Swimming with sharks

          Ok so this title might be a bit misleading but you'll have to keep reading to learn how. It's been a crazy couple of weeks but the first two of my long list of examinations are complete in Gross Anatomy and Micro-anatomy (although I am very excited to be able to report letter grades of A for both of these two exams). No rest for me though since my next five exams are approaching in the next 3 weeks. Hopefully this will make the time fly by... I actually can't believe that it's only 2 more weeks until mid-semester break marking the halfway done point of my first semester.
          Now on to the fun... I have been working in the last few weeks on getting scuba certified and today marked my final open water dive. Those of you who know me well remember my phobia of the water and the large fish lurking under its surface. Getting certified is an attempt on my part to face a horrible fear and learn to enjoy a new part of my vast world. The first set of dives last week did not go well for me since the day before the dive was scheduled I had woken up with a horrible migraine and was unable to even get out of bed (except for running to the toilet to vomit) for 24 hours after which I forced myself to go out on the dives. Anyone who has experienced a migraine will tell you how horrific the pain is as well as recounting the day or two after a bad migraine where you feel completely dazed, lost, confused, and dizzy. It was not my finest moment on the boat when first I broke down in tears when given a BCD that I hadn't used before because I was convinced I would get down to the bottom and forget where the new valves were and proceed to drown. To embarrass myself further once I jumped in I began to have an immediate panic attack and had to resurface, calm the hyperventilation and cling desperately to the side of the boat ladder for a good 5 minutes before finally being able to breath normally and try once again to dip below the surface. This is where the final issues for the day reared their ugly head and as I tried to calmly descend my right ear refused to pop. After about 5 minutes worth of descending and reascending I finally made it to the sandy floor. Needless to say it was a miserable experience.
          Today I did much much better. No panic attacks and I was able to clear my ears all the way down without having to stop and ascend to get them to pop. On the first dive of the morning we went to about 55 ft to a sandy bottom right between two magnificent coral reefs. During this dive I could almost make out the sound of the choir singing Ahhhhh as I looked around and drank in all of the magnificent beauty and life effortlessly maneuvering through the reef. As we swam we glimpsed a myriad of various sea life including feather duster worms, hard and soft corals, lion fish, small goby's, a gar, a barracuda, and even a nurse shark slumbering under a large shelf of coral (I got to within 4 feet or so of where the shark was sleeping). I was surprised at my own reaction to being in the water with a shark which turned out to be extreme excitement and curiosity over fear (especially once I saw that it was a nurse shark who are mostly crab eaters). I was so sad that I did not have my camera with me on this dive but I wasn't sure how my camera would handle 60ft of water since it is only rated for 33ft. On the second and final certification dive we went to a ship wreck... I decided to give my camera a try this time and it performed spectacularly (we went to about 50 ft here). Below you can see some of the various creatures and corals I saw there.