Respect your limits

In Scuba, before entering the water, it is in the interest of dive safety, that you be honest with yourself when evaluating your capacity to do a dive. Not only does your training, the dive conditions and your equipment feature in your capability to dive, but so does your physical and mental health at the time of the dive. Even if you are all geared up and it’s your turn to take your stride or do your back-roll entry, should you feel uncomfortable about anything, you must – call off the dive!

After much consideration and getting input from other divers, I had to do the honest thing and call off the Advanced Adventurer Course I was considering. Perhaps I will get to dive to 30m again, to visit a wreck or two. For now, however, my physical limitations are whispering, “Not now, relax. Forget about the 20 years you lost while being ill. Just dive and have fun.”

I know my time here will be a personal challenge and that there is learning to be done. Not only the study of diving skills, underwater life, the history and traditions of the island, budget constraints and French, but personal lessons too. To be brutally honest with myself and stop myself from doing the exciting thing, does not come naturally to me!

Your safety is in your hands and only you know how comfortable you feel. This goes for both daily living as well as getting ready to dive! I was studying diving skills yesterday when a passage caught my eye enough to re-read it. Having the same dive buddy adds value to your diving experience as you communicate well and know one another. It warned however that never diving with other buddies can cause you to rely too much on each other’s strengths instead of developing into a fully self-reliant diver.

I admire my dive master greatly and have trusted him in the beginning of my Open Water Scuba Course with my life, as I was unsure of my body’s abilities. I think I may have become too dependent on him for my safety and should take my own stride.

With the Coral Conservation Project, which I hoped to join, now on hold indefinitely, my research leads me to believe that there is currently no Coral Project active on the island where I can get some kind of exposure during my stay. My coral experience will be in the hands of the dive centre guides that I will dive with and my insistence on what my expectations are.

My Butterfly Project on Facebook is reminding me, “Take control of your life. It is your time and your story.” This is easier said than done. Each day I will stay vigilant of any opportunities that should not be overlooked. I will choose my next step mindful of the risks, hoping to find my dream.