So, I recently completed a life goal of mine.
Around fifteen feet below the shallow waves of the Sea of Japan I watched a small, delicate jellyfish pulsate upwards in front of my mask. It took me a moment to notice that its ridges had a bioluminescent glow that faintly shone like distant Christmas lights. The blob floated past me, and my attention was drawn back to the figure in front of me. My diving instructor was motioning in the water; she was waiting for me to do the one thing I really didn’t want to have to do. The task was relatively simple on paper, remove my mask, replace it on my face, and then blow the water out the bottom of the mask with my nose. However, I hated doing it in the pool, and the thought of doing it under the ocean terrified me a little. But after mentally preparing myself, and after taking more than a few deep breaths underwater I found I could do it easier than I imagined. I removed my mask, and blindly in the water replaced in on my face, lifted the bottom lip and blew out with my nose. With my eyes clenched shut it was impossible for me to tell if I’d managed to clear all the water from my mask. I opened them tepidly only to see my instructor smiling at me, her finger and thumb making the okay signal. That underwater ‘okay’ was very reassuring. I breathed a sigh of relief, or I would have, if I wasn’t six metres underwater.
The full mask removal, replace and clear was only part of my practical test I was worried about. The rest of learning to dive was a relatively simple process. After the classroom sessions, you’re shown how to complete a list of necessary manoeuvres in the pool first. It’s a step-by-step process and your instructor will check you understand and can complete every skill before moving onto the next one. A few weekends after the pool dive I had a full weekend (four dives in total) to go over those skills again and test them out in open water. The PADI open water course can be completed in less time than this, but I found the spaced-out nature of the course to be beneficial (I selected the dates when I was free, and we built a timetable around that). I never felt rushed or uncomfortable at any point, and I was given plenty of time to go over written materials beforehand, and to ask any questions I was unsure about. I was also able to complete the course in English, without any communication problems, something that had put me off trying scuba diving in Japan for a while.
The largest part of learning to dive is going through the reading materials and answering some common-sense questions at the end of every chapter, there is some basic science involved, mainly to explain how your scuba kit works, and how to calculate the safe amount of time you can dive and then re-dive. But it is all explained thoroughly and pretty simple to understand.
One thing I had never appreciated before, was how difficult it can be to manoeuvre yourself into the water. It still being early spring, I learned to dive in a dry suit, which is bulky at the best of times. Whilst sitting on the edge of the water, I kept finding myself overbalancing and falling on my back, my fins flapping in the air. It was probably in that moment when I felt most like an aquatic creature, helpless and out of my element on the surface.
However once in the water it was a different story. Suddenly the bulky and cumbersome dive kit didn’t seem so at all. Even just swimming out to the bouy was a much simpler process than I’d envisioned. I’d thought that all this kit would be a pain to swim with, but snorkelling across the surface was no trouble. And once I’d gotten my weight balance sorted out it was much easier to move around underwater. It was difficult for me to get used to using my legs as my main source of propulsion through the water, being so used to using my arms when swimming normally, but I was told this was a good way to help me relax and use less energy, and therefore use less air.
The dive site was small and secluded, but I was still surprised by the amount of sea life I got to see in Karatsu (Saga), especially on the first day when the sea was calm and visibility was relatively good. I was delighted to see a few tiny seahorses on the sea bed, as well as a myriad of jellyfish (both the glowing ones mentioned above, as well as much bigger more traditional-styled jellyfish drifting lazily in the water). I even saw a few of what I believed to be fugu fish, hiding amongst the sea plants. Although the first two dives were mainly about getting my bearings, there were opportunities to watch the sea life, and to practice skills (my mask being borrowed if found I had to clear it at regular intervals) and both dives passed by very quickly.
The diving group I went with, Ocean View Diving Fukuoka are possibly some of the most helpful and pleasant people I could have met. A few weeks after a random meeting inside a Pilipino restaurant, where I mentioned that I had an interest in taking up diving, I found myself sitting in their office signing the paperwork and collecting my study materials. Everyone who works at the company is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about diving and I look forward to diving with them again soon.
Open Water Packages with Ocean View Diving, Fukuoka are advertised at 40,000JPY, plus equipment rental. Transport to and from dive sites is included, as is all study materials.
The World is Quiet 