We were born to scuba dive. And nowhere does this become more apparent than in Mauritius!
Staying in Mauritius for just short of two weeks, we had planned our honeymoon ‘wish list’, or more ‘my honeymoon demands’. Top of the list – underwater life.
After experiencing snorkeling in Thailand, Mexico, and the Red Sea, Mauritius had a serious amount to compete with. By the time we got to ‘scuba diving day’, (a PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience), we were desperate to have that underwater dream we longed for.
Our laidback PADI Instructor quickly put us at ease with his sense of humor and patience. We started with a verbal brief and walkthrough of gear before getting in the swimming pool for exercises to pass. Given our combined experience of one try dive between us, we were prepared for the worst, but having had clear instructions, the confidence appeared from nowhere to just go for it. And every step the Instructor gave us useful feedback. Fear? What fear?! Within ten minutes we were underwater high five-ing.
Having successfully passed the Instructor’s confidence tests for controlling buoyancy, mask clearing, hand signals, regulator clearing, and getting air from another diver, we were ready to get in the boat.
Slightly unable to contain our excitement at this point, we were given advice on rolling out of the boat – an experience in itself! ‘Put your hand over mask and regulator then take a breath and roll back into the water’ we were confidently told, ‘a couple of waves of your flippers should take you away from the boat’. Should, unless like me you get totally disorientated, having not kept my eyes open, coming back up to a few giggles from the boys at the elegance at which I went in with.
Underwater. Amazing, literally within seconds we were underwater amongst the fish and beds of lavender coral. Above us people snorkeled.
Paul had grown a holiday beard, which meant that his mask never got that perfect seal and so was quickly putting those mask clearing skills to the test. All good, everything else went smoothly under the instructor’s watchful eye.
We had 30 minutes underwater at 5m (15 ft.) – every second we treasured. The instructor was never more than a look away but gave us the space to experience with guidance where required.
Back on the boat was a moment to reflect and think about what would we write about our experience? Without an instructor putting confidence in you to just do it, it could be very different. But this whole package was well organized, calming any panic and creating the feeling of wanting to do it again and again.
Thank you to everyone who was part of our adventure! Discovering scuba diving in Mauritius was one of our honeymoon highlights.
If you want to find out more about Discover Scuba Diving or getting certified, check out a more detailed blog here.
This blog was originally written by Jackie Hutchings and published on the Diviac Magazine.
