Last weekend, I enjoyed some quality time swimming with and marveling at manatees in Florida. I gushed about it in not one, but two blog posts, here and here. Seeing these strange, sweet and enormous creatures underwater reminded me of how much I love aquatic environments.
Almost ten years ago, I had the most magical experience underwater, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Exploring that quiet blue world and all its inhabitants, meeting up with sea turtles, fishes of every color, and even giant clams a meter in length gave me a deep sense of appreciation and wonder for our world.
Now, in 2025, I am in sore need of some wonder and appreciation for our world. You can relate, I’m sure.
So, I’m thinking about returning to scuba diving. I’ll need to get myself PADI certified; my last scuba course was 9 years ago and I didn’t end up finishing my open-water dives due to bad weather in Puerto Rico.
Scuba certification, for those who don’t know about this, requires three steps:
- classroom or online course
- pool skills course
- open-water certification dives
The first two I can do here in the Boston area. The open-water part can be done off the New England coast as well, but I really want to go to a warm blue ocean environment for my open-water certification dives. I’m thinking about the Florida Keys or somewhere in the Caribbean.
So, now I get to do one of my other favorite activities: adventure travel planning! I’ll keep you posted.
Dear readers, if you have suggestions about lovely places to dive for a beginner, please do let me know. I’d welcome any comments about your experiences.
