My first real dive trip was that PADI Total Submersion Dive Festival in Grand Cayman. I had such a great time I am going back next year. The humidity hit me like a bus when I got off the plane at the airport in Georgetown. As soon as I got my gear and got to my room, I had that air conditioner cranked on! I went down to the bar where everyone gathers to check in and get gear if they need to rent it etc. I checked in at the dive center and they asked me how many dives I had and I proudly declared...7! They divided the group up to five dive boats all marked with a colored flag. I was on the red boat. I was also the only one on my boat with a mere open water certification. Everyone else was a dive master, instructor, course director, grand poobah, King, whatever. Fortunately they were all very nice and looked after me rather than making me feel like a nuisance newbie with all my fumbling and boobery. The first dive was a little rough. I was nervous but ready to do the deep dive. There was a current and being new, I didn`t know I was allowed to sink a bit and swim under to the mooring line at the bow. I had my weight belt too tight and too much air in my BC and I was suffocating. I couldn`t surface swim where I needed to go and the current was bashing me up against the side of the boat. I decided I wasn`t having any fun, so i turned around and go back aboard. I stayed on deck with Scotty, the cute little 17 year old from Canada who was there studying. The next dive was so much better. It was fairly shallow and Robbie, the boat captain told me I could dive with him. I felt like a chicken dufus but no one made fun of me or thought of me that way. I splashed and had a great dive. It was so clear and beautiful there, and I saw so much marine life. We did four days of two tank boat diving and numerous shore dives. There was a sea pool where you could practice skills and I took the opportunity to work on buoyancy. I found out that I was overweighted and I only took 10 pounds. After that it was a breeze. I never used any air on my BC and I was able to control myself (finally) and not biff the coral and kick up silt. No more flailing. One day we were diving at a site where there was an overhang. It was really interesting in that when divers were below it, their bubbles percolated up through the coral overhang. There was a Nurse Shark on the bottom who needed a nurse. It lay dying from a deep cut behind it`s dorsal fin. I was saddened by this sight, but had to keep in mind that her death meant life for so many other creatures, including other sharks. That was the one and only shark I have every seen while diving. I am looking forward to the day when I can see a hammerhead. I enjoyed it so much, I signed up for the PADI Total Submersion 2008.