"Diving In" by Alex Potter

Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels

As I waded into the water with heavy gear weighing me down, I tried to push away my nerves and focus on the waves slapping the golden sand.

“Put your fins on now,” our instructor, Damian, said.

I looked at the bright sun and slowly reached for my foot to put on the green rubber fins. I turned toward the others in my group – a boy around nine or ten, his father, and my mom – when a large salty wave slammed up against me and took me down as it hit the rough sand. The water stung my eyes and I blinked to get rid of the salt. I tried again to put on the slippery fin.

The beach was so calm this early in the morning. I smelled fresh pancakes being made at the restaurant next to us and heard them sizzle on the hot grill. We all turned to get our next instruction and the nerves started up again. Butterflies tickled my stomach and tugged on my lungs as I remembered what had happened the day before.

***

It had been maybe around two or three o’clock when the boat rumbled and headed out onto the water. I had connected my oxygen tank to the tube and felt doubt settle into my core. I reminded myself I had trained for this and was ready. When we reached the spot, everyone had started putting on their gear.

The water had been choppy and rough when I entered the cold ocean. My breath had sped up and my limbs were shaking as I swam to the marker where Damian was treading water. I heard sobbing and turned to see what had caused the noise. 

The boy, who was supposed to get his certification, was heading back to the boat with his dad. I put my face in the water and took in the deep blue. The bottom had seemed so far from the surface, and my heart had skipped a beat while I was trying to tune out the panic. Before I was able to take another breath, Damian had deflated my vest. I tried to tread, but the gear was too heavy, and I had started sinking.

“I. Want. To. Go. Back. Now,” I tried to say between exasperated breaths.

My mom had reached me first and tried to calm me down. Damian swam back to us and reinflated my vest, so I could float. My breath finally slowed, and I was able to swim back to the boat.

***

“It is now time to prepare our gear and start to descend,” Damian said, making me refocus.

I checked my metal regulator and added one more weight into my pocket. We started sloshing further and further into the crystal ocean of Turks and Caicos and were about to go down when I realized my mom wasn't around. I searched the water for her when I saw her lugging herself back onto dry land.

“Erinne!” Damian yelled to the shore, “You're going to miss out on all the fun, hurry, hurry!”

I watched as she waved him off and continued to the shore. I felt a small tug of disappointment watching her sit on the sand as Damian and I went back under the water. We went further out from the shore, the cold wrapping around me like a blanket. I looked around and saw that Damian and I were the only ones submerged in the dark blue. The father and son were swimming toward shore. We paddled up to the top to see where they were going.

“Guys where are you going? We just started,” Damian said. 

I heard the boy crying as his dad turned around to face us. “We are going back to shore. He doesn't want to do it this time,” he replied. Before anyone could respond, they turned around and kept swimming.

I was now the only person left besides the instructor. He looked just as surprised as I did as we went into the water, the bubbles wrapping around me in a spiral. I had to adjust my breathing and take deep gulps of the fake air. We went down about twenty-five feet. I looked around and saw so many fish, each school a different color. I saw lionfish and pudding white fish. I saw fire coral and even long-spined sea urchins.

Around five minutes later, we went back up to the surface. We swam back to the sand and I was smiling so much that my face was hurting. I had done it this time. I went scuba diving! I told my mom what I saw, and she was so happy for me.

“You know, she could get a full certification if she wanted to,” Damian said. I knew I couldn’t this time since we were leaving in two days to go back to our house.

“The water got in my eyes and I guess I just chickened out,” my mom told me as we walked back to the room. I was sorry for her but still glad I had gone outside my comfort zone to see things that many won’t in a lifetime.

Alex Potter is 13 years old; she lives in Orono, Maine, and attends Orono Middle School. Alex loves to read, play soccer and dance all year round. Publishing a piece she wrote for others to read was something new but “a great idea” – not unlike her persistence in learning to scuba dive.