It has always been a dream of mine to swim in the ocean, look at coral reefs, and see actual fish. Not just watching Finding Nemo, but actually swimming in it. To do that, I would have to snorkel or scuba dive.

It was really a happy moment, therefore, when my father told me we were going to Playa Del Carmen (it’s around 20 miles from Cancun, Mexico). It was a world-famous spot for scuba diving, looking at the coral reefs, and watching fish.

But there were lot of things to be considered, the most important one being the fact that I would need a license to go deep. I decided to go shallow. But even that needed some training at least; some type of “getting used to” lesson.

My dad and I found out that there was a special type of lesson just for getting used to scuba gear. It would allow me to try out scuba-diving gear in a swimming pool with instructors. It wouldn’t get me a license or anything of that level, but at least it would let me get a feel for the gear.

So this afternoon, we drove down to the facility for learning. Our instructor was a cheerful guy who told us to call him Jerry. He took us to a quiet room and put on a safety video and gave us paperwork to sign.

After that, he explained all parts of equipment and got equipment for us. We changed into our swimming trunks and walked out. Jerry was ready with air tanks, regulators, weights, a new mouthpiece, and many other things.

We slowly and put them on. We finished at a reasonable speed. Then we went underwater.

The effect was tantalizing and beautiful. Although the view wasn’t much to look at (we were in a four feet pool with a small drop-off), it was merely the fact that I was scuba-diving.

I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding. It filtered out through my mouthpiece and into the water, where it floated to the surface. I watched, marveled, taking a few breaths. Cold clean air rushed in from my tank.

After the initial stun of swimming underwater with a tank, soon I was swimming around. The only unfortunate thing was that I couldn’t go deep.

But that didn’t matter. Jerry grabbed a weighted toy and we passed it around underwater, throwing it off-course on purpose. We swam over, enjoying the sounds from the tank. It sounded so high-tech and professional as air shot out of my mouth.

This was an entirely different world. Most of the Earth was water. I would finally be able to swim in it, and live in it (for as long as I had air). It was beautiful, even if it was just a swimming pool. The world had never felt bigger.

Swimming around was so fun, and half an hour’s of my trying-out time came much too soon. Jerry gave the thumbs-up signal, the meaning for “go up”. We surfaced but were reluctant to stop breathing through the air tanks.

But eventually we were forced to take off the air tanks, but not after I shot five seconds worth of free flow air from the water, making a small fountain.

As the end of our lesson started sneaking up on us, I took a bath and changed back into me. I still miss diving, though.

I know the view will be much better at Playa Del Carmen, though…