I’ve kept a
bucket list for almost ten years now, and although I’ve tried to tick as much
as I can off over the years, one thing that has always eluded me was learning
to scuba dive. Towards the end of last year, I decided that that would be my
next item to check off. However, it being Winter in London at the time, I
thought it might be best to wait until I arrived on the sunny shores of
Australia for a better experience. Read on for my experience of learning to
scuba dive!
First things
first was choosing a dive school to undertake my course with. I knew I wanted
to do the PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Open Water
Course, as this is the most widely used association for diving across the
globe, and the Open Water Course the base level that you need to have to dive.
I also wanted to make sure I was choosing a reputable, not crazy expensive
school that was reasonably close to where I was staying, which ran courses on
the days I was available, and would also cover transport to dive sites as I
didn’t have a car.
With all
these pre-requisites, my digging led me to Brisbane Dive Academy, which offers
two day Open Water courses twice a week for the cost of $550. Most of the
equipment (BCD, regulators, computer, wetsuit, tanks and weights) and transport
were included, and it was an extra $80 to hire my mask, snorkel, fins and
boots.
A couple of
days before the course, I was sent through my e-learning modules which were to
be completed before the course to prove I had a basic understanding of how to
scuba dive, the different safety elements you need to know before you get in
the water, and how all the equipment works. There was a lot of information to cover with each module containing about 14
sub-sections within it. The e-learning is supposed to take 10+ hours to
complete, so my first tip is make sure that you have some time put aside for
this. I found the videos most helpful as they summarised all the information on
the page which was pretty hard to read since there didn’t seem to be a way to
download the e-learning onto my computer, so I was reading this all off my
phone screen.
At the end
of each module, you complete two tests, one which seems formative, and one
summative, the results of which are collated to be sent off to your
instructors. At the end is a hefty final test which pulls together questions
from the whole course, so doing the e-learning all in one day (whilst a pretty
boring way to spend the day) was beneficial as I hadn’t forgotten as much info
as I might have done if I’d done it over a few days.
Other things
to sort out before the course began including getting my wetsuit fitted (which
I would have preferred to have done on the morning of the course rather than
trekking an hour there and back for a five minute fitting), filling in a medical
questionnaire, and doing another ‘diving environment’ test which had some of
the strangest questions I’d ever seen.
And so began
the course itself. Day 1 had a horrendously early start of 6:45am, which meant
waking up at 5am to catch the earliest train across the city to the dive HQ at
Tingalpa. Things were a bit hectic as as well as our Open Water Diver group,
there was a group of scouts also doing their PADI course, which meant we were a
bit delayed in starting. Eventually, we headed upstairs to fill out some forms,
sign our life away, and do one final test to prove we hadn’t cheated on the tests
and actually knew our stuff. This was pretty good though as we went through the
answers collectively, so if there was something you weren’t sure of, you could
check it with the instructors.
Ready and
raring to go, we piled in the van – 7 students to two instructors, which isn’t
a bad ratio. Travelling an hour down the coast, we reached Palm Beach Aquatic
Centre on the Gold Coast, which would be our base for much of the day.
Changing
into swimwear, the first thing to do was a 200m swim to prove we (probably) weren’t
going to die as soon as we hit the water. I actually found this pretty tough,
probably a combination of not having swum for any reason than a relaxing hotel
pool swim in about 8 years; and being exhausted from spending the day exploring
the city the day before, followed by my 5am start.
Nonetheless,
slow and steady won the race and after a quick breather, we then had to do a
10-min tread water. Again, not the most fun activity, but the instructors were
able to take our minds off of the arduous task by going round the group and
getting us to introduce ourselves and explain why we wanted to learn to dive,
making the time pass by quickly.
Done and
dusted, next up was to learn how to set up the equipment. We were each equipped
with a BCD, which is the diving vest everything else is hooked up to; a tank of
air; and our regulators and computers. It’s very important to get everything
right (again, you don’t want to die), of course meaning it wasn’t the simplest
of processes, so the instructors have a rule of getting you to do it four times
to make sure you know what goes where and what everything is.
Gearing up
meant sliding (more like struggling) into our wetsuits and boots, slipping on a
weight belt (they didn’t tell me it would be heavy), and then shrugging on our
diving gear. By my estimation, the diving gear was about 20-25kg, the weight
belt 9kg, and that’s not including the weight of mask, snorkel, fins, and
wetsuit. Needless to say, I was carrying around over half my body weight, which
was not an easy task!
Thankfully,
getting into the water took some of the weight off, and so began our day of
Confined Water Modules. Here we were learning everything we’d need to know in
the ocean, but in the comfort of a swimming pool. Initially, it was just
getting used to all the equipment – managing your buoyancy between the weight
and air that you fill your BCD with, learning how to use fins, becoming
comfortable with the fact that you can spend more time underwater than you
would be able to holding your breath. It was quite the learning curve.
We also had
to learn the different hand gestures (remember, you can’t speak underwater) for
checking you’re okay and all the different skills we would need to know –
including the ones you hope you don’t actually have to use, such as ‘out of air’
and ‘emergency ascent’. Once they’d been demonstrated, we practiced them – from
losing or sharing your regulator, to removing or flooding your mask underwater
(I hated that one). Lots and lots to remember – not the easiest thing to do
when really all you want to do is sleep.
