Well, that was terrifying. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t stripping out of my BCD (buoyancy control device aka vest keeping me alive) and putting it back on again while 40 feet under the water. Looking back, it makes perfect sense that this certification is supposed to be stressful since its purpose is to prep divers for worst-case scenarios in the water, such as having a regulator knocked out of your mouth or being blinded by a leaky mask😓 It was basically a massive, self-induced stress test: “Can you do ‘x’ without losing your mind? Good. Now do ‘y.’”
The first day was hell, the second was terrifying, but the third was amazing. Hell consisted of six hours of theory and seven hours of confined water practice. It was too long. After taking my BCD apart and putting it back together for the fifth time, I was a bit done and toward the end, I was even too tired to be afraid. That part of my brain just wasn’t working, so when the instructor said: “Fall backward into the water,” I said: “Bye!” I might have even waved goodbye to him on the way down. Along with testing our endurance, we learned and practiced majority of the material this day, making the rest of the classes easier.
On the second day, we did everything from the first day again, but in the ocean with fish, poor visibility and currents. Basically, it felt like a completely different ball game and it was. Considering it was our first semi-solo dive, we did WELL. By that, I mean we didn’t panic or lose our heads when asked to do normally suicidal things like remove our air tanks and regulators while under the water. We calmly practiced: clearing face masks, locating lost regulators, removing BCDs, sharing air supplies, signaling and surfacing.
Just before being signaled to remove, hold and replace our BCDs; a current rushed the group, jostling and swinging the divers around. Obviously, these were not ideal conditions and life was a bit stressful. A fellow diver’s hand was hovering over mine and I grabbed it. We communicated our support through punctuated hand squeezes that said: “We can do this. We will do this. IT WILL BE OK.” Upon surfacing, the whole group burst out laughing for no other reason than that we were alive. #teambonding
Getting all the terrifying lessons out of the way, the third day was a breeze that reminded me why I was doing this in the first place. We were allowed to dive freely as long as we stayed close to the group. Curious divers, who strayed to look at cool starfish, would be summoned back to the school by the relentless rattle of our dive leader’s signaling device. (I never made it to the starfish😢)
This day, we mostly focused on buoyancy control and adjusting to varying pressure changes in the water, which Jeffrey, the dive center’s owner, demonstrated with meditative-like efficiency. He was with us this day, hanging around suspended in the water like a floating Buddha. No BCD, he just casually carried his air tank around between crossed legs in the middle of the water… Goals.
On this day, we also learned some flexible diving skills that are good to know, but not necessary for the certification. My boyfriend is responsible for this. He looked up a list of the skills the night before and decided he HAD to learn them. (He’s a bit of an over-achiever.) Therefore, the instructor began drilling us on: different diver tows for carrying an injured diver to safety and weight drops for fast surfacing. He also showed us how to swim 15 meters without a face mask and then replace it underwater. At this point, I sneaked up the ladder and away from danger, leaving my boyfriend to contend with his curiosity.
It was a struggle, but I’m very glad we did this. The certification has opened up a large part of the world to us that majority of people never get to experience. I know I can trust my significant other to take care of himself and not lose his head in the water. (Can you believe he used to be afraid of water?) I also know he can expect the same of me. The class was only three days, but we learned a lot, tested ourselves and are better because of it. Plus, we can swim like dolphins now😏
There are lots of locations in Taiwan to become certified and also lots of dive shops offering the certification. The three most popular places to get it done are Kenting, Green Island and Longdong Bay. Kenting and Green Island are beautiful vacation spots, whereas Longdong Bay is just convenient. It’s not very pretty and water conditions are less than ideal, but it’s only an hour’s van ride away from Taipei. If you’ve been scuba diving before and are just trying to get the certification done, it will do. However, if you’ve never been in the water before, I’d suggest Green Island. It’s Taiwan’s top diving destination and a direct contrast to Longdong Bay.
Join Diving Center
In case you’re curious, I looked at three different dive shops and reached out to two: Join Diving Center and Scuba Shop Taipei. Based on a friend’s recommendation we decided on Join Diving and couldn’t have been happier. Yes… it was torture, but they were thorough, good instructors with excellent communication skills and years of experience. We don’t speak Chinese, so there was a slight communication barrier, but they never lost patience with us, and did their absolute best to answer our many questions and make us feel comfortable. I highly recommend them, and we will use them again for future dives and possibly for getting the advanced diver certification next spring.
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