Scuba Snorkelling

Even if you’re only going to scuba dive once or twice you’ll get so much more out of the experience if you undergo a more intensive training program first. If I had spent the time and expense on more thorough training I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more.

A couple I knew received a honeymoon trip as a wedding gift from their parents and were so excited about the trip to Aruba.  Both were very strong swimmers and wanted to branch out and try scuba diving. They had never taken lessons, but snorkeled regularly and felt ready for the challenge.

They flew to Aruba and hung out on the beach drinking for the first couple of days, alternating their lazing with some swimming and exquisite meals at the hotel. Then on the third day they set out to find a scuba aiding operation where they could explore their latest adventure idea.

It wasn’t difficult in quickly finding a scuba diving operation. Of course the scuba diving operation offered to train, as they are required to.  But as my friends were strong swimmers they decided that they couldn’t possibly need more training than the amount they are required to provide.

Several hours later they were ready to go on a real dive to a nearby reef known for its beauty and teaming species of underwater life.  But only a few minutes into the dive the husband noticed that the pressure setting didn’t look right.  He tried to adjust it as they had been shown, but it didn’t seem to make any difference. It didn’t seem like a problem though, as he continued to be able to breathe and continued on the dive.

A little while later he noticed something like resistance when he went to draw air from the scuba gear. He could get air, but not easily. Naturally this worried him a little and so they decided to turn back up and figure out the problem later. Making it to the surface just in time, they noticed that the air supply had pretty much been exhausted –or so it seemed to them.

As it turned out there was another adjuster that had not been trained to use that could have alleviated the problem. Since the dive was in somewhat shallow water they really wasn’t too much to be scared about as they knew they could reach the surface easily enough; but obviously they could really have been in a better situation by not missing out on exploring the reef.

The outcome of the diving experinece made my friends aware that they definitely would be taking more scuba lessons before their next vacation.