The joy of diving

SO HERE WE ARE, seven teenagers and one instructor sitting casually on the bottom of Ashburton swimming pool. They say your first time breathing underwater is a life-changing experience and I know it’s something I’ll never forget, mostly because it was incredibly uncomfortable.

By the time you add together the tank, the equipment, the weightbelt, it was nearly 25kg of kit and all I could think was, “What on earth am I doing here?”

A spur-of-the-minute decision to get my scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving qualification, before heading away on holiday, saw my mother sign me up at Dive HQ in Durham St for the PADI Open Water certificate. [PADI is the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, the world’s leading scuba certification body].

It felt like school all over again, going through the manual and answering loads of questions about atmospheric pressure, gases, nitrogen narcosis … and I’m not sure I liked knowing I could burst my eardrums or explode my lungs.

In the pool, I feel alien, uncomfortable; everyone else is making things look easy and I can’t do it. Marco Ghattas, our Egyptian dive instructor, is very patient. He takes me slowly over the skills we’ll need to know to dive safely in open water – learning things like fin pivots (angling your body up and down while keeping your fin tips on the ground).

It’s only when I get out I realise that at some point I stopped feeling uncomfortable. That is until the next morning when lugging the heavy equipment starts to take effect and my arms ache.

The second day passed a lot faster than the first, with most of it theory work and a final exam – and more sessions in the pool. I realise I’m having fun and really enjoying being under the water.

The first day of open water training the next weekend took place in Lake Coleridge, an hour out of Christchurch.

The sun was shining but we all knew the water would be freezing and, after suiting up in the ladies room (some bushes on the left side of the van), it was time to take the plunge.

At 15°C, the water was definitely cold enough to make me appreciate my wetsuit (a difficult task at the best of times). Our first activity once we all descended is a ‘tiki tour’ around the lake and, as we swim in groups of two behind Marco, we see a bike, an old motor cycle and a smashed toilet. Seeing ordinary things 6m underwater is a surreal experience – but we don’t have time to marvel for long because it’s time for us to start practising our skills.

It’s a lot harder to dive back in after lunch knowing exactly how cold the water is. At the bottom I keep myself warm by thinking of the trip to the Bahamas I’m taking soon.

Our next open water dive took place at Wainui on the Banks Peninsula. It’s certainly warmer than Coleridge but the visibility is a whole new story. Because of the surf our visibility is less than half of what we had at Coleridge.

As someone with a less than adequate sense of direction, I am petrified of getting lost. Even with a compass I’m still not exactly sure which way is left or right, up or down. I decide to stick to diving’s number one rule, stay with your buddy at all times. Needless to say I don’t get lost at sea and upon surfacing see our instructor for the day, Steven Bowen, congratulating us for finishing our training.

It’s been four days, two pool sessions, four dives and endless hours of theory – but I’m now a qualified diver. All I can say is … bring on the Bahamas.

A PADI OpenWater Course at Dive HQ costs NZ$799 and includes all the teaching materials, two days of pool sessions and four open water dives. Equipment supplied.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Kim Triegaardt

Kim Triegaardt is a journalist, corporate communications specialist and – as regularly as she can manage – travel writer. Kim’s professional career has taken her around the globe, but she calls the New Zealand city of Christchurch, in the South Island’s Canterbury Region, home. Kim is the founder of the corporate communications company Totally Write, which she continues to operate.

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