JC Fedorczyk
Contributor
So here was the plan....
I had spoken for a huge amount of time with Christi on the plans to do a proposal underwater. I figured that it would be best to do the proposal after everyone in our group had a few days to dive so that everyone was comfortable underwater. I'd filled everyone in our group (except for Hannah's girlfriend) about the plans so everyone was on board. I also had reservations for that night at La Veranda with flowers and private Gazebo.
We go down and do 2 days of beautiful diving with Blue XT so that everyone is comfortable in the water and ready to go. The plan was going to be done on the 3rd of January on the 2nd dive of the day. Christi had made up signs for me that said "Will" "You" "Marry" "Me" and then because divers all look the same underwater I had a sign that said "Not him...ME!" I also had a huge fake ring that I found in a store because everything looks bigger underwater
Christi would join us on the dive so that she could get some pictures of the thing. She had briefed Javier about the whole thing and Javier had suggested Palancar Gardens as the dive site. So everything appears to be ready to go. Months of planning and considering every possible angle are complete! Should be no problem....
Part 1.....
We go on the first dive that morning and Hannah has trouble equalizing and isn't dropping below 15 feet fast enough to make Javier comfortable with all the boat traffic. So Javier gives her a tug down to about 10 ft which she wasn't ready for or comfortable with. No fault of Javiers though. So we get to around 25ft and she is still having ear issues. I surface with her and convince her that she should give it another try and go down with me real slow. We do just fine until we get to around 35 feet and she starts to have mask floods... The mask floods and previous ear issues lead to her calling the dive because she feels a panic attack coming on. I signal Javier, deploy a SMB and take her up to the surface. Now I'm getting worried because I've got plans for the second dive..... We get to the surface and get her on the boat and she tells me that she isn't going to do the 2nd dive of the day..... CRAP!!! I talk with her a little and try to convince her that she should get back on the horse etc etc... Javier finishes the dive with everyone and during the surface interval Javier is doing his best to charm Hannah into going on the next dive. I was laughing to myself the entire time he's telling HAnnah how great her next dive is going to be and how she doesn't want to miss it.
Thanks to Javier he convinces her to go on the 2nd dive. At this point we meet up with Shamu and Christi hops on board and we proceed to the site. Christi has the signs with her and I have snuck the fake ring into my BCD. Everyone except Christi bails overboard whole Christi stuffs the signs in her BCD and then joins us. We all descend to around 40ft and I'm watching Hannah for any problems. So far so good.... Javier and I are in the lead with her. Javier had promised to show her a special creature in a cave that he doesn't show to many people. This would be the distraction so that Christi could get the signs to everyone without Hannah knowing. Christi hands out the signs and with Hannah distracted Christi manages to sneak a hand off of my sign to me. So far so good.... Then I look at Hannah's mask and see it's starting to fog up... and she hates to clear it underwater. uh-oh.....
By now we're about 10 minutes into the dive swimming around looking at stuff and Javier and I notice that Hannah is drifting up towards a coral overhang. We both grab her and give her a tug down and point out what she was headed for.... At this point 2 things happen... Her mask completely fogs and she gets hit with a panic attack. Javier and I get the up signal from her and she's holding her chest starting to hyperventilate.... crap crap crap.... We tried to calm her down underwater but no such luck she still wanted up. So at this point I figure I had better take what I can get and signal to the rest of the group to line up in order and hold out the signs..... Everyone is in place and ready to go..... and Hannah refuses to turn around.... ARGHHHHH.... I get her attention and give her a signal to turn around and she shakes her head at me and gives me the up signal... by now I'm yelling through my regulator "JUST TURN AROUND" because the rest of the group has floated to within 2 feet behind her. She squeezes her eyes shut, shakes her head no, and signals up.... Aw crap!
ok so as a group we slowly surface and I figure once she is on the surface I'll have everyone hold up the signs... Well we get to the top and HAnnah makes a beeline to the boat. Not even turning around when I ask. All she can say is I can't breath, I want to get on the boat and go home. Full blown panic attack on her part. She gets on the boat and puts her head between her knees and tries to catch her breath. meanwhile we're all lined up along the side of the boat with the signs and I'm asking her to look over the side of the boat.... She refuses saying that she can't breath and just wants to get on land.... So that plan didn't work out either... So I get onto the boat and rub her back and try to calm her down while everyone else gets on the boat. She's still got her head between her knees and doesn't want to look up. So I do the only thing available to me. One by one I place the signs down between her knees so that she can read them.... At that point her head shoots up and she says "Are you F'n kidding me?" Nope.... She said yes!
and then for the entire boat ride back to the condo she switched between calling herself an ***, apologizing to everyone on the boat, and yelling at me for not telling her what I had planned
There's a 2nd half to the plan that I did in the evening. I'll write that out later gotta unpack.
Huge kudos to Christi and her crew for all their help with this. I couldn't have done it without all of their help.
