Scuba Diving School - 1st Dive

Paul came with me to the diving centre (called "Hippocampe") for a bit of support.  My nerves and shyness can get the better of me at the best of times even though I am an adult!  Firstly I had to learn to assemble my gear - air tank, buoyancy jacket and octopus; and testing the equipment.  Also I was given important advice about diving, its hazards, safety, 'buddying' and much more.  Whilst the instructor (Wolf) was giving the same lesson in German to another group, I got dressed into a full wetsuit with Paul's help and then practiced taking the diving gear apart and putting it back together again.

Rather than having my first lesson in a swimming pool or starting off from the beach I soon found myself heading to a hard-bottomed rubber duck with a group of divers.  Paul remained at the shore and was going to do a bit of snorkelling whilst I was away.  There were two boats that went out with mostly experienced divers.  Being so many divers, there weren't enough tanks and weighted belts to go around so the 3 German girls went diving first with the Wolf.  I later learnt that the girls were doing a 'taster' dive rather than a training dive.  An Italian lady (Alexandra) and I did a bit of snorkelling until it was our turn.  Alexandra has a diving licence but hasn't dived for 20 years so was doing a refresher course.  Her son was on the other rubber duck and was doing his junior licence; her husband going with him to give him some support.

Once we got going I enjoyed being under the water.  Alexandra and I kept close to Wolf and every now and then he would signal to either inflate or deflate our buoyancy jackets a bit, remember to decompress our ears, and generally kept an eye on us.  When we got back to the boat he advised that he was very pleased with the fact that we were comfortable being under water but also the fact that we payed close attention to him.

Back at the shore we had to offload the boat.  I was given a weight belt to take back to the office as well as a buoyancy jacket and tank. Boy was it so heavy.  Getting out of the boat was fine but when I had to walk up the slippery rocks - my legs really took the strain a bit.  I wanted to crawl up but Paul came to the water's edge and gave me a helping, guiding hand.  Diving shoes would have been the obvious choice to walk in over the rocks but unfortunately the diving office didn't have my size - their shoes were way too big for me. I'm a EU 32-34 but they only started from a 36.  Paul did have a bit of a laugh at my strange gait as I staggered back to the diving office.  He offered to help me carry my gear but I declined - I have to learn to carry it myself in case he isn't around.  I did accept his offer to help me off-load, disassemble and wash the diving equipment as well as helping me out of my wetsuit - I didn't have the strength in my hands to get out of the suit.

I joined a group of divers at the table - they were filling in the dive log books.  Wolf eventually arrived and gave me a debriefing as well as giving me a log book in which to record my dives and observations and any other comments.  I've been booked to do a shallow training dive from the shore on Wednesday morning followed by a dive from the boat in the afternoon.

Paul was very patient with me.  He didn't have to wait around all afternoon let alone during the debriefing but he wanted to.  I suppose in a way, by listening, it helps re-enforce what he learned years ago when he did his licence.

I am absolutely shattered now and am looking forward to bed!