Today I went diving for the first time. In the boat there were me, Katie, Darren (another intern at Hurricane divers, he does the same thing as Katie), Nata, my instructor and Javier, the boat conductor.

We went out to a bay called Maguey, and Katie and Darren did some mapping training for their Divemaster course. I did what is called a DSD, a Discover Scuba Diving course. I went down with Nata, who deflated my buoyancy control device so I wouldn't float any more.

It was fun going into the sea. I sat on the edge of the boat and rolled back. Felt all professional.

When we were at the bottom around 30 feet, we stopped on the floor, knelt down, and did some exercises. One was taking the regulator out (the thing you breathe through), another was finding it as if it were lost, another was filling the mask with water and then emptying it, and the last was breathing from the other persons regulator in case yours didn't work.

This was all a little worrying and I didn't enjoy it too much. But we then swam on for the rest of the hour, and I saw some amazing sights. We played with an octopus for a while. You can hold it (the ink comes out initially), and the suckers suck to your hand. It scoots away, and you can catch it again. Not in a mean way I might add.

Seeing schools of fish flash by, brightly coloured blue and yellow ones, puffer fish, sea urchins, coral, bigger fish, was all breathtaking. The highlights sur le plan of sights were definitely seeing a seahorse and two turtles. I especially wish Dad could have seen the seahorse as I think they are his favourite. It was quite beautiful, very still, and without doubt one of the strangest looking animals I have ever seen. Apparently it is very lucky to see a seahorse; many experienced divers have never seen one. I think Nata knows where to find things. Seeing the turtles was a fluke. I was wondering what it looks like to see the air bubbles float to the surface, so I turned my head around, and saw high above me two medium sized (I don't have much reference) turtles.

As we were swimming about I also saw Katie doing her mapping. Funny to see her underwater like that.

Back in the boat we went to La Entrega for Katie and Darren to do some horrible looking test where they had one tank, and had to swap all their equipment around. So they were both breathing off the same piece while having to swap masks flippers, jackets, tanks, everything. I snorkeled around and watched. Fun to watch, less fun to do I think.

I confirmed (Katie rather) my flights for tomorrow. It has been magnificent to come here, and I am very grateful. I look forward to trying diving again soon, maybe going on a holiday to do it.