My first Scuba dive scare!
By Krsana Asnani
Pop, pop, pop! My ears were popping like popcorn in a microwave! I wanted to just scream for help - unfortunately for the fact that one cannot speak underwater. I hate it when you can not do that. It would actually help a lot if life is in danger.
I wanted to emerge out of the water and swim back to the boat. I just could not scuba dive. I don’t know why I even bothered trying. I could never do anything I wanted to. Scuba diving, just wasn’t for me.
First I couldn’t control what depth I was in and then when I was way too deep, I could not feel myself. My guide came down and pressed the orange button on my remote that made me return back to the top. I was taught about that button when I first got into the water but panic made me forget!
I had done a perfect jump but just didn’t know how to control myself. I pressed on the red button on my remote. I was fine! I had gone down 1 meter perfectly well. I was the last one to jump off the boat. My sister and my cousin were already in the water along with our instructor.
They gave me the sign that said for me to go lower. I pressed the red button once again. Oops! I pressed that one button a bit too hard. That’s where I was - down at the bottom. Way too far down. I squealed! Though obviously no one could hear me. I gave the sign to my guide saying I needed help. I frantically waved my arm and then pointed to my ears.
The guide looked at me and understood. He nodded telling me to equalize. Ok! Easy enough. I pinched my nose and blew outward. Nothing happened. I gave the sign again. Once more the guide told me to equalize. I pinched my nose again and blew out as hard as I could. Once more, nothing happened.
I felt for my remote. Where was it? It was there when I didn’t need it. But when I was desperate for it, it was out of sight. My ears were popping like crazy. I wanted to just cry. I wanted to yell at my instructor to get down here and help me. I wanted to yell at my parents for even convincing me to try this. I just wanted to yell.
Where was that stupid remote? I looked for it everywhere. After like 2 whole minutes I (it felt like longer, trust me) I found it. I was getting dizzy and light headed. I could barely think. I pressed a random button. Thankfully, it was the right one. I got pushed all the way to the top of the water.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. I wanted to try again. But this time I would take it slowly. One meter at a time. I pressed that tiny red button once again. This time gently. I had reached 1 meter and once again perfectly fine. Then I went for 2 meters. Once more, I went down perfectly fine.
No, wait! It was happening again. Pop, pop, pop! Oh no! I couldn’t go lower than 2 meters. I pressed the orange button and shot back to the top. My instructor came towards me to talk to me. Before he even had a chance to speak I started blabbing on. “I am so sorry. I really tried but as soon as I hit 2 meters my ears start popping like crazy. I don’t know what to do.” He looked at me with a blank face.
“Ok,” he said. I was surprised that was all he said. “Do you want to swim back to the boat?” he asked me.
I nodded happily and turned around. I started swimming towards our boat. I looked back and watched the guide go back underwater. That’s when I had all these different thoughts running through my head. ‘Was scuba diving really the thing for me?’ But even though I didn’t make it down, I am glad I tried.