Getting your PADI Open Water Diver certification is a great first step in learning to dive, here guest blogger Lisa lets us in on the four things that surprised her most when she learnt to dive…
I got PADI certified in the Maldives last year, while spending a week on an island where the only activities offered were tanning, relaxing and swimming. Except for the PADI dive school.
I went into it with many expectations (one of them being that diving would be awesome – which it was!), and most of them were proven wrong or right. But there were some things I hadn’t even considered, which is why I am sharing them with you.
Four Things That Surprised Me About Learning To Dive
How calm I had to be
Diving is considered a sport, isn’t it? Therefore, I was surprised when my instructor motioned to me (for the third time) to slow/calm down. Swimming in a slow and relaxed manner was a challenge, especially because I was so excited about everything.
How obsessed I became
To this day, I still feel bad for my best friend who spent that week in the Maldives with me. After my first day of diving I was hooked, and spent every waking minute for the rest of the trip talking about the tests, my instructor, the fish I’d seen and how many weights I had to use in my belt.
What I was scared of
In all honesty, I have never been afraid of the water. Therefore, I wasn’t worried at all about heading under the sea, and was even hoping that I would be lucky enough to see a shark! My little heart attack came from seeing a Lion Fish swimming across the reef below me, and to this day I can still hear my heart beating in my ears.
Meeting poisonous fish have been the most fascinating and terrifying moments I have come across in my short life as a diver. Who could have known?
How social it was
I completed my Open Water dives on a boat with other divers and instructors. I was so nervous, and was convinced that I would have to latch on to my poor instructor for the day, having no one else to talk to.
I was wrong.
I have never met such social people in my life! By the time everyone was back on the boat after the first dive it was like we had known each other for 20 years. Everyone had something to share from their dive, memories from previous dives and stories from getting certified.
If this post has inspired you to learn to dive, check out our guide online here.
About the Author:
Lisa Stentvedt is a travel blogger and writer from Norway. Follow her adventures on her blog Fjords and Beaches and on Instagram.
