Is Scuba Diving a Realistic Hobby?
When I was young I remember reading a book about two competing groups of divers searching for treasure. They had large suits, with astronaut looking helmets and there were definitely good and bad guys. Also there was gold and silver in large quantities involved. It was a good read but diving was not something I thought, at the time, I would ever do in my life.
Thankfully, since that time, the state of the art in diving has progressed significantly. Instead of being a sport for the select few it has really become something that people can actually afford. Nevertheless, when my younger brother told our family his dream was to move to Australia and scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef we all scoffed at him. When my 10th grade science teacher showed us his scuba gear we had such a hard time wrapping our heads around the idea our class assumed scuba diving must be for geeks.
If It Calls Your Name Do It
Time and time again I ran into evidence that I secretly wanted to spend my time doing nothing less than exploring the deep blue sea. I would watch documentaries, wondering at all the beauty found in the ocean. Recently we were at an aquarium in India learning about all these different fish, and they had a VR simulation of a dive experience. Katie and I paid a few dollars to see it, and after that was when it hit me. What were we waiting for?
Over 70% of the Earth is covered with water. If we are truly That One Adventure Couple, there is no way on earth we could be skipping scuba diving and be honest! We knew we needed to fix this situation, and stat. After doing some research we found a really great outfit in Vietnam that does PADI Open Water certification and connected with them.
Rainbow Divers Vietnam
Rainbow Divers Vietnam is the original diving outfit in Vietnam. They helped establish the marine parks and set the standard for a diving experience in Vietnam. They continue to provide the best service to people wanting to get or upgrade their PADI certifications, or just do some diving.
For newbies who are looking to just get into scuba diving there are basically two options. You can either take a two day class which limits you what you can do later (no deeper than 12m and always need a Dive Master), or take a longer 4 day course. Since we decided to go all in with this we went with the 4 day class.
Day One:
The first thing we did was sit down for a little orientation with our dive instructor. With over 20 years in the field, Mitch was relaxed, knowledgable, and confident. His confidence in turn caused us to relax knowing we were in safe hands. We filled out the necessary paperwork and then watched five training videos for a total of a little over four hours of instruction. If you go to a course that has only 40mins of instructions something is wrong and I would be very worried about your safety. At the end Katie was jumping up and down in her seat because she has major ants in her pants!
Things we learned:
–Buoyancy is like a thing. Master this and you’ve won half the battle.
-Breathing is another thing. Master this and you’ve got the other half. Ok go
-We learned how to ascend and descend
-How to deal with low visibility
-How to deal with emergency situations
-Pick the right gear
-Make a dive plan
-and much more
Our next step was to turn that head knowledge into action knowledge.
Day: Two
We started out the day doing a final test before heading to the pool. This was the moment of truth for us and a little stressful. First though we had to pass a few prerequisites. We did 200m back and forth in the pool and then free-floated for 10mins. The next step was to learn about the gear, put it on, and enter the pool.
Overall the single most challenging aspect for us was the mask-flood-and-clear. The skill is fairly straightforward and as long as you breath without panicking you’ll be fine. When the mask comes off your face its a little unnerving since you can’t see as well, and your nose is in direct contact with water. We had to learn just to focus on continuing our breathing and doing everything methodically. It took Katie a few tries, but by the end of the day we were comfortably flying through all the skills and even swimming around the bottom of the pool like a couple of fish!
Skills we learned:
-Descend/ascend
-Just breathe
-Buoyancy
-Mask flood and clear
-Alternate air source
-Equalizing
-and more
We felt a lot more confident about our survival chances in the ocean!
Day Three:
We woke early in the morning and grabbed a quick bite before heading to the dock. This was the day. We were finally getting a chance to find out what the world is like 20,000 fathoms below the sea! Just kidding we only went down to 12 meters/40 feet. We worked on our buoyancy and trim, which basically determines how well you are able to swim. In addition we repeated a few of the skills such as mask-flood-and-clear, in order to make sure we were comfortable doing them in an emergency situation.
