Im a diver baby

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I finally took the plunge.

Three years in the making, and nine years of anticipation finally lead me to complete my open water diver license, on Sunday 24 of July. Oostvoorne was the destination about 40 km west of Rotterdam. It’s a nice lake not only for scuba diving, but also for kite surfing and wind surfing. On Sunday, as the weather improved and the sunshine danced playfully on the water, there were even bathers that came to brave the crisp 14C water.
Myself and Ardy were completing the course, and Sander (remember the guy I met from China) was going to be the Instructors assistant. Mark, Sander’s friend was the instructor.

When we stepped into the water, we were automatically submerged with the icy cold water. There was no time to gasp as you immediately were compelled to breathe through your breathing apparatus, whilst the chilly liquid engulfed your whole body.

The world underneath was dark, foreign and mysterious. As usual I felt like I had stepped onto another planet. During the course we were challenged to swimming without breathing for a few seconds, swimming blind and breathing via a buddy’s apparatus. Was it nerve racking? Yes! Did I feel moments were my heart was racing and my breath began to quicken and become uneven? Yes! Was it exciting and worth it? Absolutely!
With a number of various objects submerged in the lake, we were lucky to have a bit of fun on the course as well. Not that it could be boring with Sander and Mark as the teachers.

We swam around submerged cars, rescue capsules and even an upside down box, secured with chains to the floor that we could take our apparatuses off and talk in.

It was all going splendidly like a fine afternoon picnic with tea and sponge cake, when before I knew it, I had let go of too much air from my jacket too quickly and was shooting up through the water. This was not so good as we were ascending from a depth of about 17.5 metres and you should take a minute to ascend each 18m.

Mark caught onto my fin and slowed my ascent somewhat. He wasn’t too happy. I felt I was going to fail for sure.

We came back to Mark’s where we did the theory exam. Mark had to translate for me as the exam was in Dutch and most of the answers I had to speak and explain to him. I failed a question about the bends (too much nitrogen in your body) and currents.

This is it I thought. I failed, too bad chump you were going to be a diver but now you probably will be disqualified from putting a breathing apparatus in your mouth unassisted ever again.

Luckily I was wrong. I passed😊 Not with flying colors like Ardy who got 100% but still most of the questions right and I just had to focus a little bit more and not forget safety whilst diving. I had a blast! And now I’m an open water diver horray!

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Photos

Mark and Sander
Our instructors