scuba certified

Jason and I have always wanted to get scuba certified but we always said we didn't have the time; first it was school and he was always studying, then it was work and there was never time.  In August I finally decided that if we didn't just commit and do it we never would.  I found a dive shop in the city that offered an extensive weekend course and we signed up.  If I had really known what I was getting myself into I probably wouldn't have done it, but once we signed up, there was no turning back.  Deep down I was super nervous that I was going to freakout once I got under water, and then I found out there was a test involved and was sure I would fail it - do you know how long it's been since I've taken a test?

So we studied our book and watched our video for two nights leading up to the class and it turns out - we LOVED it!!  Other than a little issue with my ears and taking in a little too much water when I was trying to equalize, I really enjoyed being under the water and that was just the swimming pool.  We couldn't wait to get in the ocean and start exploring.

We had a trip booked to the Dominican Republic and set up all the arrangements to finalize our certifications while we were there - and away we went!! 

Our first set of dives were a little rough due to a hurricane brewing further south.  After our first day of dives were weren't too sure about it.  On our second day of dives we went on a little adventure to the other side of the country and the waters were perfectly calm.  Our first dive of the day was a wall and it was so fun to follow the wall down as we got deeper and deeper.  The corral was beautiful and I couldn't believe how calming it was to just swim around and check out the wild life - and don't worry, there were no shark encounters.  Although we were fully aware of what we needed to do just in case we came face to face with Jaws, thanks to Shark week!

The resort where we stayed was beautiful. Our room was perfect with a jacuzzi tub and all (Jason was in heaven)!!  It was a very peaceful trip and we were able to spend most of our time relaxing at the beach or by the pool.  We were very grateful for Jason's Spanish on this trip.  We had read that a lot of the waiters couldn't speak very good English and we were very surprised how true this was.  At first Jason would start out speaking in English but would eventually have to switch to Spanish when they couldn't really understand what we were saying.  By the end of the trip Jason didn't even try to speak in English.  Everyone loved when Jason would bust out the Spanish and I will say that everyone was much more friendly when Jason started speaking to them in Spanish.  However, the best part was when they would try talking to me and Jason would have to tell them I didn't speak Spanish.  For some reason everyone of them thought it was so funny that I had no idea what they were saying about me.


Surprisingly there weren't very many Americans in the DR.  Everyone we ran into was either Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, German, French or Russian.  It was crazy to come back to America and actually understand what the person next to me was saying.

We had a wonderful time in the DR and now that we are officially scuba certified (wahoo!!) we can't wait to plan our next diving trip. 

** We dove with a Frenchman who had an underwater camera who was going to send us pictures but we never received them so I don't really have any great pictures to document our trip.

Oh and I forgot to mention - Michael Jackson even came back from the dead to perform for us:)