That time I went to Colombia and accidentally got scuba certified*

*okay so it wasn't really by accident, but wasn't entirely planned either.

(preface: this is about 6 months later than it should have been posted.  First I was trying to source more underwater photos from other people, then there weren't any, then I procrastinated, and then I lost all of my photos when my flash drive got corrupted.  So it will be low on photos, (if I ever get those recovered I'll add them for posterity), but I figured I better post it anyway before I go diving again, and everyone wonders where the heck I learned to do that.)

September 5, 2015

We decided to fly from Cali to Santa Marta instead of taking the bus. It wasn't too much more, and saved us about 16 hours of bus travel. Our friend José, the owner of the hostel in Cali we stayed at (stay at Kingbird if you ever visit Cali!) drove is to the airport.

He also acted as a sherpa for our second packs as we got checked in and found an ATM.

Two big hugs later we were on our way. And found the plane had free entertainment in the seat back as well as device charging capabilities.

And we got juice boxes!
(Imagine a selfie on a plane with orange-pineapple juice boxes and funny faces)

We had 37 minutes to Bogota, a couple hour layover and an hour to Santa Marta. We checked into a well known hostel which was pure party. The rooftop terrace had hammocks and beds to lounge on, and there was a pool.

The food was also fantastic and reasonably priced, so much so that we went back for dinner there even after we moved to a different (quieter) hotel for the rest of the nights.

We had a 15 min bus ride to Taganga where the dive shops were all located. And there I learned to dive.

Shay has been diving for a while, so it was for sure on her South America to-do list and I was game to try.

Boat out to our first dive site

I started just doing the small course that would allow me to dive with them for up to 3 days. A small pool session with my instructor Petra, and I had enough skills to breathe, clear my mask, recover and clear my regulator should I lose it from my mouth underwater, and go up and go down safely. Basically enough to not die.

Flooding my mask and clearing it. Not fun because then you have saltwater to blink out of your eyes too.

Regulator recovery after taking it out of your mouth.

Shay was an old pro

We had two other people in our dive group that were getting PADI certified, so they had open water exercises to complete, basically the pool session exercises but in open salt water. We did those with them because why not, and then the rest of our tanks to enjoy being underwater.

All good!

During our surface stop on the beach before the second dive I changed my mind and decided to get the full PADI certification. It's cheaper than in the States, you get to take it in the Caribbean instead of freezing in the Pacific, and the certification doesn't expire.  It seemed like a good investment.

Snacks on the beach during the surface interval

Back at the dive center Petra talked to her boss to okay switching me over and sticking me on the fast track to get caught up with the others who were a day ahead of me. It was approved and I was there until 7pm doing more pool exercises and starting on the 3.5 hours of instructional videos and associated readings and quizzes. I fell asleep doing homework that night.

Next day was 2 more dives with underwater exercises including buoyancy practice, navigation, and taking my mask all the way off underwater, getting it back on and clearing it, and emergency ascents in the case of running out of air.

Once those were done we just had a fun dive for the rest of our tanks.

Goofball

Dive 2 was just a fun dive, and we saw a giant turtle.  He was just chilling on the bottom blinking at me. I finished the training videos after getting back that day, and the readings and quizzes that night. Fell asleep studying again.

Day 3 we had pure fun dives with Petra. Controlling my buoyancy got easier with every dive which made them even more fun. We saw a lionfish, giant eel peering from between rocks, beautiful big parrot fish, angel fish, and trigger fish. Some big schools of fish swam past and through us, and that's fun, let me tell you. We also saw an octopus as we ascended from our first dive.

Cue underwater wildlife montage

Butterfly fish are my favorites

After getting back I took my final written test, and got 100% on it.  I had been aiming for that, because it meant I got our last day of diving for free! A reward like that was rather good motivation for studying.

So now I have my Open Water Diver PADI certification and have a whole underwater world (up to 18m depth) open to me. Its an exciting prospect.

And since I'm finally writing this 6 months late, I can tell you that my PADI card has been sent to me with my Christmas care package, and I plan to go get my Advanced Open Water cert in Honduras in April, when I have the best chance to dive with migrating whale sharks.  And maybe I'll go in Panama before that.  Who knows. (Spoiler, I do!)