My First Scuba Diving Experience: Near-Drowning, Panic, and a Very Bloody Underwater Date

My first near-death experience

Before I get into how my first scuba diving experience almost ended in disaster, let me rewind a few decades to when I first had a near-death encounter with water.

I was four years old, on holiday with my parents in Tivat, Montenegro, staying at Hotel Palma. This hotel had two pools—one for adults and one for kids. So far, so good, right?

Everything seemed fine until this seven-year-old girl decided I would be the perfect victim for her twisted little game. She challenged me to see who could stay underwater the longest. I accepted the challenge. Except, at some point, she decided to put a bucket over my head and push me down. A second later, I wasn’t playing anymore—I was actually drowning.

The next thing I remember is my dad screaming at the girl’s mother, while my mom hugged me, completely shaken checking my throat and head. Turns out, this seven-year-old had tried this before with other kids.

But here’s the weird thing—I wasn’t completely traumatized, my parents did though. Sure, it was terrifying, but I also remember feeling a strange sense of calm, like I had an out-of-body experience. I remember seeing a white light and hearing whispers.

Instead of avoiding water for the rest of my life, like most kids probably would I actually started feeling drawn to it. I would freedive for a few meters without a mask, just to feel that moment of quiet. But no matter how much I loved the idea of being underwater, there was always this fear inside me, like a part of me was waiting for another bucket-over-the-head moment.

And then 30 years later, I finally decided it was time to face my fears and take the plunge—literally.

The Decision To Get My Open Water Certificate

Fast forward to August 2023—G and I were on our first vacation as a couple, and he had somehow convinced me that learning to dive in the Red Sea was a great idea. We were in Ibiza when we decided this.

We were staying at The Chedi hotel. You can read the full review on the hotel here.

Now, let’s get one thing straight: G is a Rescue Diver with over 1,000 dives under his belt. He’s basically a 2m big fish. Me on the other hand, I was just trying to figure out why I was voluntarily signing up to be submerged in the open ocean but there was an excitement about trying something new.

We booked my Open Water certification with Scuba World Divers in El Gouna (you can check them out here: Scuba World Divers). Pro tip? A little insider's tip here - always bargain on the price—this is Egypt, after all.

The first day was boring and freezing.

I found myself in a classroom with eight other people, listening to safety briefings, dive physics, and buoyancy lectures, first in English and then in German. English is not a popular language in Egypt. Thankfully I understood German better than English. The lectures were boring and outdated. I mean, I get it, safety is important—but did I really need to know the entire physics of air pressure just to avoid drowning?

After hours of theory, we finally went to the training pool to get familiar with the equipment. This was where I first realized just how much gear you have to deal with—tanks, weights, regulators, masks, BCs… it was like gearing up for a NASA mission on Mars. I absolutely hated the feeling of the wetsuit on me and how hard it was to put it on. I felt like Matt Damon in the Martian movie. ( and I do not like that movie btw.)

Everything about diving terrified me at first. The regulator felt like I was breathing through a straw and I had no idea how heavy the tank was.The mask was tight and then come the weights.. I mean I was so confused.

But I got through it somehow, although absolutely freezing!  After three hours in the pool, I was shivering like a wet squirrel, running back to our hotel to tell G all about my little venture.

My First Open Water Dive: The Panic Begins

The next day was my first real dive in the open sea, and I was freaking out. First I didn't tell G anything as I wanted him to think that I am super cool and totally into it.

But dear lord, I had so many fears:

• Sharks (obviously). Have you seen the Jaw ever ?

• Getting lost underwater or even worse, being found dead..

• Drowning (childhood trauma, anyone?).

• My equipment failing (because I still could not differentiate my regulator from my BC ).

  
  

G, being the experienced Rescue Diver, was trying to hype me up, showing me videos of his past dives, encounters with whale sharks, mantas, and even some cool wreck dives. I, however, was mentally drafting my will and picturing my mom receiving a call on the phone that I was eaten by a shark in the Red Sea.

The first dive was... okay. I struggled with equalizing my ears (which hurt like hell and this is something you should not overlook and get out of the water asapa), but overall, I lived.

Then came the second dive.

How to Almost Die During a Mask Removal Exercise

Let me set the scene: I was at the bottom of the sea, about 15 meters deep, about to do one of the most important scuba diving exercises—removing and clearing my mask underwater.

As I aced this in the pool at Movenpick just the day before, so I wasn’t worried. Big mistake.

I took my mask off, super easy. And then… I accidentally inhaled a litter of bloody seawater through my nose as one does clearly.

Let me tell you, swallowing water underwater is one of the worst things that can happen to you—right up there with getting bitten by a venomous snake or vomiting in your regulator.

My brain went into full-blown panic mode. I was choking, my heart was racing, and I was convinced this was it. The same year I did Ayahasca with the indigenous in Amazon 27 times and I really did not see this coming. The instructor grabbed my nose shut with his fingers, trying to help, but I was already seeing my funeral & hearing only the Darth Vader sounds of my own regulator gasping for air. I needed a lot of air to consume in that moment of panic.

I remembered the 7 year-old and Tivat, and the bucket. It all came back to me sitting on the bottom of the Red Sea waiting for the same light and whispers to come back.

But then something crazy happened. I remembered a breathing technique from a breathwork course I had taken on YogaLap with Michaël Bijker that year. I started hearing his voice inside my head and somehow forced myself to slow down, take deep, controlled breaths through the regulator, and stop panicking.

And somehow—I managed to recover. I cleared my mask, got myself together, and finished the dive.

Meanwhile, G was off saving another diver, an older lady who was there with her son and completely missed my near-death experience. Of course I pretended like nothing happened. Until I got above the water.

Emerging From the Water Looking Like a Scene from The Jaws

When we finally surfaced, I pulled off my mask, so happy I got another chance to live. G looked at me, horrified but pretending like everything is ok.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

''Nothing baby, nothing'' he was saying this but his face was giving him away.

Then he came over and wiped my face with his hand.

He looked at his hand and started laughing.

Turns out, while I was inhaling all that water, I managed to burst some blood vessels in my nose, and I now had a yummy mix of blood and mucus smeared all over my face. I looked like I had been in an underwater fight club with a shark.

What a romantic underwater date that was!

So, Would I Do It Again? Absolutely!

As dramatic as that was, I am not a quitter. After all where is the fun in that ?

Learning to be a scuba diver was one of the most terrifying, hilarious, and rewarding things I’ve ever done, and despite nearly drowning (again), I loved it!

Would I recommend doing your Open Water certification in the Red Sea?I would for various reasons. First the dives are really nice and you get to see a lot of life even if you are a beginner. And of course it is way more affordable to do your PADI certifications than let's say Maldives.

Of course I continued diving and actually I never stopped.

First time scuba diving