I just have two or three more classes until I test for my green belt on Friday!  I’ve been practicing my form (taeguk yi jang) obsessively, and have been working a lot on my kicking combinations. I still have to think about the counter moves in combinations #7 and #8 but less than I used to. (It’s that roundhouse kick in place that always gets me!)  I’ll have to break a board with a roundhouse kick, which means learning/practicing how to do it with my toes pulled back instead of pointed, so I hit the board with the ball of my foot instead of the top.  I’m pretty sure I have my terminology down, but I should probably review the stuff from earlier tests, since they can ask us those, too.

Then there’s the two minutes of sparring. Still the part I like least and that I need the most work on. I’m not quite as timid as I was, but I don’t think anyone would call me aggressive…yet.  I’m getting there.

I’ll report back after the test!

Or, more specifically, outside of comfort zones…  That’s what this whole blog is really about, even though I started it to talk about scuba diving.  I’m getting a late start on my 2009 resolutions, but one of those resolutions is to blog more faithfully. (Let’s face it, every other week would be more faithfully, but I hope to do better than that!)

Since I haven’t had an opportunity to dive for quite a while now–my husband’s health was an issue during our most recent vacation, to Key West–I’ll just talk about other ways I’m trying to stretch my boundaries. One of those, of course, is the Taekwondo I’ve already been posting about. Last weekend I participated in my very first tournament (after a bit of nagging by my Master Instructor). That was definitely outside my comfort zone, but I did it, and brought home a medal!

Okay, full confession, EVERYONE who participated got a medal. I competed against a fellow yellow belt in forms and came in second…out of two.

BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT!  The point is that I, easily the oldest student in my belt class (by a decade or more) competed.

I have to say that if anyone reading this has ever considered taking up a martial art even though you think you’re “too old,” go for it!  I’m having a blast, and I can tell it’s really good for me, both physically and mentally.  I’ll bet I’m adding years to my life with this. Productive years.

Another way I’ve started pushing my personal boundaries lately is in local community theater, but more on that later.

I’m finding out life is a lot more fun when you throw out the whole idea of “too old” or “too different.”  I recommend it!

I’m now 7th geup, which is the equivalent of orange belt in some schools (though we don’t use orange at my do jang). I had to break another board, this time with my hand. I’m determined to be a tough cookie in my old age!

Yes, me! If someone had told me even a week ago that I’d be able to do this, I would have laughed. In fact, when our Master Instructor picked up a few boards and said, “Brenda, you come up first,” my response (instead of the correct “Yes, SIR!”) was “Uh-oh.” He raised an eyebrow and said, “Yes, SIR!” which I promptly echoed, scrambling to my feet. I’d been practicing my skipping side kick, since it will be on my yellow belt test in a few weeks, and that’s what I used to break the board. Hey, I think it’s fairly impressive that I can even kick that high (above waist-level) at my age, much less break a board while doing so! So I had to come here and crow about it.

I haven’t had a chance to go diving since our New Year’s trip to St. Maarten, but that doesn’t mean I’m not still looking for adventure.  Today, before I could change my mind, I took advantage of an advertised special and signed up for Taekwondo classes–and took my first class!  Wow, what a workout!  Of course, I felt like a total klutz, since I’d never done ANY kind of martial arts before, but since I expected that, I wasn’t too discouraged. And by the end of the hour, I was feeling almost comfortable with some of the basic moves!  I really think I’m going to enjoy this.  It will get me out of the house, get me moving, and teach me a whole new set of skills.  Since I made a resolution a few years ago to learn something new each year, I can now check that goal off for 2008.

Gee, I wonder if there’s such a thing as underwater Taekwondo….?

I’m sure there are all kinds of ways to embarrass oneself while diving. Without trying, I’ve attempted several of them. One recurring embarrassment is getting into that darned wetsuit! I’ve seen younger, fitter divers (my daughters come to mind) who actually look good in the things, and who can slip right into them. For me, the process is always a little more like trying to put a sausage back into its casing. And what fun to do this on a boat full of people you’ve never met before! (And who all seem to be better at it–and have cooler wetsuits–than me.)

