Snorkel Boy has gone the way of the wooly mammoth. Say hello to Scuba Boy.

I’ve wanted to take scuba lessons for-just-about-ever, and snorkeling on our recent cruise vacation finally made me get off my ass and go do it. I wanted to go deeper, longer (yes, I’m still talking about snorkeling), so I raced straight from the cruise ship to my local dive shop, Aqua Adventures Unlimited, and signed up for scuba lessons.

My classes covered two weekends. Weekend #1 (May 8, 9) we did the book learnin’ in the mornings and in the afternoon learned basic scuba skills (like how to put on a skin-tight 7 mm wetsuit — it’s a real workout!) in the pool. Weekend #2 (yesterday and the day before) we went to Catalina Island and did the Open Water dives in the ocean with real live fish and lobsters and stuff. We even saw a shark! (Not a real one, it was just the design on someone’s towel on the dive boat, but still…)

Bottom line: I love it. Swimming among the kelp is like flying through a forest, breathing underwater is indescribably cool, and there’s so much to see down there that you don’t want to come back up. I’m glad I finally did it. I can’t wait to go out again.

I am Scuba Boy. Woo.