Last Sunday, I went scuba diving at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a long-expected trip, since I had never done scuba diving. My friends, Eric and Jeffery came too!
We left at 9:30a.m. or so. I was very excited, but I did feel a bit nervous. On the way, my little sister, Miya, cried, and I had to switch spots with Mommy so she could take care of my baby sister. Miya cried because she was tired of the car trip and she wanted someone to hug her. I also got very sleepy on the way, so I slept for a long time. When we got there, I had just woken up and was startled when I found out that it was cold outside.
When we arrived, I looked around and saw magnificent views of ocean fish and stingrays. On the way to the line for the scuba diving, I saw this big glass ball that had water flushing down it, creating a waterfall for the fish. I was glad that we weren’t late for scuba diving. We even came early, so I had time to look around in the aquarium.
There were places where you could touch seaweed and purple sea urchins. I took Liya to touch the seaweed. She was scared at first, but then she found out that it wasn’t so scary. She watched me touch the seaweed and began to touch it herself. Then, four instructors came from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s entrance. We went rushing towards the place where you sign up for the scuba diving and, to my surprise, I saw Eric and Jeffery, who are twin brothers and my good friends!
“I thought they weren’t coming.” I whispered in Mommy’s ear.
“They are coming, it is just that we didn’t tell you.” Mommy whispered back.
“Yay!” I thought. Things usually get silly when Eric and Jeffery hang out. Later, when we were all signed up and were pairing with our coaches, I found out Eric and Jeffery were in my group too. The instructors were all unhooking the spring pajamas from the clothing rack for us to wear. Spring pajamas are pajamas that are thick and fussy, so they will keep you comfortable in the dry suits. “The pajamas will keep you warm and dry while you wear the dry suits.” said our instructor.
Then, they took out giant black dry suits, which are marked with “Monterey Bay Aquarium Underwater Explorers”. First, they had us put on the easy parts that were loose in the dry suit. Then, they sprayed something that would make it easy to push through the tight places of the dry suit. We went down the stairs and put on some sea shoes and flippers. To get ready for diving, we had to put on an air tank with a pressure gauge.
Lastly, we had to put on a mask to see under water. Now came the part I feared, going in and putting my head under the freezing cold water. Another teacher helped me put my head into the water. At first, I only sunk my eyes in. The teacher that was helping me said, “Okay, put in your mouthpiece and I want to hear two big breaths in the water.”
I was finally convinced after some time of thinking it over. I did a flip in to the water and took two big breaths like I was told. The water was still kind of cold, even though I had the dry suit and pajamas on. “Poor coaches.” I thought, they were only wearing one layer. After Eric and Jeffery also put their heads into the clear, but cold, water, we were told to grab on to each other’s flippers. I held Eric’s and Jeffery held mine.
We were tugged along the rocks to the center of the Great Tide Pool to see cool sea animals. First, the coach told us to hold on to his hands and arm. Then, he told us to practice swimming with the flippers. After we all got used to swimming, he said that now he would start showing us some cool animals and we could still hold on to him if we needed to. Surprisingly, no one held on we all wanted to try swimming by ourselves.
We left at 9:30a.m. or so. I was very excited, but I did feel a bit nervous. On the way, my little sister, Miya, cried, and I had to switch spots with Mommy so she could take care of my baby sister. Miya cried because she was tired of the car trip and she wanted someone to hug her. I also got very sleepy on the way, so I slept for a long time. When we got there, I had just woken up and was startled when I found out that it was cold outside.
When we arrived, I looked around and saw magnificent views of ocean fish and stingrays. On the way to the line for the scuba diving, I saw this big glass ball that had water flushing down it, creating a waterfall for the fish. I was glad that we weren’t late for scuba diving. We even came early, so I had time to look around in the aquarium.
There were places where you could touch seaweed and purple sea urchins. I took Liya to touch the seaweed. She was scared at first, but then she found out that it wasn’t so scary. She watched me touch the seaweed and began to touch it herself. Then, four instructors came from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s entrance. We went rushing towards the place where you sign up for the scuba diving and, to my surprise, I saw Eric and Jeffery, who are twin brothers and my good friends!
“I thought they weren’t coming.” I whispered in Mommy’s ear.
“They are coming, it is just that we didn’t tell you.” Mommy whispered back.
“Yay!” I thought. Things usually get silly when Eric and Jeffery hang out. Later, when we were all signed up and were pairing with our coaches, I found out Eric and Jeffery were in my group too. The instructors were all unhooking the spring pajamas from the clothing rack for us to wear. Spring pajamas are pajamas that are thick and fussy, so they will keep you comfortable in the dry suits. “The pajamas will keep you warm and dry while you wear the dry suits.” said our instructor.
Then, they took out giant black dry suits, which are marked with “Monterey Bay Aquarium Underwater Explorers”. First, they had us put on the easy parts that were loose in the dry suit. Then, they sprayed something that would make it easy to push through the tight places of the dry suit. We went down the stairs and put on some sea shoes and flippers. To get ready for diving, we had to put on an air tank with a pressure gauge.
Lastly, we had to put on a mask to see under water. Now came the part I feared, going in and putting my head under the freezing cold water. Another teacher helped me put my head into the water. At first, I only sunk my eyes in. The teacher that was helping me said, “Okay, put in your mouthpiece and I want to hear two big breaths in the water.”
I was finally convinced after some time of thinking it over. I did a flip in to the water and took two big breaths like I was told. The water was still kind of cold, even though I had the dry suit and pajamas on. “Poor coaches.” I thought, they were only wearing one layer. After Eric and Jeffery also put their heads into the clear, but cold, water, we were told to grab on to each other’s flippers. I held Eric’s and Jeffery held mine.
We were tugged along the rocks to the center of the Great Tide Pool to see cool sea animals. First, the coach told us to hold on to his hands and arm. Then, he told us to practice swimming with the flippers. After we all got used to swimming, he said that now he would start showing us some cool animals and we could still hold on to him if we needed to. Surprisingly, no one held on we all wanted to try swimming by ourselves.