Scuba Diving in Cabo San Lucas |My First Time Diving

“You have only been on four dives! Like even during your training?” my diving guide exclaimed in disconcerted shock. I averted my eyes in embarrassment and I jotted down six dives on the sheet over the four I had put down on the sheet originally. I felt like exclaiming, “UTAH DOESN’T HAVE AN OCEAN YOU WANKERS, AND I’M SMARTER THAN I LOOK!” I was diving in Cabo San Lucas, it was my first time scuba diving in a real Ocean, I was excited and terrified.

I stayed in the corner slightly embarrassed by being the newest diver in our group. The person just above me in dives was an older gentleman with 22 dives in his dive book, 'Great....I'm going to be the weak link here' I thought begrudgingly, mentally self-flagellating.

So for new divers, the dive company takes you out and will hook up your BCD, get you fitted for fins etc. It is a mad dash, and it all happens very quickly, so be prepared and know exactly what you need. Also, the weights you use in fresh water are going to be much much lighter than the weights you use in salt water. Physics in real life I guess, so I had to add a few more pounds to what I typically wear. Probably the only time that I’m going to say ‘it’s ok to add a few more pounds’ lol.

Traveler Tip: I used Cabo Adventures Dive Shop (not sponsored) they were so precise, on time, and even offer a free drink at the end of the dive. Highly recommend them, especially for first-time ocean divers. Viator also offers Scuba Tours for Beginners as well.

Getting Geared Up

I put my full footed scuba fins on, trying not to think of how many other athlete’s foot infected feet it had previously been on (#healthcareworker problems). While putting on the BCD I brought with me, I momentarily panicked ..... the zippers wouldn't reach around my girth. 'I couldn't have gained that much weight on the cruise already! It has been two days!'

A moment of clarity made me realize that I hadn’t loosened my straps up…oops. It’s hard to try and act like you know what your doing when the boat is getting rocked too and fro, the sea is so choppy that even my friends snuba and her snorkel were both cancelled because of the bad weather. I was secretly hoping that the choppy waves would bring the whales closer into shore so that I could swim with them. Focus Janiel.

This is when the embarrassment started for me as I previously relayed to you. The handsome guide padded his way over to me with the clipboard, “You have only been on four dives! Like even during your training?” he exclaimed in disconcerting shock. I averted my eyes in embarrassment and I jotted down six dives on the sheet over the four I had put down on the sheet originally. I felt like exclaiming, “UTAH DOESN’T HAVE AN OCEAN YOU WANKERS, AND I’M SMARTER THAN I LOOK!”

Slightly irritated I took to getting my mask defogged and placed on my face. I mentally ran through my checklist Air was on, BCD fitted and pre-filled slightly with air so I don’t sink right away, fins on and then the other scuba members started jumping off the boat. There were two other people who were master diver’s from Las Vegas and knew my instructor Rachelle from Scuba Utah. They got the special advanced diver tour….sigh….I will get there…..My turn to jump into the roiling ocean.

Making Strides

The boat pitched to the starboard side just enough that I was able to unhook the scuba tank from the plastic holders on the sides of the boat. ‘I will not grunt to get up’, I was by far the largest person diving that day…’stop it Janiel, just own it. You just found out you have Hypothyroidism, and a Progesterone level of a Post-Menopausal woman and your only 35 so just stop it, own it, and the healthy habits will come as your hormones level out’.

I waddled my way to the end of the mid-size boat/yacht, flippers and all and felt like a penguin out of Mary Poppins dancing awkwardly to the end of the boat. I shoved my mask tightly onto my face, held my blessed regulator (air supply) and took my giant stride into the ocean for the first time. It wasn’t too different from jumping into a wave pool, just with more gear strapped on.

Once I broke the surface, a wave generously greeted me with a slap in the face….thank goodness for the mask and regulator. I quickly switched over to my snorkel gear as Rachelle had taught me to help conserve some of my air for the actual Scuba Diving portion. It is the kind of snorkel gear that doesn’t allow water to backflow into the tube, so even though the waves would hit me hard, I could still breath the fresh air.