Some things we discovered:
-Divers aren’t swimmers, you don’t use your arms, you use your legs
-Breathe, just breathe
-The world is slower down below
-Movement is much more three dimensional
-We’re addicted, and you’ll see us doing this again and again!
Day Four:
We completed our last two dives going down to a depth of 18 meters/60 feet. The first dive was mostly practicing skills. On the second dive we got to lead and and apply what we learned about navigating and keeping track of depth and pressure. We can now say that we are certified to be open water divers! Diving is an incredible thing. The world under the water is beautiful and breathtaking! We want to keep pursuing this new hobby of ours. Our next step will be to take the Advanced Open Diver’s course.
Thank you to Rainbow Divers – Vietnam for this amazing experience!
Safety Considerations
Diving is an inherently risky sport due to the fact that you are deep under water. It’s not an extreme sport in the sense that you are constantly pushing your body to the limit. At least not on your typical dive, you can definitely go that direction. However, even the most relaxed and simple dive can turn dangerous at a moments notice.
We learned that it’s important to check with whatever certifying organization (there are a couple besides PADI) that it’s an actual licensed outfit. A lot of companies put up a few decals but they’re not actually legit. Check PADI.com for the registered PADI shops. You don’t want to be going with a company that operates on deceit. In addition it’s important to check all of the gear yourself instead of just trusting the company to do it right. You are responsible for your own safety.
Our Experience
Some people are mermaids. Like Katie who grew up around water and is actually a better swimmer than me. Don’t get me wrong I can swim. If you’re drowning, however, you probably should yell Katie’s name not mine. Scuba diving is a whole different ball game.
It’s not about how well you can swim. Instead you are in this three dimensional world that is completely different from the world we know. You can go side to side, up and down, and you can breath normally the whole time. Every time we were below water I felt like I had stepped into a parallel universe that I had always read about, but never imagined I could actually go to. For the ‘Stranger Things’ fans out there I felt like I had entered into the good version of the Upside Down.
Life Lesson
“Left hand on your weight belt, right palm on your regulator, two fingers on your mask. Look below you, look at the horizon, and take a big confident step forward.”
That’s what our instructor kept telling us every time we would make our grand entrance into the water with all our scuba gear on.It was such a good reminder for life as well.
The weight belt keeps you from floating to the surface constantly, much in the same way that humility keeps you close to people in life. The regulator gives you a constant supply of air, much like being anxiety free will allow you to handle things well in life. You make sure your mask doesn’t fly off your face so that you don’t lose your way. Look below you, so that when you step out, you’re not jumping on top of someone. Your way to your goal does not mean you should be walking over people. Keep your eyes on the horizon in life means to keep in mind in mind what you are heading for. Finally, take a giant step forward. So many people have everything they need to accomplish their goals and yet they haven’t done anything. You have everything you need to chase your dream. Do it.
Next Steps
Although we are now officially certified to go diving on our own, thats a bit beyond what we are comfortable with doing. The furthest we can go currently is 18meters, which is great, but also a little bit limiting. PADI has a lot more certifications and specialties available. At this point we can do fun dives or continue learning.
The next thing for us is to get our Advanced Open Water certification. This will allow us to go to 30 meters as well as improve our skills. It’s a two day course with 5 dives. We also need to make sure to have no more than 6 months between dives, which is a great incentive to keep diving! We’ve got our eye on the Philippines and are researching spots we can check out! We will definitely try to get some fun dives in, and maybe even take our Advanced Open Water Course!
Check out our highlight on Instagram titled ‘Diving’ to see more!
We hope this has been inspiring and encouraging. If you have a favorite place to go diving, let us know in the comments below. If you have any questions pertaining to getting certified, comment as well.
Say Yes to Diving!
Alex and Katie
1 Comment
One Month in Vietnam for Less Than $2500 - That One Adventure Couple
November 5, 2018 at 9:57 pm[…] in Vietnam. We also did a few tours, as wells as went canyoning. While in Vietnam we also got our PADI Open Water certification, however, we got that for free since we were working with the […]