On being indescribable, or Bungy! Scuba!

There are certain experiences that are so... so disorienting... And so different... That it's almost frustrating to be asked to describe it after the experience.

Bungy jumping was one such occasion. As was scuba diving for the very first time in the Great Barrier Reef.

With bungy jumping, I decided to do it at the last minute so I only had 1 hour for my stomach to perform its nausea-inducing circus acrobatics. I turned off my brain and my fear throughout the registration, the payment, the waiting, the 200+ stairs you have to climb to get to the jumping platform, the securing of the harness and ropes...

Then, after hopping awkwardly to the edge of the platform, I look down at the 50 meters (164 feet!) I'm supposed to be free falling through and all my turned-off fear and nerves come rushing back full force. (Just look at my expression!)

And unlike skydiving where your tandem dude is the one who's responsible for jumping out of the plane, here, jumping off a platform 50 meters above the water is entirely up to your own free will.

Luckily the guys on the platform countdown for you so you don't have to think too hard...

Three. Two. ONE!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I was shaking afterwards. And people kept asking me how it was. At first I said, "awesome!" which wasn't entirely true, so I switched to "crazy!" which was truer, but finally, I just left it at shaking my head in awe.

But I think, it was slightly indescribable. Disorienting. Happens so quickly.
It's so disorienting. And so different. It's a blur to be honest.

Now which line was written in my journal after bungy jumping and which was written after my first scuba dive?

I have a fear of being in small spaces underwater. It's a fear of being stuck where you can't get out, and even if you could get out, you'd still be screwed because you wouldn't be able to breathe. (Sort of like the garbage compactor in Star Wars, but put underwater.) Hence, scuba diving scares me. It's underwater so you're clearly enclosed by water and you're putting your life in the mercy of this canister on your back and this tube at your mouth. It's not natural.

You'd think that after jumping off a platform 50 meters high, jumping off the side of the boat from less than 1 meter above the water would be a piece of cake. But it wasn't. I had to sheepishly request that one of the crew countdown for me.

Big splash!

My scuba instructor dude brought me through some incredible places on the first dive; the scariest and most insane being a narrow pass in between two towering reefs that felt like canyons to my terrified scuba newbie self. I stopped moving entirely so the instructor ended up steering me through.When we resurfaced, the captain of the boat asked us if we liked it.

"I don't know!" was my painfully honest answer.
"Well, I'm slightly offended!" returned my scuba dude.

Whoops, sorry scuba dude.

But really, as I wrote in my journal after the first dive: "I still don't get how anyone can expect me to properly express how something was immediately after the experience. It's far too rich for that. I need time to sit with the experience when it's the manageable memory and not the onslaught of real time. But I am so glad I'm doing this."

So glad indeed! It got better the more times I went out, to the point that I was able to truthfully answer, "Yes! I loved it!"

So even though I can't say that I loved the bungy jump (in the way that I loved the skydiving experience), I feel compelled to go bungy jumping again to better experience it after the shock of the initial run.

Who wants to join me?