The current was a little hard to fight with the current weather. We were instructed to hang on to the previously placed buoyed line the dark tall and handsome Hispanic staff had set up for us. Focus Janiel. The other members of the group came over, and then I was whipped around by the best-looking male staff member. ‘Hello Poseidon, I will be your Mermaid prisoner’ I thought dreamily, then was interrupted by him grabbing the front of my BCD and he thought I was freaking out, so he just said, ‘breath slowly, in and out’----- ‘o….m….g…..Dark skin, grabbing the front of my BCD, the waves circling around us…..I’m in a freaking LOVE NOVEL!’ Focus Janiel. Then I heard what he was saying, “Stop freaking out, and just breathe slowly. See if you can sink, “Innn nnoott fweaking ouwww” I tried to say through my snorkel tube….’lovely, now I look like an idot’ I inwardly groaned at my unfeminine unflirty way of handling myself.

The Blue Abyss

We finally got the weight right, my BCD straps re-tightened down and we started to descend into the blue abyss below. Our first stop was the Sand Waterfalls, this would bring us to an edge of a cliff that had sand billowing down into the 1000 or so meters below making it appear as if there was a sand waterfall, underwater. My dive buddy, James, a Dive Master from Oklahoma, graciously decided to join the Open Water crew, where he was so incredibly kind to keep an eye on me and make sure I didn’t dive too deep or kill myself in some naïve way. Thank you James, you da best!

I put my red filter on my GoPro and started swimming with the group. The fish we saw were incredibly colorful to my eyes, stripped, black and white spots, puffer fish galore, and I even found Dory! I wanted to smile, but when you do that it makes it hard to breath, because it takes the air seal away from around your regulator and vuala, you are gagging on salty sea water. So I pursed my lips instead and made a few little squealing giggles, which scared the fish away…..diving is apparently a serious endeavor. Just for your information, fish don’t like bubbles either. It is hard to not create bubbles because the first rule of diving is that you have to keep breathing….so I just breathed a little deeper, and more slowly and a fish came right up to my mask 😊

As we were making our way towards the sand falls, the photographer with us, clinked something on his tank and waved us over. After my eyes adjusted to the colors of the rock, I saw it, a HUGE Eel head with his mouth open and what looked like no eyes. If you aren’t good at bouncy I suggest keeping a safe distance from them lest you accidently encroach on his terf and get electrocuted. I don’t think getting CPR, or dying from electrocuted drowning sounded fun so I got as close as I dared with my current skills and without the current driving me into the eel.

As we made our way around the cliff, there was a school of shiny silver fish, let’s call it Tuna that was swimming around lazily. I quickly turned back facing down and watched them follow each other just like they did in Finding Nemo. ‘I should have been born a Mermaid. I wonder why God didn’t really make Mermaids’, my computer on my wrist beeped at me angrily, signaling that I would need to descend further as I was slowly rising to the surface in awe of what I was seeing. Focus Janiel, no Nitrogen Toxicity for you. Guess diving really is a serious business if you want to go back home without a stroke, electrocuted, or near drowning. Who knew that Scuba Diving could be so dangerous!

The Underwater Sand Falls

I snorted a bit sea water, and quickly cleared my mask, readjusted the tank on my back and then realized we were swimming over the sand waterfalls. Sadly, due to the current and choppy waves above, the underwater physics of it all wasn’t working.

These sand waterfalls are formed by the friction between the tectonic plates of North America and the Pacific, combined with the union of the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Cortez. There are very few places in the world that this geological wonder exists. Please be advised that if the waters are choppy, or a storm is near, the sand falls may not be 'working' as well as if the seas are calm.

Ascending from Heaven

After a few minutes at the sand falls, we made our way back over to our pickup point and did our 3 minute ascending safety stop to ensure we didn’t get Nitrogen toxicity.

I watched the double arrows on my non-air integrated Cressi watch to ensure I was not ascending too quickly. One arrow indicates you are going too slowly, two arrows indicates you are ascending at a good speed, three arrows the watch gets angry and starts making an annoying beeping like your alarm clock you would do anything to turn off. Two arrows, all the way up for me.

