Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

We got to do a couple of really cool things that we weren't expecting - like this chimney. The surge through it was difficult. It wanted to push us up and shoot us out the top. Changing depth was not my long suit (I really struggled with going down, especially), so I wasn't too keen on that part of it. But it was really awesome to get to swim so close to the rocks like that and get to this completely different side of the site.

We also got to do a couple of swim-throughs at this site. It had some rock formations that had gaps large enough for people to pass under and through. They were totally awesome, although I was glad our instructor was with us. At one point my tank hit a rock as I was swimming under it, and for a second I thought I was stuck. I wasn't really, at all, but it still made me think about what it would be like to be trapped in a wreck, or by coral or a rock.

As part of the certification process, we had to practice taking off our tanks and weight belts and putting them back on, so if I had been stuck, I probably could have done taken my tank off, and then gotten it un-stuck. No need this time!

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

That's Ryan

Photo credit: Betsy Jenkins 2006 

Photo credit: Richard the Dive-Master-In -Training 2006

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

This fish reminded me of a shirt to wear out on the town - all black, but then a little bit of purple sparkles around the top.

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

Bubbles are good

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

Me again

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006 

Now for the really cool photos

Ryan rented an underwater camera for the last dive of our scuba certification process. Everyone said that underwater photography is really hard and that the photos always look washed out and colorless, even though your eyes will see this great rainbow of fish and coral, so we shouldn't be disappointed.

That said, I think Ryan did really great - some of his photos were washed out, and none of them were as good as what he takes on land, but they definitely capture some of the really cool stuff we saw.

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006

Icebergs

These were two climbing wall/slides/beach toys anchored just off the beach at the Westin. It was actually quite hard to climb up them - I thought it would be no sweat, but it took me a while to figure out a technique, and even then, I was tired enough by the time I got to the top that I only got to slide down once.

Photo credit: Betsy Jenkins 2006

That's me!

Photo credit: Ryan Jones 2006