SCUBA Returns

Okay, here goes...

One of the benefits of growing older is having more experiences to draw from. And as a person trained in the area of science I routinely look for pattern, repetition and habit. Over the past 5 or so years, I've noticed that I do not take full advantage of a situation where I may find myself. Let's take a look at the data shall we?

I lived for about three and one half years in Vermont. And while there I did take full advantage of the winter season (since that's my favorite). During the summers I did do a fair amount of hiking and kayaking but there was an area of summer where I neglected. Fly fishing.

Let's fast forward a few years to South Carolina. Now I know what you're saying. What the fuck is there to do in South Carolina? And to be honest, I completely agree. I did some hiking year round and played golf whenever the opportunity arose but I didn't really get around to fly fishing until the last few months there. And even then I didn't truly take full advantage.

Between Vermont and South Carolina, there was probably more fly fishing withing an hour's drive than I will ever see again. And now here I am in coastal Virginia within a 5 minute's drive of the ocean, at least 2 hours away from anything close to a trout stream and a severe jonesing to wet a line in a stream. Damn it!

This is only one example of how I have pissed away some good opportunities in my life. None of which have really been life changing or something I will go to my (cremated) grave wishing I could go back and change. But they are enough to make me say, "Damn it!" twice in a blog.

So, as they say the first step is to acknowledge the problem. Well, that happened a few weeks ago and I took my first step the other day. You see, within an hour's boat ride of where I live there are dozens of sunken boat wrecks; mostly from WWI and WWII.

While in South Carolina, my pal Brandon convinced me it would be a good idea to enroll in a SCUBA class. That was one of the best things I have ever done. I only have a dozen dives under my weight belt but I love it. There is something about the weightlessness, exploring a place that such a small portion of the world's population has ever seen and of course getting to collect all the cool gear that just gets me all excited.

All of this to say I signed up for a SCUBA refresher course the other day. A Rusty Diver course as they call it. That's what I plan on doing this evening. Getting reacquainted with my old friend SCUBA. Hopefully I'll be wasting all my money swimming around in the Atlantic this summer.