I broke the surface with 1200psi on my air reserve --- perfect – I wasn’t the weak link! So happy that I made it the while dive without any issue and wasn’t the first to run out of air. I switched over to my snorkel but the waves and current were a bit too much to handle, I figured I had the reserve air in the tank for a reason, so I switched back over to the tank air and kept my regulator in until I was safetly in the boat. I was so glad there was a protected area lined off for us to surface as the tour boats full of tourists were all over the place bumping around. Not quite bumper boats, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it came to that.

Diving Tip:Make sure you take your fins off before you enter the boat, I know they teach you that in Scuba School – but when there is a lot of chaos and bad weather, you might forget and fall back in the water slipping off the ladder. Not that I would know, I took my flippers off just after I had a hold of the ladder…..ahem….just like a pro would.

A Surface Interval with Whales

I walked over to my seat, taking half the ocean with me in the process. I knew my energy stores were low, and was kicking myself for not stealing some granola bars or something for between dives. Then I saw someone eating fruit on a stick, then my eyes glued onto the fruit in the plastic bin….LOADS OF FRUIT! Juicy sweet yellow pineapple, soft honeydew melon that melted in my mouth, and cantelope the orange rind fruit that topped the delicious first dive off with a bang! I then washed it all down with some sweet tea and water they had available for us in the jugs near the dry area of the front of the ship.

After a deliciously sweet interlude with the fruit, I grabbed my GoPro to check some of the footage. The diving staff magically switched over all my gear to the new tank (THANK YOU)! Then I heard a OMG from the front of the boat. My emergency response medical training kicked in, and a slight giggle as I rushed to the front of the boat – hoping that one of the handsome men would somehow need CPR. It was better than giving mouth to mouth to one of the sea god staff members that was helping us – three huge spouts of water blew up into the air a few miles ahead of us. The sea god staff members began yelling, ‘Vamos! Vamos! Vamos! OMG – Did you see that! It’s A WHALE!’

The engine revved and we dropped to our knees holding onto the front of the boat as we all yelled, ‘FASTER’. The captain showed a smile of delight at pushing the engine of the boat to its full capacity as everyone started laughing and scanning the distance at where the whales would have gone to. ‘There!’ I exclaimed in delight as I saw a massive fin come up out of the water on the left, and another spout on the right. The captain slowed as we neared the area, and then it happened, one after another there were two whale backs and a spout that we could feel the spray from on the front of the ship. We all broke into cheers, jumping up and down, slapping each other on the back as if our team had just won the Superbowl. Little did we know the best was yet to come, whale back’s crested again in front of us, two more whale tail fins to the right.

A spout in the distance, and then a whale breached – we were all so stunned we couldn’t believe what had just happened. Nearly crying with excitement I asked the sea God staff member next to me if I could jump in …..they were RIGHT THERE! My ultimate bucket list ambition is to swim with whales – it is the entire reason I got scuba certified! They were so close, alas, the joy quickly disappeared from his face, and a very serious look replaced it with a hard, ‘NO, it is illegal to do that in this area of the ocean’, my dive master friend James chimed in reluctantly saying, ‘Yeah, it might not be so safe if they are feeding. We had some bottle-nosed whales grab us by our fins and start playing with us the last time we went diving’. Although my hopes were dashed in that moment, with a touch of fear…..nothing could dispel the joy I felt at having just witnessed what I did.

During the brief pause of the show – I grabbed my Sony DSC M3 Camera and not 1 minute after I came back to my comrades on the front of the boat the whales gave us another gorgeous show that I was able to capture on camera. My cheeks hurt by the end of the whale of a show from smiling so much, I didn’t even mind though. I was within 20 feet of some of the most gorgeous creatures in the ocean and they just put on one hell of a show for me for my Birthday.

I couldn’t help but think that my Grandmother who passed away two weeks before this trip was there experiencing this with me. I said a little prayer of thanks to God, and whispered under my breath…Thank you Grams, I love you and miss you every day. I don’t think I will ever forget how we went on the Alaskan cruise together, and her awe at spotting whales, and seals in the distance – or small permanent smile my Grandfather had while looking through his binoculars out the window of the cruise ship trying to spot something for his sweetheart while listening to the string quartet in the background. This will always be one of my favorite moments of all of us together. Now I am carrying on the tradition of cruising and whale watching. Don’t cry Janiel, ya gotta be tough, just be grateful and send your love into the Ocean.

