Well, I’ve finally done it. In a previous article I wrote about my lifelong ambition to dive and two weeks ago I found myself 40 feet deep playing ‘catch’ with a lizard fish.
In case you missed the previous article, I am a 44 year old, slightly overweight but basically fit man who has a nagging fear of water but has wanted to dive ever since he saw Jacques Cousteau on TV as a child. . . My plan had been to train in this country and then do my first dive abroad under the PADI scheme (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) where you can divide your training between dive centers. Circumstances got the best of me and it didn’t happen that way at all.
Three weeks ago my partner and I had the opportunity to fly to Gran Canaria for a short break and to my delight and horror I discovered that the Cordial Mogan Playa (the hotel we were staying at) had recently opened a dive center in the gardens. Years ago, my daughter (then 10 and a good swimmer thanks to all the lessons I took her to) taught me how to swim at a local pool, just saying “come on daddy, just push yourself and swim.” The thought of my daughter watching me pass out overcame my lifelong fear of water, so I pushed myself and to my amazement discovered that she could actually swim (I mean not drown too much!). Similarly, finding a dive school on my doorstep with five days of no excuses and an expectant couple looking at me, I had no choice but to take the plunge, so I found myself at the dive center booking for an introduction. session.
This center (part of the Extra Divers group) offered SSI (Scuba Schools International) courses instead of the PADI courses I had previously seen, but the basic pattern of training was very similar and I had heard of SSI before so I booked for the half day “Try Scuba Diving” course at a cost equivalent to about 60 GBP.
My instructor for the course was Carlos, who had excellent English (I try, but my Spanish doesn’t go much beyond ordering coffee). I was relieved to learn that Carlos happened to be a former military dive instructor and a local dive safety expert, so I knew he was in good hands.
The first part of the course was face-to-face and one on one, where Carlos taught me about basic techniques and safety topics such as pressure equalization, illustrating its importance when performing calculations based on bars and depth in meters. He did a wonderful job of linking theory with practice by allowing me to calculate the kind of things that would happen to my eardrums if I dived to 20 meters without equaling, as well as what would happen to my lungs if I surfaced from 20 meters. while holding your breath (in both cases, the short answer is “bang!”).
From there we went to the pool and, properly equipped, I tried breathing underwater for the first time. Aside from the exercises (mask cleaning, recovery from a dropped regulator, and basic buoyancy control), I can’t describe the excitement of my first dive. Initially, like most novices, my focus was on breathing, but I soon learned to trust the equipment and thought about how my lung inflation was affecting my buoyancy and used this to make brief buoyancy corrections as I adjusted. the inflation of my BCD (buoyancy control device or “jacket” as Carlos called it). By about the third round, I was able to swim around the deep end of the pool keeping a constant 2-3 feet from the bottom and was able to switch to thinking about how I was using the fins. Carlos had pointed out that the goal is to make a leisurely effort rather than a frantic effort to conserve air, so I slowed down my flapping, straightened my legs and found myself cruising smoothly through the water and looking around. This was the moment I realized I was finally doing it: I was diving, looking up at the bottom of swimmers, and riding with a level of comfort that, while I couldn’t afford to be arrogant or lazy, allowed me to feel that I was here, I was doing it and this was my space to explore.
The final part of the training was a dip in the sea and for this we were joined by a couple of excited schoolgirls from Germany who were doing their next level of training. We drove to Amadores beach in Puerto Rico, on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria, a popular crescent-shaped beach in a cove protected by two rocky piers. Gearing up provided an opportunity for another lesson on gear and safety checks (I have to remember to put my tank back on after I attached the regulator), then Carlos explained the hand signals for the dive, ending by joking that he would allow us “no mistakes” as we were diving against a rival dive school here. Walking onto the beach through the throngs of sunbathers was exciting as heads turned our way and I could almost hear the ‘damn, I wish it was me’ thoughts behind some of the envious looks.
I must confess that I was a bit clumsy both getting in and out of the water, in fact I stepped on my own fin on the way out and fell into the swell, but Carlos tells me that this is not uncommon and you become less clumsy. with practice, so I guess this was a forgivable mistake. The entrance to the water was from the beach and initially the water was so muddy with sand that I had to hold on to Carlos’s BCD to make sure I didn’t get lost. However, once we were inside, all I can really say is wow!
We made our way over stepped sandbanks, dotted with eroded volcanic rock, to a depth of about 12 meters. While he kept tabs on me and included me in the underwater drills (plus mask cleaning and regulator retrieval), Carlos’ main concern was keeping an eye on the kids and this left me free to explore while staying close. We gradually swam deeper until I had my first aquatic encounter, which was with a lizard fish. I hadn’t noticed it until I was about 2 feet away, when it started from its almost buried position or well camouflaged in the sand. It dove a few meters ahead and since it was on our course, I kept swimming. This turned into a magical game of ‘tag’ where he swam within a foot or two of the fish and it lunged forward again. After three out of four tries at this, Carlos signaled that we were going to turn right, so I had to outrun my gold friend and follow him.
This was not my only encounter with the inhabitants of the deep. Later, while kneeling on the bottom of the sea for an exercise, I managed to disturb a hidden flatfish that made me jump. Later, when we were in the deepest part of the dive, Carlos found a couple of cute cuttlefish, one of which seemed very happy to float on top of his outstretched hand while the girls tickled it. I’m not sure how long we stayed down, long enough to deplete my tank to 110 bars before heading back to the beach, but it felt like forever. Clinging to Carlos’s vest once more, we climbed through the submerged sandstorm and arrived almost exactly where we had entered. Taking off my fins and pulling them out of the water, I may have felt fine going down the beach, but coming back up I felt on top of the world. He had finally done it. I still have a lot to learn, but I could finally say that I had been diving.
Of course divers need to know how to take care of their gear so once we got back to dive school the final part of my lesson was rinsing and putting away the gear I had used before saying goodbye to the girls and thanking Carlos for their encouragement, training and management. He is an excellent instructor and I cannot recommend him highly enough.
Experienced divers would certainly not be impressed by what this dive has to offer, but I have heard before that you never forget your first dive and I would have to agree with this. This first dive gave me the opportunity to enjoy the richness, excitement, and feelings of freedom and accomplishment that you get from exploring the underwater world. Since then I have read a few dive magazines and seen the amazing sights and experiences on offer on reefs and wrecks around the world. Thanks to SSI’s web registration system, I can continue my training at any SSI dive center in the world, so I don’t know where my next dive will be. What I can say is that there will definitely be a next dive, and soon. The dive is everything I hoped it would be and more, and whatever happens next, I’m sure I’ll never forget the thrill of that wonderful first dive.