Day 57 - Dubai - Atlantis - Lost Chambers Aquarium - Diving

My personal goal for the trip was to really get out of my comfort zone and be brave at least once. Tuesday was the day. Since I have problems with heights, I thought to myself: Well then you just go down!😁

The evening before, of course, I googled a bit about everything that needed to be taken into account. But that drives me crazy. So I put the thing away again and tried not to worry about it any further. It went quite well then. When I woke up in the morning I was pretty sick. I felt like I had to take an exam that I didn't prepare for (which of course I never did😅). At breakfast I noticed how my bread didn't really want to go down my esophagus, but in the end they didn't stand a chance 😁. Then I quickly went back to the room and made the final preparations. Let's go!

I ordered an Uber, which was already in front of the hotel. It got off to a good start. In 12 minutes I was at the Atlantis Hotel, more precisely: at the entrance to the Lost Chambers Aquarium. Luckily I didn't have a view of the aquarium 😄. After I showed the ticket everything went as planned. I was picked up by a lady - I didn't understand the name despite asking several times 🤦🏼‍♂️- and taken to my diving companion/diving instructor/professional diver. Of course, on the way I asked her how big some of the animals were. She didn't exactly build me up 😂.

Now I stood before Gaia (at least as I understood her). We took a little tour and I was able to look into the aquarium from above (it's open) for the first time. 10/12 m can be damn deep 😅😁. I thought to myself: What have I gotten myself into here? But this is being done now.

Gaia gave me a safety briefing. This wasn't easy for me to understand because there are some technical terms involved. I have to understand “commands”, be able to communicate how I’m feeling in the water and do some exercises. It is important to behave correctly in certain situations. Diving can be very dangerous 🙈. In my opinion, it all happened pretty quickly and then I suddenly had to put on my wetsuit. I put on some shoes, grabbed my gear and then we headed to the pool… But okay, off we went!

I was fully equipped with weights, a mask, a breathing apparatus, the cylinder, fins, a buoyancy compensator (release and take in air - to regulate buoyancy). By the way, I was allowed to take my GoPro with me into the water. That was the first question when I arrived, whether I have a GoPro or need one 😅👍🏻.

I slowly hopped into the water and was supposed to start breathing exercises. To be honest, it was difficult in the first few minutes. You always have to breathe (evenly) in the water. At first the breathing was very uneven and shallow. But after 5 minutes I managed it. We continued into the “shallow water”, where we did the previously discussed exercises

have played through water. However, that went well. So Gaia gave the signal that we can go down. I couldn't believe what I was actually doing here 😅.

However, I don't have time to think. I just have to function and concentrate on many elements at the same time: the animals, my breathing, Gaia's "commands", swimming, my GoPro, I want to see and enjoy it too...😅

To improve safety, there was a second diver in the pool who also filmed here and there with my camera. We took turns, so to speak. Super cool!

We slowly walked down to the bottom of the aquarium. Then we went to the “throne”. I thought I wasn't looking properly 😅. The facility was built based on Atlantis. We dove around once in about 35 minutes. There were lots of people at the windows watching. Of course I swam in that direction and waved. They were very happy.

There are probably 65,000 marine animals in the basin. Among them there are sharks and - in my opinion - really big rays. I had a lot of respect for the rays. There is something ominous and also majestic about them. Most sea creatures are shy, but some are curious and come up close.

Anyway, it was an indescribably great experience and I'm so glad I did it! I realize

simply that I'm alive - so alive 😄. I'm also a bit proud of myself. You just have to be willing to take a certain risk in order to experience great things. There's no way around it. But it's definitely worth it. The time flew by. It's remarkable what a few meters in water can do to your body. I somehow glided through the water so weightlessly. Coordinating body parts is not that easy.

I didn't have any problems while diving. Everything worked. It's an impressive world down there and I can only recommend that if you have the opportunity, just do it. Don't think about it much! Just do it. But the most important insight for me was: I was always calm. Simply remaining calm in difficult situations is so important and affects life itself. I had no alternative either 😅.

Kind regards ☀️