Diving in New England

What picture forms in your mind when you hear diving? I have a theory.. The picture that forms tells you a little about yourself! Here is a plausible set of explanations:

1. Diving in the pool- you are swimmer or hope to be one 😎🏊
2. Sky diving - you are crazy adventurous (ignore me, my fear of heights is simply making me jealous of your drive for extreme sports)
3. Scuba dive - you are a rockstar (read just like me 😁)

Coming back to my post of the month, I tried scuba diving in New England! For those of my friends on the other side of the world, New England is notorious for its cold cold winters and cold waters most year around! So only a zealous idiot like me who despite having zero tolerance for the cold would attempt such a feat! What motivated me to attempt diving here? Well, my last instructor had indicated that diving in the cold water was a different experience and the underwater scenery is completely different from that seen in temperate waters! Plus I heard that the visibility is far superior!

So when I finally had the frigid opportunity to dive in colder waters, I refused to pass! I began with my search of local dive schools in search of a dive buddy who would dive with me! Well to cut a disappointing long story short, my first attempt was disastrous. The first dive school I found managed to worsen my concerns of diving in cold waters and even managed to put the fear of diving in me! But the stubborn me did some more research and found this wonderful couple who run a dive shop and school in Londonderry New Hampshire! Imagine that! Mike from aquatic escapes centre not only gave me my refresher training (I already was MAUI open water certified) but also encouraged me and accompanied me for two dives off the coast in Rockport,MA. I am grateful to mike to get me back to diving (after a gap of three years I was practically an empty slate, save for my muscle memory that served me well). 

The two dives were about 40-55 mins each and were indeed a different experience. The 8mm wet suit insulated me from the cold water (about high 40s F) however it compromised my agility. I saw skeet, some sand colored fish, tons of lobsters and crabs. There was some plankton after a rocky coast with a poor visibility (we were just unlucky I guess). All in all a wonderful experience. 

I did however miss the warm water diving experience and diving in my bathing suit that allows for more agility and easier diving experience.

Hope to visit the New England underwater world next summer again! Until that time I intend to get my exercise on the treadmill and Zumba classes!