Once we’d
passed all our Confined Water Modules, it was time to take it to the ocean. We
hopped in the bus to travel down to Tweed Heads in NSW (new region, yay!) We
set up our gear again, and then headed into the water. Here we were to practice
what we’d learnt in the pool but in this new environment. Our group split into
two, each group with a different instruction, and we descended into the depths.
To be
honest, it was pretty grim. Visibility was utterly appalling that day, and you
couldn’t really see more than a metre in front of your face, made even worse by
the sand and silt we were kicking up when we got to the bottom; and believe me
when I say not being able to see while you’re stuck at the bottom of the ocean
is a pretty scary feeling. One of the girls in our group had an issue with her
mask (which I’m sure would have made me panic – who wants things to go wrong at
this point?) so our instructor headed back to the surface with her, leaving the
three of us alone at the bottom.
Again, it’s
a pretty scary feeling sitting on the ocean floor without anyone around to help
if anything goes wrong, and not being able to talk to your buddies at all, just
using the hand gestures that we were trying to remember from early. The best
idea I had that day was to start playing rock, paper, scissors. Silly, I know,
but focusing on something like that was so important in keeping us calm and
collected before our instructor returned.
Then, it was
time to do our drills. They were significantly less nice than they had been in the
pool – ‘losing your regulator’ means getting icky saltwater in your eyes, and
flooding your mask means burning your eyes with the salt which stings even
after you’ve cleared it out. But good to know how to do it, worst comes to
worst.
After about
twenty minutes, we returned to the surface. Honestly, the worst part of the day
was trying to get out of the water. It’s easy to forget about the weight on
your body when the water’s holding it up, but it all came back as soon as I
tried to pull myself out; and a few of us needed help to be hauled out of the
water because the weight and exertion of the day had taken its toll.
Back in the
bus, Day 1 was done. If you’d asked me how I felt about scuba diving after the
first day, my response would have been something along the lines of ‘I’m glad I
did it, but I don’t think it’s for me’. Having my first dive have been a pretty
unpleasant one, due to the awful visibility and the nasty-but-essential drills
we’d had to do, the fear that my mask would fill with water and I’d panic or my
regulator would be pulled out of my mouth and I’d swallow a ton of seawater
with no way to spit it out; it’s not the nicest feeling. I was going home
saying ‘it’s only one more day, I’m sure I can get through it’, and was pleased
to know I wasn’t the only one in our group thinking that.
Day 2 was
even earlier, and I woke up ahead of schedule full of nervous energy about the
day. Hiring an Uber to the dive academy as it was too early for trains to run,
there was less chaos that morning and it was a simple case of jumping in the van
and heading down south.
Tweed Heads
was our only destination of the day, and we were to complete the other three of
our four open water dives to be qualified. Thank the good Lord, because the
visibility was far superior, and it’s amazing just how much of a difference
this makes. It’s significantly less terrifying when you can actually see your
surroundings, your buddies, your instructors!
Our first
dive was more drills, but even these were better as getting seawater in your
eyes and mouth seemed a bit less horrible now we knew what to expect. We had to
do emergency ascents, which do funny things to your ears; but then got to do a
bit of an obstacle course around some of the things on the ocean floor (highlights
including a barnacle encrusted trolley). I was having trouble with my buoyancy here,
floating up and away no matter how hard I tried to come down; which added to
the frustration of not being able to speak and say ‘how do I fix this?!’
Back on the
surface, I was told this was probably due to my shallow breathing. I’d noticed
I was using less air than my counterparts, probably because my natural reaction
was to store that little bit of air that I’d entered the water with and thus
only breathe in and out a little amount as I went along – more air in your body
means more buoyancy, so my task was to try and fix that next time round.
For our
second dive of the day, we learnt to navigate using our compass and scouted a
route out to sea, as well as some buddy lifesaving skills and anything else we
needed to cover off in the ocean. All our skills out of the way, and it was
finally time to do something just for fun. This started off not-so-fun as we
had to traipse up the road with all that weight on our backs to get to the
beach, but we then scuba-ed downstream, which was actually very nice given the
visibility. This was what scuba was meant to be – seeing fish, your fellow
divers, and revelling in the fact that you are somewhere that humans are not
supposed to be; rather than the icky conditions we’d had the day before.
Honestly, I could’ve stayed there for even longer.
We did it!
It was a half celebratory / half tired ride back to the dive academy where we
were told it was ultimately our choice if we passed the Open Water Course. We’d
passed all the drills, but the instructors left it up to us to decide whether
we felt able to take that and use it on our own. I thought this was a good
thing to do, as even though you may have been taught everything you need to
know, of course you can still doubt whether you feel comfortable enough with
it, and may be better off doing another course to cement it. However, after the
day’s events, I felt confident in my ability, and was signed off as an official
PADI diver! We finished up cleaning off our kit, and then it was up to us to take
our new diving knowledge and use in the world.
I am indeed
glad that I did the course, and hope to be able to use it to explore some of
the amazing places around the world and see things that only a fraction of the
population get to see. What I would hark to anyone thinking of doing the PADI
Open Water Course is the knowledge that the first day of your course may suck!
The drills are not the most fun thing to do, and depending on the water
quality, your first dive might not be very nice – but this does not mean all
dives will be like this! I’m glad I gave it a chance and look forward to using
my skills more in the future.
I hope you enjoyed today's blog! Are there any other experiences you think I should try during my time in Australia? Drop me a message in the comments below and be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to keep up to date on all the fun things I get up to - thanks for reading!
