Shallow pool, thou satisfieth me no longer ~Stephanie

Pool? No, the ocean.
My family has spent the last week working with two schools: Spanish and Parrot's Dive School. It's been crazy with double the homework. (Considering we had to read a whole chapter of the dive manual a day and do the worksheets alongside the regular abundance of homework from our Spanish teachers.)
Some of you know that I have insisted the whole time we have been thinking on coming to Utila and the entire time we've been living here that I will NOT go diving. I have a good reason: water is not my friend; you can drown in water. With that being said my mom still had me tag along for the orientation; we watched this video...urgh...I hate that video! It was so beautiful and enticing- I had to have what those people in the video had! Of course, I kept quiet about my change of mind because I despise when my mom turns out to ALWAYS know me better than I do! ( a few years ago she told me I'd like camping...I said I would hate it...urgh, she's SO smart) Our teacher's name is Tatiana, a name which I believe all four of us have decided to give to our own little girls of the future; I love when she explains the rules, different precautions, techniques, and how fun diving is! "Remember! Diving is for under-achievers!" (using the same logic, flying is for over-achievers) I have to control myself during the class; laughing is so hard to contain when your teacher is a 5'2" size 2 energy drink talking with, of course, her whole body and explaining how, "You hold the male end of your weight belt with you're right hand because the male always thinks he's right," and so many more that my sisters and I can't even remember them all by the end of class!
I was able to hold to my guns and not join in on the fun until she handed me the regulator, before any of my family saying, with her Caribbean accent,"Breathe this Stephanie," to which I replied,"But I'm not one of the divers." She smiled at me, it was like she knew that after I took my first breath there would be no turning the rest of the course down, I would be one of the divers. I fell for it, yes, face first into the most amazing experience I've had. My final exam scored a 98%; I could kill myself for missing that one question-I knew the answer was B not A!
Tuesday, 7AM, oral prep and last minute instructions; this would be our first time in the water, no pool...just the shallow part of Little Bight for exercises and then for our first 40ft dive. For some odd reason I had not really thought of how we would arrive at our destination; that is, until she told us to walk to the dock....dddddock? -you mean like the dock that leads to a bbboat? Yep. 'Twas my first boat ride ever.
By 9AM we were still standing on the dock waiting for the guy, who obviously by his strong accent had grown up here in Utila, finished touching up the newly refurbished boat. The wait didn't seem to be that long because we busied ourselves talking about politics, the importance of America's Constitution and our marvelous gun rights; our conversation buddies were a native Utilan (Leon, an instructor but more importantly my buddy), a Marine from Ohio(Zach, a dive master) , and an Israeli...is that right?-or do I call him an Israelite? (ha, that rhymes!) Oh well, he was a dive master also.
I didn't mind stepping in the boat and I more than didn't mind being the first to jump excitedly into the Caribbean Ocean, it was only 20ft where we jumped in for our ten minute swim test without our BCD because that would just be too easy...I'd just float in what Tatiana called the pina colada position. I was swimming in the ocean! That is something I never thought I'd do!...In fact I promised myself over and over that it wouldn't happen...that means I'm a liar; no one has to remind me of Rev. 21:8, I know.
Leon and I were in the back together...I lost him twice...well, actually all I did was breath out so I sank a little lower than him and then moved over to my left a little and voila, no Leon! The first time it happened he tapped me on my head and it scared the berjeebers out of me. Oh, how I loved being under water with all those beautiful fish and the amazing coral! We weren't limited from communication like everyone else because we happen to know sign-language; more like, everyone knows it and I finger spell) Leon pointed out so many creatures I had never seen before then motioned to worst signal ever-'time to go up'. I looked at my gauge and told him I had 1200 psi left...but you know what they say...plan the dive and dive the plan. The boat ride back all I could think about was the next time I would be permitted entrance to that spectacular under water paradise!
Spanish. Going great. I laugh when I type or speak the spanish word for what I want say instead of simply speaking completely in English; it makes me happy that I am understanding enough for the spanish words to be the first on my tongue.
Today over lunch Bonnie mentioned how much bread we eat here, a loaf a day, and how in the States a loaf of bread can last us forever; I kindly reminded her that we're eating so much bread because it's the only carb readily availible, in the States we have tortillas! ...that was unexpected logic since supposedly there would be more of an abundance of tortillas here...but there isn't.
Until the next adventure...which is always only a moment away, ciao!...oh wait...adios...no, bye. (or I could just wave...)
Stephanie
-the natural islander