast Asia, diving & snorkelling tours were in all the agencies, but in Vietnam the main attractions were on land so fish weren’t all over your face. Anyway, all travellers were coming from Thailand or on their way, so underwater stories came up again in hostels. This guy told me about the time he saw a bunch of sharks in the Philippines, this other guy told me that he got reverse vertigo on a night dive. I struggled: my adventurous-me wanted to tried it anyway and my scary-me thought that somehow i was going to be eaten by a giant octopus. Regardless of the stories, all these people were encouraging me to do it.

I tried snorkelling on Cham island. You could see the coral and the fish from the boat, visibility was amazing. I tried admiring nature in the ocean, but i felt uncomfortable, i was invading the fish area or they were invding mine, either way i felt it was wrong and i went back to the boat. My whole life, i had such a good relationship with the ocean: I loved swimming and navigating, but this was different. This was actually getting there. I was even more curious, but also annoyed with myself.

A year later i went to the famous thai islands and i couldn’t escape. Scubadiving courses were all over, there were deals like getting disccount in your accomodation and free breakfast if you would get one. I have to accept that maybe money - or food- was the reason to take one, but the main thing is i did it.

I did the PADI Open Water course with four more girls. It was great, because we were all scared, but we were still trying. We watched some educational videos and heard lots of diving stories from the instructors. We did all the exercises in a pool first and then when i finally went 15 meters down by myself i couldn’t believe it. I was breathing underwater, i was looking at this beautiful coral, i was with the instructors and my new friends. I felt safe and happy and a new part of my brain opened up.

The first times you struggle with your buoyancy and you crush with everything and everyone, but it doesn’t really matter, you enjoy it. It’s very impressive how fast you can get better and better. It’s like going on a safari. It’s like putting everything in mute. It’s like going to another world. You just chill and look at fish’s daily life and reflect about the wonders of this planet.