Scuba Diving In the Indian Ocean!

The ending of April went well and now we are into May. Crazy how time flies. In three weeks I will be back in the U.S. Thankfully, though, I have accomplished tons and feel very fulfilled. There isn't anything that I haven't done that I feel the urge or need to get to. Which is good. I am very happy with everything and how my time in South Africa has turned out. Very educational and experiential.

...And one of those experiences was scuba diving! Finally, I got around to it. This past week went well and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (tomorrow) have all been spent training for scuba diving. Thursday was a holiday so we didn't have class so that is why I scheduled for this weekend. My friend, Katie, and I signed up and went to ProDive in Walmer which is right next to P.E., two kambi rides away. We also had class with a man named Gary, his son Caleb, another NMMU student from Switzerland Lea, and a kid our age named Byron. They are awesome people. So nice and now that we have spent three full days together we have become great friends. Really, Gary drives Katie and I home, we all help each other with things in the water, and joke about things happening on our dives. It has been so much fun. Two great things - getting to scuba dive and meet wonderful people at the same time.

Riding out to our dive site!

On Thursday we had lecture throughout the morning and watched multiple videos on how to dive, the safety precautions, rules, how to use depth tables (tables that help you figure out a safe time to be under water at certain depths), and how to work your BCD (Buoyancy Control Device or suit). Then in the afternoon we entered the pool for a confined swim and were able for the first time breathe under water. How cool was this, you ask? So cool. We spent the entire lesson underneath the water and were taught all the hand signals that are used to communicate. Then we had to perform skills to show that we could do them. Some included taking off and putting back on your BCD, clearing your mask of water in case it falls off, emergency ascents, and so on. Also, the main rule in scuba diving is to always keep breathing. Sounds logical, however, when you go under in a pool you always hold your breathe. You do not want to do this while scuba diving. When you drop to a depth of 10 meters/33 feet you also drop to a pressure of 2 bar or 2 atmosphere which means 1/2 the air volume. Which then correlates to you replacing that with 2 times the air in your lungs compared to the surface volume (2 times what you would be breathing on land). This is not bad for your lungs at all, actually it's probably good (lung workout), because you are pressurized at that depth. However, let's say you suck in a nice lung full of air at 10 meters and then hold it. While you ascend towards the surface of the water that air will begin to expand (air molecules will expand). Just as it would in a balloon when you let it go and it flies up into the sky. Unfortunately, the fate of your lungs would be similar to that of the balloon, if you catch my drift. Ah, now you are scared... no no no. Don't be, it's not bad at all. Just breathe and release the pressure. Trust me, that's all you are thinking about when you are under the surface - breathing. 

Me, Katie, and Lea

The next day, Friday, we reviewed some more concepts, signals, and skills then climbed into the pool. We were tested on many of them and then practiced hovering in the water. This is good because you want to learn how to control your buoyancy so you can swim up close to the reefs without coming down on them or floating to high from them. Then on Saturday (today) we entered the ocean. We all met up at the ProDive in P.E. which is next to Hobie Beach and got our gear set for our dive. We have been lucky this weekend. The days leading up to our dives were rainy, however, each day this weekend has been beautiful. 80 degrees and sunny. Perfect! Our first dive was a shore dive. Meaning we enter the water from the shore. This was a great way to get acclimated to diving in the ocean. It wasn't too deep and it allowed us to get our bearings with breathing, our equipment, and equalizing (applying air pressure by pinching your nose and blowing out to keep the volume in your ears normal so you avoid discomfort). Once we had done this we surfaced and got out. We took a lunch break and then went down to the beach and loaded the dive boat. Our dive boat took us out a kilometer or two to a nice dive spot. Below us at about 10 meters was a coral reef we could swim around. We had two dives from the boat so we had an extra cylinder of air with us. We all geared up on the boat and then the skipper counted us down and we dove in. From the boat, you enter by falling backwards off the side. Just like the real divers. We all fell off backwards, met up on the surface, and then descended 10 meters. Wow, this was one of the most amazing parts of my entire trip here. The visibility down there today was prime. We could see 10-20 meters (30-60 or so feet) in front of us. I saw the corral reef, tons of beautiful fish, and even sharks. Our dive master, Greg, gave us the signal for shark and we all turned and about 10 feet from us was a shark slowly moving along the bottom of the reef. The marine life will only harm you when they feel threatened and so us being that close and watching it was completely fine and safe. It was about 5 or 6 feet in length and swam right on by us. We hovered in the water for some time and explored the reef while maintaining a close distance to each other. We then ascended and exchanged cylinders. Then dove down again to have some more fun and practice skills. Greg told us to do a few more skills at the bottom. So we all knelt down on the bottom of the ocean floor. I took a second to glance up and realize that I was deep under the surface and was still completely fine. Amazing. You couldn't see the top, but you could see the light slowly fade from the top down. Once we had done our skills we all ascended to the top by performing a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). This is where you let all the air out of your lungs while you climb to the surface very quickly. Ascending is only done this quickly under emergency circumstances. So that is why we were practicing them. Usually it's much slower, allowing time for you to breathe in and out while surfacing. 

Me, Katie, and Lea with Dive Master Greg

Once on top, we hopped into the boat and made our way back in. About 200 meters out we were told to dive in with only a snorkel and our wet suits and swim back. Proving we could all swim. Once on shore we debriefed and took our gear in. It felt kind of funny to be on land after being in the water for so long. Diving is one of the closest ways you can get to feeling weightless so gravity brought back the weight of our gear on our backs. After debriefing, we still had to take our written exam so we made our way back to the ProDive center in Walmer with everyone and took it. We all passed woot woot!

World's two newest open water scuba divers!

Tomorrow, we have one more dive that will be from the shore. It is our qualifying dive so we will just prove that we can dive safely and have some fun on the bottom of the ocean. Once finished, our class and scuba diving will be done. So worth it! I loved every second and it was a wonderful way to spend a weekend. It's stuff like this I love and it makes me feel that I have completed everything I wanted in South Africa. From here on out I think it will be pretty low key. Studying for finals and all. Plus, I promised my Mom and Dad that I would stay on two feet until I come home next. I may have taken their advice, "make sure to go out and do a lot of stuff with your time in South Africa," to an extreme. I guess jumping off bridges, shark-cage diving, climbing mountains, and scuba diving wasn't what they had in mind ha. It was all so amazing, though, and I'm very glad to have done it all.