Seals, Shipwrecks, and Sand

Refocusing on the task at hand, we made our way back to Land’s End – our second dive site. This is where the open ocean meets the edge of the land mass that is Cabo San Lucas. It was still quite wavy and bumpy in this area, but the sun was peaking out below the stormy looking clouds, and creating a beautiful glow in the water. We quickly dropped into the water and followed the same procedures as above. We quickly dropped down to depth (35 feet) and made our way to the ship wreck that had washed in from the ocean. We were greeted by more colorful fish, my favorite fish were the yellow ones that came towards you in swarms when you played in the sand – they would suck up the sand looking for things to eat. Gorgeous little things almost were left behind in the process of playing with the fish. My cheeks were so sore from smiling, then trying not to smile around my regulator. How did people not choke to death from smiling at all of this!

We continued to see coral reef rock that, honestly, looked a little dead – but fish still seemed to be able to hide in the nooks and crannies. We rounded a rock outcropping and there was the shipwreck, laid out in front of me. Rusted from the ocean, and covered in new coral growth it was laid out so that you could still recognize it as a ship. The ribbed underbelly, the wheelhouse, it was absolutely massive! We slowly made our way along the innards of the ship, being careful to keep our bounancy at the right level so that the strong current in this area wouldn’t pull us haphazardly into a metal ship shard.

I heard the clinking on the air tank from our guide pointing upwards and that’s when I saw the sealion! Playing in the water like a child let out for recess on a sunshiny day. The ocean surprised me yet again, when our guide clinked and told us to come to him and drop down through his hand signals. We dropped to an open area where sand protected us from the shards of the ship. As soon as I dropped down next to the guide, more sealions, six of them to be precise dropped into our view and began barking at each other underwater. Twirling, swirling, flying around each other and above us. It must have been that they have just eaten, I’m always happier when I eat too 😉

We stayed in that area for quite some time until the sea lions were done with their show. We made our way along the ship again, when a fellow diver pointed to an area underneath a warped piece of metal creating a cave like area underneath it. There in the cave was a fish that was bigger than the top part of my body put together (be sure to watch for it in my YouTube Video). The thing was bigger than two sealions put together. I didn’t want to find out if it was friendly or not, nor did I want to find out if it was territorial- I kept a safe distance and realized just how small I was in this massive world I was just discovering.

Ascending as a Sea Goddess

Gathering together, we performed our last safety stop. I could tell I was getting tired because I couldn’t quite get all the air out of my lungs. My Asthma was beginning to kick in and I knew it was time for me to be done and use my inhaler again. Once we got to the surface, it was difficult to fight the current when I was this tired so I turned over on my back – kept my regulator in and methodically kicked my way towards the boat. I knew I needed to get in the boat before my energy gave out, but I took my fins off, hauled my butt and the heavy gear up the 5 rungs on the ladder – leaned forward to let one of the Sea God Staff members grab the top of my tank and helped me into the tank holder and I sat down with a thud.

As I was catching my breath, my diving buddy and master diver, James thudded down next to me and said breathily, ‘You can be my dive partner any day. You did AWESOME! Your buoyancy was so good. You should be really proud of yourself with that being your first ocean dive, especially with the weather we are having’. It put another achingly satisfying smile on my face, and I replied with a slightly stunned, ‘REALLY!?!? You mean that?’, ‘Absolutely, you did great for your first dive’.

Just call me a Sea Goddess! I had just mastered my first dive successfully with a compliment from a Master Diver that was more of the quiet type, yet he congratulated me. I was indeed proud of myself, despite the concerned looks that friends gave me when I said I wanted to do diving. The kind, but doubtful way that people often look at me because of my size – with the unsaid words of ‘difficult diver’, ‘burden’ ‘too big to fit and all the other self-depreciating, anxiety driven encounters and moments along the way the last 4-5 months of diving….I had done it, and I had not just completed it, I was SUCCESSFUL at it.

See the thing is, we are the masters of our own souls – we are the driving force behind each decision. Don’t let your own insecurities, own self-doubts get in the way of doing something that will give you a reason to live and reconnect not just what is important, but who is important (you), and memories of loved ones that may be important to you. Push your internal boundaries, and a whole new world will truly open up to you.

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