For six days I floated, sank and emptied my scuba mask of water with the UBC Aqua Society in search of my PADI Open Water Diver certification.

It’s better down where it’s wetter

I didn’t know I was going to be in the UBC Aqua Society’s Open Water Dive class until the day before it started. Brendan Andresen, who works at the society’s scuba shop, handed me a textbook, told me the next certification course started the following day, and that I had two chapters of homework.

Class started late, much to our instructor Firat Ataman’s dismay. But we pushed through our homework and took an onslaught of quizzes, from emergency procedures to calculating nitrogen levels. After striking what seemed like a gratuitous amount of fear into our hearts, Ataman showed us how to put together our scuba equipment, and we headed to the Aquatic Centre for our first underwater breathing experience. Sitting at the bottom of the pool feels strange. You can see everyone else swimming above you—I felt like a voyeur.

Unfortunately, it gets very cold sitting at the bottom of the pool, so if they offer you a wet suit, take it.

On our second day, we worked on “buoyancy.” Establishing neutral buoyancy has little to do with your ability to swim. Before you grasp buoyancy, you will have to grasp humility; something as simple as breathing in or out deeply can make you float or sink more. We would drag along the bottom of the pool, being negatively buoyant as to not float to the surface.

On the fourth day, I decided to go through with a dry suit course. What is a dry suit, you ask? You know those infomercials where they take asparagus, put it in a plastic bag, and then a machine sucks all the air out of the package? Well, in a dry suit, you’re the asparagus. But you’re warm asparagus.

I wasn’t very good at adding air, and the increase in pressure at the bottom of the pool left bruises along my arms and legs. But after an evening of training in the UBC Aquatic Centre I was ready to take it to the ocean.

Devotin’ full time to floatin’

At 9am on Saturday morning, we packed up our gear and drove to Whyte Cliff, a popular dive site just outside of Horseshoe Bay.

Diving is like being a child again; your sense of wonder is renewed. The underwater world is something you’ve never properly encountered before, although it’s existed side-by-side with our drier reality. There are more colourful starfish than you can count, some of them about half a meter in diametre. Fish surround you, blending into the ocean floor, magically appearing and shooting off into the distance as you come too close.
When we surfaced, Andresen, like a kid in a candy shop, told us in a rapid and excited tone, “That’s the best visibility I’ve ever seen here!”

After the first dive, we had to change tanks, which meant getting out of the water. Because of the ocean’s salinity, you are more buoyant than in the only moderately salty Aquatic Centre, so you have to put on more weights. Geared up, we were each 50–60 pounds heavier. The feeling of going from weightlessness to being that much heavier is confusing. I stumbled out of the ocean and across the beach like a drunken sailor.

Sadly, we reached our last day of certification on Sunday. We finished up our Open Water skills, including taking our masks off underwater, putting them back on and emptying out the water. One girl lost her fin, and as it floated to the surface, air moved to her foot, it became positively buoyant and she began heading to the surface, feet-first. It must have been strange for those above to see two feet sticking out of the water (one fin-less), flailing about. Andresen eventually got her upright and she was fine, so suppression of laughter wasn’t necessary as we made our way back to shore.

Though the visibility was nothing like the day before, we managed to find the octopus that had taken up residence in a rock nearby. As we were making our way back to our buoy, two seals swam by. I was drenched, cold and completely in love with my new sport.

The UBC Aqua Society, Canada’s oldest dive club, is located in the basement of the Student Union Building. They hold introductory and advanced dive courses mulitple times per month, and their schedule can be found at diveubc.com.