Playa del Carmen Scuba Certification and Bull Sharks, Oh My!
We descended into depths of crystal turquoise water. Deeper, deeper, until hovering just above the reef’s edge. Snow-white sand contrasted with phosphorescent coral colonies thriving in their rocky sanctuary. It was our second real dive of PADI Open Water Certification, and although exhausted from two days of coursework in the classroom and pool, we were beginning to see the fruits of our labor, a key to the door of an amazingly beautiful, alien world.
Playa del Carmen Scuba Certification
Our dive instructor, Nicky Kelly-O’Brien of Playa Scuba, would lead our training group of four to a depth of 40 feet. We would practice scuba skills learned earlier in the pool, then head back up after 45 minutes… As we went down, I couldn’t help imagining myself as an astronaut exploring the foreign landscape and creatures of a far-off planet… Brightly colored coral gently waved as we passed, a giant grouper eyed us from a distance, our bubbling breaths the only soundtrack… We settle at the bottom, and Nicky began the lesson. She worked with each of us individually, leaving the rest to admire the underwater beauty…
Bull Sharks
As Nicky worked with another student, Krissy gripped my arm with sudden urgency… Following the direction of her mask, I realized her concern… About 30 yards away, the silhouette of a giant bull shark crept by, like a ghost in darkened late-afternoon waters… I immediately thought,”Wow, this is sooo cool!”, and looked to the others, who were responding with varying levels of excitement and trepidation… I looked back for Krissy, but she had already made a mad dash for the instructor…
Let’s just say that underwater panic attacks are not a good thing, m’kay? But Nicky, the pro that she is, met Krissy’s fear with calm focus, coaxing with body language to relax and breathe slowly… Without the ability to discuss, the rest of us were left to our thoughts. Suddenly, another girl in our group grabbed Nicky’s arm and frantically pointed… Another bull shark was coming directly at us… Yikes!
Oh My!
The shark came closer and closer until banking left at about ten yards… Rolling deep with an intimidating entourage of remora and pilot fish, the shark and his crew resembled a badass motorcycle gang or a battleship formation headed into combat… Beady black eyes scanned our group, passing close enough to show off jagged scars on his side… But he passed, and all was safe, right? Then he circled around for an even closer look… Uh oh!
We hadn’t discussed how to act around sharks, but I may have read somewhere to keep completely still when confronted by a bear. I became a calm (as possible) underwater tree, but when he circled to my rear I became truly concerned… I slowly peeked over my left shoulder, hoping that the shark had carried on his way, but to my dismay, there was not just one, but two bull sharks just behind me (FEAR!). I snapped my head back at Nicky for guidance. Sensing my worry, she gave hand signals to relax and breathe deeply… One, two, three, four deep breaths and I could feel my calm returning… I looked back over my shoulder and both sharks had disappeared into the dark.. Whew!
Whether from cooling water temps or residual anxiety I shivered in my wetsuit as we continued our lesson… I fumbled through the exercise, my mind wandering… What would happen if they came back? Would they come after us when it was time to go back up? Twenty minutes seemed like an hour, then finally, Nicky inflated the signal buoy. A propeller buzzed overhead and we ascended, making it back to the surface and into the boat unscathed…