14th GM: Mad About Diving

Reported by Rtr Susan
8th February 2007

Mad about diving; I could not put it any better. And I am certain that the madness not only got a hold on me but also on a number of us in RACKM. And if you too appreciate the beauty of the aquatic world or just love the thrill of a different adventure; scuba diving might hold the key.

On 8th February, we set off to B&J Diving Center, Melaka to meet a scuba diving instructor Mr. Daren Chua. He is a certified PADI scuba diving instructor and he is currently one of the prominent instructors at B&J Diving Center. He has been in the industry for almost 7 years and just right person to share with us an exhilarating world of scuba diving.

Members and guests listening attentively to Mr Daren

Basically, scuba diving can be divided into four groups; recreational, commercial, scientific, and military. Recreational is the largest group, people dive for the fun of it. Commercial divers usually work for diving contractor. They are trained carry out professional work underwater such as building underwater and coastal structures, salvaging ships and treasures and conducting engineering and scientific surveys and inspections. Scientific diving is exclusively for research activities that involve marine life, the ocean, underwater archeology etc. Military divers in the other hands perform underwater military related tasks.

And Mr. Daren shared with us the largest group that is the recreational diving. The first level in recreational diving is to be a certified Open Water Diver. After the certification, you can go further by specializing in a skill. Some specializations include altitude diving, night diving, fish identification, search and recovery, underwater photography, cavern diving, wreck diving, ice diving, and technical diving specialties. And if you are thinking of making recreational diving a career there a number of options such as dive master, instructor, instructor trainer and examiner, course director or even start your own dive center or resort.

The word SCUBA is an acronym for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus and that pretty much explained that there are a number of equipment needed in scuba diving. In the talk, Mr. Daren Chua showed and explained to us some of the equipment such as mask, snorkels, fins, scuba tank, regulators, submersible pressure gauges and buoyancy control device or better known as BCD. Each of these equipments has its own purpose to adapt our human body to the underwater environment and all that allowing us to see, breathe and swim effortlessly underwater.

Hand signals are useful underwater

He also helped us to clear a few myths that people have about scuba diving. Aquatic world is a different environment than what we accustomed to and divers must observe and exercise certain standard safety rules and producers but that doesn’t make scuba diving a dangerous activity. And with today’s modern training standards and equipments scuba diving is safe and becoming safer.

Whatever Hollywood portrayed in Jaws and Open Water is definitely an exaggeration because sharks don’t have a habit of munching on divers. In actual fact, most divers have never laid their eyes on large sharks. When they do, the shark species which they often encounter are typically timid and unwilling to approach. Most sharks are not aggressive and not to be feared. The famous Great White is rare and normally found off the South coast of Australia or along a few areas in Northern California.

Another thing is that you don’t have to be an Olympic swimmer to scuba dive. It is true that scuba diving is an active sport, the better shape you are in the easier it will be. But generally if you know how to swim, in a good health and most importantly comfortable being in the water, you are only one step away. So what are you waiting for, leave that couch and sign up for a diving class today; don’t let a lifetime of adventure slip away!

Thank you for sharing with us your underwater experience