Even if recreational space travel becomes a reality in my lifetime, I think I'd pass up the opportunity. Why? Because I've been there and done that. Whenever I dive, I enter a world as different from my daily life as outer space.

For about the price of a ski vacation (and with less skill and risk), I can board a plane in the morning and be breathing underwater with strange and wonderful creatures by afternoon.

Every coral reef is like a marine condo. Fish of all shapes, sizes, and hues dart around me, busy with their daily lives. Colorful sponges wave like laundry hung out to dry. Lobsters, crabs, and eels play peek-a-boo from crevices. I'm comfortable, I'm not sweating, and my bad knees don't have to hold me up.

I never tire of the feelings of wonder and rapture I enjoy while diving, and I am not alone. There are 8.5 million divers in the United States, according to PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), the world's largest scuba training organization. Most divers — along with countless snorkelers — must leave home to find good diving. It should go without saying that you'll need the services of a dive operation — for equipment, tank refills, and transportation to dive sites. Not to mention local knowledge that will lead you to pristine reefs and keep you from being caught in a current bound for, say, Africa. For every dive/snorkel destination in the world there are a dozen package trips.

Move on to Finding the Right Trip

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Article © Dale Leatherman

Dale Leatherman has been scuba diving more than 30 years, mostly in the Caribbean. Her favorite places to dive there are Little Cayman, Tobago, and Belize.