What should a scuba diving course teach you?

 If you love water and life underwater, you should consider a scuba diving course. It could open up new horizons. Furthermore, you would be able to enjoy the above in any part of the world featuring a scuba diving centre.

You'll get your swimming skills tested beforehand. Also, you should feel prepared to step out of your comfort zone for certain exercises.

To give some honest and personal answers to the question featured in the title, I will have to start thinking back on my two days spent training.

It should give you a sense of safety underwater. Scuba diving is not the most dangerous of sports, but it can still be considered extreme [for the simplest of all reasons: as far as we know, humans can’t breathe underwater]. There are, of course, risks. Being able to tackle them and feel secure and relaxed underwater comes with time. Two or three days are not nearly enough to instil the safety procedures in your diving behaviour, but they’re a solid start.

It should give you a sense of respect for water and life underwater. From the perspective of a person who loves water sports, water is not an environment to be treated lightly. At the end of the day, nature is still nature. Part of its beauty resides in its unpredictability, be it currents, surf, visibility, poisonous animals and plants. Water is also a very vulnerable environment, so we should protect it. We would be able to enjoy it longer this way and also allow others to do that.

It should convince you that scuba diving is FUN and should only be practised if it feels this way. In the beginning, when simply doing a test dive, you are probably not aware of the dangers and risks and can relax and enjoy your experience. As the talk of risks and dangers reaches your ears, your mind starts to wander. It’s more difficult to train correctly when you know what could happen should you fail. Laughter should be an important part of a diving course; tears and frowns are out of place.

When scuba diving starts being anything else than fun, you should discontinue its practice. In the end, some people learn faster, others are slower. The most important thing is keeping your passion for water alive and not trading it for anything else. Even if you seem to lose it, you will regain it if it’s strong.

 

P.S. For the record, I did cry during the course (several times) and I did fight with my instructor (several times), but it helped me explore so many wonderful places after.  

 

/First published in December 2015 on the website of Yonderbound, which ceased to exist/