Aaron Gordon Got My Swim Trunks, and My Flippie- Floppies 2/7/11

Aaron Gordon

2/7/11

English Blog

Got My Swim Trunks, and My Flippie- Floppies

            Beginning at the unexpected hour of 3am and at the whim of a blizzard, we packed up our van, hooked up the trailer and began driving for 2- days to the beautiful, hot, and sunny Florida Keys.  We stopped overnight in St. Augustine, Florida at Anastasia State Park, where we spent the afternoon at the beach.  The next morning we continued our drive to the Keys.  After our second 8- hour day of driving, we finally arrived at our campsite in the Sugarloaf Key. Unfortunately, our first few days in the Keys were a little bit rainy, but after that, we had perfect, beautiful, sunny weather.

            As soon as we arrived in the Keys, we began work on PADI Divers certification.  Our Scuba instructor, JB, is one of the coolest people I have ever met.  She has over 40 years of diving experience and gave us true insight to diving.  Throughout our diving course, she made every moment of it fun and interesting, which helped all of us become more interested in the entire process (even the boring academic day).  Thankfully, we only had one day of the academic work, and the rest of the time we were either in the water, or out on the dive boat. 

            Before this semester, I was not certified in scuba, so it was a pretty good feeling when I was finally certified.  The feeling of being able to breathe underwater is unlike anything else I have ever experienced.  Underwater, I saw fish that I have never seen before; along with other undersea wildlife.  Even at 20 ft, there were over 30 different species of fish (including Goliath Grouper, Barracuda, Parrot Fish, and Lions Mane Fish) and over 50 different species of underwater plants, (like Fire Coral and Sea Cucumber) to be seen.  The colors were incredible as well. 

            For my first trip down to the Florida Keys, this was a pretty good experience.  I became scuba certified, caught my first fish, ate freshly caught fish almost daily and got some summer sun!  I am even more excited for the Everglades and Costa Rica, which are the next big trips we have planned.  There are certainly more great experiences to come, and cannot wait to share them with all of you.