I had spoken for a huge amount of time with Christi on the plans to do a proposal underwater. I figured that it would be best to do the proposal after everyone in our group had a few days to dive so that everyone was comfortable underwater. I'd filled everyone in our group (except for Hannah's girlfriend) about the plans so everyone was on board. I also had reservations for that night at La Veranda with flowers and private Gazebo.
We go down and do 2 days of beautiful diving with Blue XT so that everyone is comfortable in the water and ready to go. The plan was going to be done on the 3rd of January on the 2nd dive of the day. Christi had made up signs for me that said "Will" "You" "Marry" "Me" and then because divers all look the same underwater I had a sign that said "Not him...ME!" I also had a huge fake ring that I found in a store because everything looks bigger underwater
Christi would join us on the dive so that she could get some pictures of the thing. She had briefed Javier about the whole thing and Javier had suggested Palancar Gardens as the dive site. So everything appears to be ready to go. Months of planning and considering every possible angle are complete! Should be no problem.... Part 1.....
We go on the first dive that morning and Hannah has trouble equalizing and isn't dropping below 15 feet fast enough to make Javier comfortable with all the boat traffic. So Javier gives her a tug down to about 10 ft which she wasn't ready for or comfortable with. No fault of Javiers though. So we get to around 25ft and she is still having ear issues. I surface with her and convince her that she should give it another try and go down with me real slow. We do just fine until we get to around 35 feet and she starts to have mask floods... The mask floods and previous ear issues lead to her calling the dive because she feels a panic attack coming on. I signal Javier, deploy a SMB and take her up to the surface. Now I'm getting worried because I've got plans for the second dive..... We get to the surface and get her on the boat and she tells me that she isn't going to do the 2nd dive of the day..... CRAP!!! I talk with her a little and try to convince her that she should get back on the horse etc etc... Javier finishes the dive with everyone and during the surface interval Javier is doing his best to charm Hannah into going on the next dive. I was laughing to myself the entire time he's telling HAnnah how great her next dive is going to be and how she doesn't want to miss it.
Thanks to Javier he convinces her to go on the 2nd dive. At this point we meet up with Shamu and Christi hops on board and we proceed to the site. Christi has the signs with her and I have snuck the fake ring into my BCD. Everyone except Christi bails overboard whole Christi stuffs the signs in her BCD and then joins us. We all descend to around 40ft and I'm watching Hannah for any problems. So far so good.... Javier and I are in the lead with her. Javier had promised to show her a special creature in a cave that he doesn't show to many people. This would be the distraction so that Christi could get the signs to everyone without Hannah knowing. Christi hands out the signs and with Hannah distracted Christi manages to sneak a hand off of my sign to me. So far so good.... Then I look at Hannah's mask and see it's starting to fog up... and she hates to clear it underwater. uh-oh.....
By now we're about 10 minutes into the dive swimming around looking at stuff and Javier and I notice that Hannah is drifting up towards a coral overhang. We both grab her and give her a tug down and point out what she was headed for.... At this point 2 things happen... Her mask completely fogs and she gets hit with a panic attack. Javier and I get the up signal from her and she's holding her chest starting to hyperventilate.... crap crap crap.... We tried to calm her down underwater but no such luck she still wanted up. So at this point I figure I had better take what I can get and signal to the rest of the group to line up in order and hold out the signs..... Everyone is in place and ready to go..... and Hannah refuses to turn around.... ARGHHHHH.... I get her attention and give her a signal to turn around and she shakes her head at me and gives me the up signal... by now I'm yelling through my regulator "JUST TURN AROUND" because the rest of the group has floated to within 2 feet behind her.
She squeezes her eyes shut, shakes her head no, and signals up.... Aw crap! ok so as a group we slowly surface and I figure once she is on the surface I'll have everyone hold up the signs... Well we get to the top and HAnnah makes a beeline to the boat. Not even turning around when I ask. All she can say is I can't breath, I want to get on the boat and go home. Full blown panic attack on her part. She gets on the boat and puts her head between her knees and tries to catch her breath. meanwhile we're all lined up along the side of the boat with the signs and I'm asking her to look over the side of the boat.... She refuses saying that she can't breath and just wants to get on land.... So that plan didn't work out either... So I get onto the boat and rub her back and try to calm her down while everyone else gets on the boat. She's still got her head between her knees and doesn't want to look up. So I do the only thing available to me. One by one I place the signs down between her knees so that she can read them.... At that point her head shoots up and she says "Are you F'n kidding me?" Nope.... She said yes!
and then for the entire boat ride back to the condo she switched between calling herself an ***, apologizing to everyone on the boat, and yelling at me for not telling her what I had planned There's a 2nd half to the plan that I did in the evening. I'll write that out later gotta unpack.
Huge kudos to Christi and her crew for all their help with this. I couldn't have done it without all of their help.