Then there’s the weights issue. My older daughter wears a full wetsuit and still only needs 8 lbs of weight to get down. Me, in my shortie? 12 on a good day, 14 to be sure I don’t end up bobbing like a cork on the surface while everyone else is down on the bottom exploring. Speaking of which…

Equalizing. I mentioned in my last post that this tends to be an issue for me, but I didn’t go into the embarrassment angle. It’s a teensy bit mortifying to be pinching my nose and blowing, descending 10 feet, then coming back up 5, over and over and over, while everyone else is (see above). It’s especially bad when the dive guide keeps coming to check on me and all I can do is point at my ear and try to smile sheepishly around my regulator.

Gee, that’s probably enough embarrassments to reveal for one day–and those are just the ones I experience on a routine basis. I think I’ll save some of my actual “most embarrassing moments” for another day–preferably after telling about something really cool and brave I’ve done in the deep. Which means I need to go diving again soon!

My first twenty or so dives were in the Florida Keys, which tends to be underrated as a diving mecca, because it really does have some great diving. However, most of the dive sites there are fairly shallow. This is great for beginning divers and snorkelers, and great for taking photos without a flash.  For someone like me, who always has trouble equalizing, though, it can be torture going from 10′ to 25′ to 15′ etc.  I’m constantly having to equalize and it’s a real distraction. My preference is to get down below 35′ and stay there.

Until I dove in the Turks & Caicos, 60′ had been about my limit (my husband’s motto has been, “never dive deeper than you’re willing to swim”).  There, some of the best diving is along a wall that runs from Providenciales to West Caicos island–and the top of the wall is at about 75′. A bit of a stretch, but the visibility was so good that I was able to get some great pictures without a strobe.

At one point, swimming along the wall (which we were told goes down 600′!) we hit 95′ though we didn’t realize it until afterward when we checked our rented dive computers. If we’d known, we’d have dipped down a bit, just to say we’d hit 100!

I have to say that the Turks & Caicos was the best diving I’ve experienced so far. Definitely the best viz!  There’s some decent snorkeling, too.  Keith got this shot of a sea turtle in only about ten feet of water, not far from Grace Bay Beach.

The deepest dive ever for me, though was off the east end of Grand Cayman. We were told we’d be going down to about 80′ but at one point my depth gauge actually said 120, which is a little too deep for my taste!  I say that because that’s when I experienced my first (and hopefully last!) bit of nitrogen narcosis.  I’ve heard it described as euphoric, but to me it was more disorienting–very much like the “spins” you get after way too much to drink. I glanced at my gauge, gulped, and quickly moved up to about 100′ and was instantly fine. (Wish I could stop the drinking-induced spins so easily!)  So I’m planning to keep to a personal limit of 100′ from now on.

I’ll admit, I took some convincing. I’d already chickened out of one night dive a year before, but then my husband and daughter came back with some amazing pictures and I regretted it. (I’m usually the photographer, but I ceded the camera to my husband for that dive.) So this time I hoisted up my big-girl panties and went for it–and it wasn’t scary at all! This was in St. Maarten, on the Living Waters with the dive shop in Simpson’s Bay–great folks. We dove the Gregory, a large wreck at about 5o’ with our dive lights. I was kind of freaked (in advance) at the idea that I wouldn’t be able to see anything I wasn’t shining my light on. I mean, anything could sneak up on me, right? But the thing is, you don’t really have peripheral vision while diving anyway, even in 100′ visibility, so if, say, a shark came from behind me or from the side, I wouldn’t see it anyway. As soon as I was in the water, I got that. Plus, it wasn’t just my light I could see down there, but all the other divers’ lights, too. As I said, not scary at all.

Cool sightings included a good-sized (about 9″) squid and three enormous stingrays bedded down for the night, one next to the wreck and two on top of it. One of the ones on top decided he didn’t like all those pesky divers with lights disturbing his beauty sleep and took off (I love watching those things “fly” through the water) but I got pix of the other two. Not that rays photograph very well when they’re not moving, they’re so well camouflaged, but still, very cool. The coral takes on exotic colors at night, too, without the usual blue wash muting the other hues. And coral holds still so nicely, even when it takes me a minute to get into good shooting position. Lovely subjects.

So anyone putting off a night dive because you’re squeamish, don’t!  And definitely take a camera.

Divers are a fairly rare breed, and older female divers are even rarer. (That makes me special!) I thought it would be fun to have a place where divers like me (and those who aren’t like me, for that matter) can share their adventures. I did come to diving late, not getting certified until I was over 40, so I’m especially interested in talking about the rewards and challenges facing older divers. Feel free to dive into the discussion!
–Brenda, Scuba Diva