Learning to Scuba Dive

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It has been quite windy all night and waves have built up on the Red Sea. Benjamin managed to read all three of our assigned chapters last night. As we are sharing the book, I got it second and woke up at 6:30 am to read it. As it was, I only managed to get a chapter and a half read (and the appropriate quizzes complete) before we met with our instructor around 10 am.

After loading up all the equipment in a pickup truck, we headed across town to a place called “The Lighthouse” for our first lesson. Though our hotel has a pool, unlike Scuba courses in Canada, all our lessons are going to be in the ocean which is an added bonus to doing the course here (the Red Sea is world renowned as one of the best place to Scuba dive).

The spot where we set up was quite busy with nearby cafes and other people in scuba lesson. Though it was still quite windy, this spot was sheltered and the waves were minimal. We spread out a large mat along a stretch of boardwalk and carried the tanks and equipment from the truck. After suiting up (and feeling unnaturally heavy and awkward.) we headed over to a small beach area and into the water.

Once in the water, the suits felt immensely lighter. Aman, our instructor, showed us how to clean the mask and use the regulator and we were quickly heading off, swimming underwater past the dock to a sandy area to begin our lesson. Benjamin took to it quite naturally. I found that the constant presence of a small amount of water in the mask at the nose piece was a bit disconcerting at first, as if I were breathing water. I soon got used to this though.

The plan was to kneel just below the surface in a shallow area. At first I had too much buoyancy and kept floating up. Aman put a bit more weight in my BCD (buoyancy vest) and I finally settled on the bottom. We went through a series of exercises that Aman had on a set of flip cards, learning to clear our masks, switch to another persons alternative air supply, recover a knocked out respirator and so one.

At the end of the exercises we went for a swim along the reef. The water here is incredibly clear and the fist and corals are amazing. I found that I was having some trouble getting my ears to equalize, but we did manage to get down a few meters below the surface before heading back to shore.

After returning to shore, we took up some of the test answers from the first chapter and got briefed on our next dive. This time I found the whole thing easier, with my weight belt properly loaded and finally having got used to the residual water in the nose piece of my mask. This time we simulated losing and recovering a mask, which was quite difficult with my contact lenses, but ultimately worked.

I think both Benjamin and I were really happy with the way the first day went. Having arrived a few days ago with no thought of Scuba, we were now well on our way to getting our scuba licenses. We returned to the hotel in early afternoon and spend the evening doing school work. At dinner time, we went to our hotel's beach side restaurant and ate Egyptian style, sitting on cushions at a low table. We were immediately surrounded by half a dozen cats whom we had to keep at bay while we ate.

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