Diving Diaries (Part 1)
In this new series Scubaverse blogger, Isobel Fairbairn, keeps a diary as she learns to dive with her university BSAC club (Salford University Diving Society or SUDS for short). Follow her progress as she heads underwater for the very first time.
Week 1 (March 2nd 2022)
Honestly I feel as if overwhelming would be an understatement. From two hours of information in a theory class to be then plunged underwater carrying tanks on my back (which, by the way, is extremely difficult when you’re 5’3 and fairly small, why I didn’t prepare myself for this I have no idea, but I didn’t, thought I was going to die, or at least end up staying on my back for the entire two hours)…
To begin with: a theory full of air pressures, atmospheric pressures, cleaning kit, breathing (I thought I knew how to do this?) valves, how not to die or be seriously injured, and how to tell if someone is, well, going in that direction. It was a lot to take in, it did make sense in the end, and, of course is all completely necessary, but wow, way to be slightly off-putting I guess.
Now, getting into the water for the first time was a different situation altogether. As a human being I did not realise how difficult it was to simply find the perfect level of air to stay buoyant at, on top of managing to be stuck with the wrong size BC, so swimming around with the equivalent of an oversized, heavy life jacket on did not tick all my boxes to begin with. I had some weights added to me to stop me from looking like a sunfish as I floated to the surface of the pool, and then I learnt how to breathe – unsurprisingly, a foreign concept when you’re submerged underwater, yet, quite easy to get the hang of! Luckily I did not get into the habit of trying to hold my breath while I was underwater so that was excellent.
Once air had been obtained into my lungs at a continuous flow, we stood in the shallow end and bobbed in and out of the water, going from learning to kneel down to stand up again, and learnt some hand signals (the usual “okay”, “up”, “down” “you watch me” “stop”). We then practiced getting used to those while sat on our knees so we could properly communicate with one another.
Once that was done, we took our first proper swim down to the middle of the pool. Now managing flippers, a BC, big air tanks and remembering to breathe while swimming was a lot for those first few seconds, but that quickly went away when I stopped feeling like a fish out of water (or a human IN water). I pushed through and carried on, and it felt great! It was cool to be able to just swim along, not having to worry about coming up for air, getting the hang of carrying around my newest summer accessory, the metal canister backpack. When we got to the deeper area of the pool, I could suddenly FEEL my ears though. I’m not too sure they agreed with being borderline face down on the bottom of a pool floor, but I had learnt how to clear them so after a while I was okay, you can’t please everyone I guess (sorry ear canals).
Check back for Part Two next week!
