Just Being Honest

I have been reading through some of my past posts on SCUBA diving and I have noticed an alarming trend. I have done my best to scare people by talking about ways in which a person can die underwater. While it is true there are a number of ways that one can become injured or even die while SCUBA diving the instances of this are rare, especially within the recreational diving community. I thought that today I would tell you about why SCUBA diving is so awesome.

To start with, SCUBA diving is one of the few recreational sports that requires extensive training just to participate. This means that every SCUBA diver, at one point or another, really wanted to learn how. You run into very few SCUBA divers who decided to learn on a whim or did it just because someone took them. You cannot even rent equipment without being certified. I think this is important because it puts everyone on the same page and makes sure everyone is on the same page safety wise.

The beauty of SCUBA training is that it isn’t difficult. Sure there are a few concepts that can be confusing, like buoyancy and pressure, but for the most part if you have taken a science class at any point in your life you will be fine. I took my first SCUBA class when I was twelve years old and had no problem understanding the basics and passing with no problems. If I could pass the class when I was twelve there is no reason why anyone else should have a problem.

Another reason why SCUBA diving is awesome is that it allows you to visit a place where human beings one hundred percent don’t belong. In the water you are a visitor and an explorer. It is basically like going to space, but more exciting because there is life underwater. This can be a humbling experience at first. As humans we tend to feel like we are masters of everything we see. Going underwater and seeing that there is a whole world that we don’t belong to is incredible.

I remember on one of my first ocean dives I saw the most incredible animals. About seventy-five feet away flying across the sand was a spotted eagle ray. Here was an animal that was easily as big as I was and it could care less that we where in the water. I am sure that if we would have tried to approach it, there could have been trouble but since we respected the fact that we where visiting, it left us alone.

The most important aspect of SCUBA is that it raises peoples awareness about the oceans and inland waterway environments. When you start to dive you learn all about how to dive and what you should and shouldn’t do. What is interesting is that most new divers start researching what creatures they might see underwater and in doing so learn about conservation efforts. Typically they will discuss this with there fellow divers as well as non-diving friends, spreading the word around about how the human race is hurting one of the resources we need to survive as a species.

In my on personal world SCUBA is one of the most amazing things. It is a fun sport that allows you to go where few people have gone before and see things that you wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise. Every SCUBA dive is like going on a safari, you get to see wildlife in it’s natural habitat where it is unaffected by your actions, unless your an idiot. This glimpse into an ecosystem is unmatched by any other wildlife based experience.