Scuba diving....check!

I am now officially a scuba diver - it's something I've always wanted to do and I'm very pleased I have. 
Most people do the 'confined water' dives part of the diving course in a swimming pool but they don't seem to have those here - why bother when you can swim in the sea! So yesterday we went to an island (the picture postcard one with the hammocks - see earlier photos) and learnt the basic skills just off the shore, going deeper as we got a bit more confident. It's a lovely small group, with just one other student and the instructor. I thought I would find it difficult to do things like take the regulator (the thing that you get your air from) out and put it back in, but in fact the thing I HATED was taking my mask off - it's surprisingly difficult to stop yourself breathing through your nose. I managed to do it though and had a really good day.
Today we did proper diving - it was absolutely amazing! We saw a juvenile leopard shark, a couple of reef sharks, some stingrays (eagle) and crayfish, not to mention a huge amount of fish. It was SO much fun and unfortunately it may become an expensive hobby. I am still going to have to get more practice equalising as I spent a lot of time going up and down trying to stop my ears from hurting.
This all means that I can now dive with an instructor, and by next weekend I'll be able to dive on my own (well, with a buddy).