When I was younger, I was deathly afraid of roller coasters and planes. At some point during my youth, I was even afraid of sticking my head under water. One day, everything changed. Out of nowhere, I wanted to do everything that was dangerous; a self proclaimed adrenaline junkie. I wasn’t afraid of anything, so I went on rollar coasters, I flew as much as my bank account allowed, I sky dove, hang glided and became scuba certified.  Scuba diving is the kind of thing that you always want to do more of, you just have a hard time finding the time.. or the money.. or the place because your young and broke and live in the Northeast United States where its only warm 1/4th of the year. Boohoo.

So I became certified in a quarry. After about two years of claiming that “I’d love to dive again sometime”, I finally booked a trip to Key West with my brothers. Initially, we wanted to do a simple reef dive. However, one thing lead to another and before we knew it, we were booking the Vandenberg shipwreck. 100 feet down onto one of the largest shipwrecks in the world with zero dive experience in the past two years.

Required to Dive the Vandenberg                   What we had

Diving Certification                                                Certification

10 dives in the last year                                         0 dives in the past three years

Was I scared? No. Why not? I have no idea.Sometime during my life, I decided that being scared either a.) wasn’t an option or b.) didn’t exist.

We decided to dive with Captains Corner, based on the reviews online (and I would still highly recommend using them). We boarded the boat, chose our wetsuits and got fitted for our flippers. The boat ride to the shipwreck was a lot like being a navy seal (side note: I don’t know anything about being a navy seal). The waves were huge and constantly splashing over the front of the boat and tossing us around as I was being quizzed on the rules of scuba diving. I felt as though I was being initiated into a fraternity.

Recap:

Guide: “Whats the biggest rule of scuba diving?”

Us: Blank stare.

Guide: “What is your full air supply?”

My Brother: “2500”

Answer: “3000”

And it went on like this for sometime until our big moment. I imagined plunging into the water, maybe doing some checkpoints, and slowly descending down. What actually happened: The water was entirely too rough to just float on the surface like a bunch of sitting ducks. We jumped in and immediately descended. Three two hundred pound men and me bringing up the back with my baby fins.

The descent is something out of a science fiction movie. Here we were, grabbing onto a never ending bright yellow rope that leads us into a sea of blue nothingness. It really looks as though you are pulling yourself into the seas version of a black hole, except this hole is a beautiful blue hue.

This is a great video for a visual:

Somewhere along the line, I find myself gasping for air, I am just not able to catch my breath. I try and try to the point where I begin hyperventilating. This is uncommon territory.  Scuba diving is not a race. Maybe I was pushing myself too hard or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to my breathing. I’ll never know, but for those 2 minutes, I really thought I was a goner. I remember (and I always will) looking up 100 feet and thinking “I will never make it”. The worse part is that you can’t communicate. There is no sign for “I’m hyperventilating”.

Luckily, our scuba guide realized something was wrong and had the skills to calm me down until my breathing returned to normal. When we eventually resurfaced, my brothers were all “what in the hell was that?!”

When all was said and done, the dive was an experience I will never forget in my life. You will never forget the scenery you experience while diving, because it is truly unlike anything else you have ever seen. We swam through a satellite that was used in a World War II battleship. It was worth what felt like a near death experience. It was worth the near sea sickness you feel in between dives while the boat violently rocks back and forth. Because as you sit there feeling as though your stomach is going to fly straight out of your mouth and into the ocean, these thoughts are all in the back of your mind, way way behind the thoughts of the deep sea and how you were able to experience a piece of the world that many people will never get the chance to.

Going to Key West? Check out our post on 10 Reasons Why Key West is the Perfect Destination for the Vivacious Traveler

Feel free to live comments or questions about the Vandenberg dive below!