Breathing Under Water: Scuba Diving In Antigua

So I’m currently trying to convince you all to go to Antigua. You can find my first article about this incredible paradise here. But now, I’m just going to give further evidence on why Antigua should be very high on your bucket list.

Scuba diving in Antigua with a Blue Chromis

When we were planning this trip, I was in the middle of taking swimming lessons. You can read that blog here. Adult swimming lessons. Long story short, I never learned to swim as a kid. I tried but the fear was way too much for me to overcome at the time. Fast forward to my adulthood and ironically it turned out that I LOVE the ocean. I love the beach, palm trees, sand between my toes, the salty smell of the ocean breeze; everything about it. I love being on the water, and in the water, and I love sea creatures. What a horrible dichotomy to love something so much but to be so scared that the thing you love may kill you. I’d been snorkeling and boating on previous vacations, but there was always so much fear that really took away a lot the joy of the experience. Days of anxiety before a snorkel trip, holding onto the rails on boats extra hard knowing that if I went overboard, it wouldn’t be good. Even with a life jacket on, the fear was still almost too much. When I was 35 I finally had enough of the fear and decided to take control. I took adult swim lessons at a local rec center for 2 years. I pushed through the panic, I went even when I would have rather done literally ANYTHING else; I learned how to float, how to blow bubbles, and a bunch of different strokes. I learned that I’m way more buoyant than I thought and I learned how to acknowledge my panic but not let it take over my mind and body. When we booked our trip to Antigua I told my husband that I really wanted to keep pushing myself in the water and that I wanted a challenge. I don’t think he was expecting me to say I wanted to try scuba diving. And I don’t think he was really all that excited at the time.

Swimming lessons

I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable jumping in the ocean never having tried diving, so I booked an introduction to SCUBA class through a local dive shop. It was a three hour evening class that let you experience the basics of scuba; the feeling of breathing through a regulator, the weight of the tank and belts, and went through basic safety and hand signal. It’s the same course you would take as a first time diver on vacation, but in the safety of a local swimming pool. It wasn’t a pass/fail class, but I failed. Hard. I was hyperventilating, flailing and panicking. I was so discouraged. So you know what I did? I signed up and took the class again. And guess what? It went way better! I stayed much calmer, I could breathe with the regulator. I controlled my buoyancy, learned how to retrieve my emergency regulator, practiced buddy breathing, clearing my mask and hand signals.

As soon we arrived in Antigua and settled in at the hotel we booked our dive. I was anxious on the day, but also really excited. I knew there was potential for me to panic, but I also knew I wanted to see what was under all that turquoise water. I wanted to see the fish, corals, stingrays, and whatever else was down there, intimately and close up. I wanted to be in their world. The morning of the dive was spent in the pool, doing the same things we learned in the intro class I’d taken at home; breathing, learning how to regulate buoyancy, emergency procedures and communications. I did pretty well and was starting to get more excited than scared. Then, we headed out on the boat. Looking at the vast, choppy ocean, the reality that this was not the safety of a pool was starting to sink in. This was real life. We geared up and I was starting to wonder if I should do this; if I could do this… I was shaking, my heart was racing.

Heading out to dive

I think the worst was that we had to sit on the edge of the boat and fall backwards into the ocean. During swimming lessons we’d done flips into the pool as practice for a disoriented fall; how to right yourself and not panic if you accidentally fall into water. I knew it was going to suck. And it did. I was instantly panicky when I hit the water. The instructor could tell and she came to help me. She reassured me that I could breathe and I had to take a few moments bobbing at the surface of the rough water, telling myself to just breathe: in – out – in – out – in – out. My breathing felt forced. It felt like I had to think of each breath to make sure it would happen. I was consciously having to convince myself that I was fine. Once I felt slightly calmer, we began the descent, which was also terrifying. We had to follow a rope down to the ocean floor and every foot I descended was more terrifying than the last, but if I could just get down…. breathe: in – out – in – out – in – out….

Descent

Suddenly, on the bottom, I started to become aware of things besides my terror. The water was calmer; not choppy like the surface. I noticed the ripples on the sand that I was standing on. I noticed the slight pressure in my ears, one they told me to expect and how to clear. I saw that slightly ahead of us was a pile of rocks… a reef! The instructor checked that we were OK and ready to proceed and then motioned us to follow her. As we swam towards the reef, it was almost like a curtain was slowly pulled back and I started to notice more: bits of seaweed, a branch of coral.

Reef with coral

A FISH! A school of fish! More schools of fish! A coral that looked like a brain! More fish! Yellow! A stripped one! A red one! Suddenly, I realized I was breathing, and not having to focus on every breath in and out. I was breathing UNDER WATER! As the dive continued from there, anxiety and fear began to melt away and was replaced with pure exhilaration and wonder. I could see into caves and nooks. I could see fish and lobsters schooling and darting around and going about their aquatic lives. I noticed corals swaying in the current. A landscape was laying out before me like nothing I’d ever seen. And the colors! Brilliant. Red, orange, purple, blue; a rainbow of life, hidden from view save for those of us brave enough to dive.

Reef with French Grunt

Incredibly colored corals with a sergeant major fish in the back right corner

There are plenty of places in the world that are renowned for diving; Cozumel, Belize, Thailand, and Hawaii, just to name a few. Antigua, while amazing in so many ways, is not sought out for its diving. Because I’d never been diving before, I had nothing to compare to, so I wasn’t really concerned, and I’d kind of set myself up to be less than impressed knowing that it wasn’t a diving haven. That being said, the things I saw in the waters off the coast of Antigua were the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. If you’ve ever wanted to try diving before, there is no reason to not do it while you’re here. The water is relatively shallow in the good dive spots and there is just so much to see.

Coral reef

Longspine Squirrelfish school and Blackbar Soldierfish

When I was helped out of the water and nearly collapsed back onto the boat at the end of the dive, I was wasted. My adrenaline had used up all my reserves. I was overcome by pure exhaustion but also a thrilling exhilaration. I met my fear head on, succeeded, and was rewarded with some of the most amazing sights I’d ever seen. I did what I would have thought impossible only a few years earlier. And I did it in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. For the rest of the day I was filled with the most euphoric feeling. I’m so pleased that I pushed myself to do this and as it turns out, my husband also loved it.

Black Bar Soldierfish

A wrasse of some sort in the center of a coral. Perhaps a clown wrasse or a slippery dick wrasse

A Southern Stingray glided past us and then disappeared into the blue

“Everything is fine”

My scuba photos aren’t the highest quality, as my underwater camera isn’t a professional camera, and most of the photos are screen captures from the videos I took. That doesn’t matter. The photos captured moments of a truly incredible day. The reason I named my site Eterno Dia: Eternal Day; a day that I will remember for many, many years to come. Please enjoy the photos of one of the most epic days of our life and consider Antigua’s insane beauty for your next vacation.

Scuba selfie

School of blue chromis fish

Safely back on the water

Accomplishment

Don’t think I’m done trying to convince you all either. There will be more. As usual, feel free to share, comment or ask questions. Until next time, happy travels!

FYI: We booked our scuba trip with Indigo Divers Antigua. While the trip was a few years ago, I would highly recommend them. They get a 4.5 star review on TripAdvisor currently and you can find them here: https://indigo-divers.com/