Our shop recently went on a trip to the Riviera Maya in Mexico to get away from the beginning of another dreadful winter — I wish I were there now!
As I was relaxing while bouncing across the ocean on my way to the second dive site of the day, I thought, “How lucky am I?” The answer is, “Very.”
My dive season started in Florida last February with my rebreather training in the caverns there. I then travelled to the Bahamas where I lived on a boat and dove for a week. After that, I headed to Ohio to dive in an old quarry filled with sunken airplanes, boats, helicopters and more! I certified new divers, trained divers to do really cool dives and took courses myself. This summer I dove in the St. Lawrence, Tobermory and other locations all over Ontario. The 2016 dive season ended with the trip to Mexico already mentioned.
So, aside from travel, I know people who have used diving to advance their careers in marine biology, aquaculture, police, fire, commercial diving, underwater construction — the list goes on. Many divers leave high school and travel the world as Divemasters or instructors before coming back to continue their education.
What attracted me to diving was the fact that it is a great and relaxing hobby. It’s a family activity, an extreme adventure sport, a very inclusive social activity and so much more. Underwater, language is not an issue and neither are any of the physical barriers that prevent people from participating in activities on land. When I was in Cozumel, through diving, I made new friends immediately and dove with a father, his newly certified 12-year-old daughter and his 82-year-old dad. His dad couldn’t carry the dive gear, so the crew put it in the water for him. He geared up and off we all went. Show me a sport where such a wide demographic and range of physical abilities can participate equally.
Getting started in diving begins with obtaining Open Water Diver certification; then the rest is up to you. Some divers go on holidays and dive once every two years, some dive in Canada 12 months a year! We are travelling to Tobermory to dive under the ice in February, Roatan (Honduras) in March, and the Bahamas in April.
So, what is the best hobby? Diving!
Submitted by Tri-City Scuba Centre
