The reality of diving as a 9 year old

The idea of going under water and trying something new was really interesting to me.

We had discussed getting a diving certification, but learned that the minimum age to take the course is 10 years old, so instead we decided on a Discovery Dive, which allows people interested in diving to try it before taking the full certification course.

Rasdhoo is full of dive shops, the place we stayed recommended Alihuras – they’ve been around a while and are highly rated. Dad and Brita went by and talked with them and sealed the deal. We were going diving.

The night before our dive we met our leaders, Anjou and Senim. Anjou a local to Rasdhoo and Senim Divemaster student from Turkiye! We got fitted for wetsuits, flippers, goggles, and dive vests (which attaches oxygen tanks to us). We also watched a 15-min video which told us important hand signals like go up, go down, I’m OK, Not feeling good (then point to the area that doesn’t feel good), and my favorite one: “take it easy” … which requires both hands out in front of you, palms facing down, then slowly moving your hands down from chest height to waist height. We also learned THE MOST IMPORTANT THING, when scuba diving, “DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH” … else your lungs could burst. A serious injury, but the easiest thing to prevent. Then we were sent away to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow.

The next morning we met at the dive shop at 8:30. All of our equipment was already on the boat. We walked out to our boat, which was located at the Rasdhoo port, a quick walk way. We loaded up and sped away. The first day we went to a sandbank near to Rasdhoo. It was high tide so we there wasn’t must sand exposed, but it made for beautiful blue water because of the sand underneath it. We hopped off the boat and took some pictures, then got ready.

The sandbank had a big drop off, so we took a small step into the water it was about waist high, and we started to get our heavy heavy diving vests on …. then our goggles and our flippers. It was easier to do it in the water, because the water made the vests lighter .. and our vests could inflate to help us float. Our instructors brought us in one by one, finally all in, hanging on to a life buoy, we kicked out away from the sandbank where we’d be diving. Then our instructors gave us the “down” signal. At first I thought something was wrong because the signal is a thumbs down gesture, but then I remembered the video! That means go down. To go down to release air from your life vest. The key to going down is to just relax, not tense up, don’t kick, just sink. I had some trouble with this. I thought I had face down and kick, but Anjou grabbed me and helped.

And like that, we were underwater! It felt like we were in an enclosed area, cause the water was all around us. My wetsuit didn’t really fit me, so I could feel the cool water all around my body (expect for the areas goggles covered up). Since I’m underage, under 10 you’re not typically allowed to go below 2 meters, I had to stay connected to the instructor. Basically I got yanked around the entire time, while the rest of the the family was floating around freely. While I wish I was able to move around without being tethered to Anjou, it was being down there with everyone, that counted.

Before I knew it, our 30 min was over, and he gave me the “up” signal … not that I needed it cause I was already getting pulled up.  We surfaced and we had to get out of our vest and air tank while in the water, before loading up into the boat. Then we climbed the ladder, sat in the bow, and talked about our experience. We got asked by our instructors how it was. At the time everyone was talking about how amazing it was. I agreed at the time, I thought it was so cool, to be underwater with everyone. But as I look back on things now I have to say that our Maldives diving experience wasn’t as fun as I was hoping, mainly because of the lack of freedom (see my post on surfing) resulting from having to be so close to Anjou. It definetly makes me want to try it again, once I can be on my own.