I'd Like To Be...Under The Sea

Researching options for dive medicine training. So many great opportunities!
I recently got my PADI Open Water Certifcation; one of those things I have been
thinking of doing since college, but just never got around to. Wow! I am so glad I finally did it!
It's an amazing experience that gets better every time you do it.

Of course, I had a little hesitation early on with relaxing into the acceptance that
you are relying on mechanical equipment to basically SUPPORT YOUR LIFE under water. That
one can do such a thing at all is kind of counter to what your brain tells you (rightly so).
But after the first few dives, I got used to the idea, stopped feeling out of place and just started looking around and enjoying it. I think the part during training where you have to remove your regulator second stage from your mouth for a few seconds underwater, and then put it back after clearing it--and it works!-- is what finally convinced the unscientific side of my brain that it can be done (by me).

There is nothing like settling down just above the ocean floor and little by little, seeing all the activity is going on around you down there. I was in Belize off the Turneffe Atoll, where there are lively reefs and lots of stingrays and sea turtles bopping around in the water.
Not a bad beginning!

So, plans are in the making now to learn more about diving medicine and physiology. That's also part of how I get more comfortable at something completely foreign (in addition to just doing it)-learn how it works. Decompression stops, dive limits, on and off-gassing (in a socially acceptable way), etc. It's quite a lot you are doing to your body when you dive. I'll feel better when I know what I'm getting myself into, physiologicaly speaking. And it will make me a better doctor, hopefully.