SCUBA Diving

Posted by bodybuilder

Posted: July 22, 2008 - 7:14 pm

One of my favorite things to do in life is try new things. Physical things that is, not like eating lizard or cow intestines or anything like that. One of the most recent endeavors I was able to experience was SCUBA Diving in Maui, HI in February. If you have ever been diving you understand the physical and mental requirements needed in order to have an enjoyable experience under the water, swimming with sharks and huge sea turtles.

MAUI DIVING!

You definitely have to be in decent shape to scuba dive as it requires good cardiovascular strength as well as whole body strength and stamina. The heavy tank and weighted vest aren't noticeable once you get in the water, but the walk from the car to the ocean is quite a feat with all that gear on!

I've always been a swimmer and was a certified lifeguard in high school, so being in water is second nature to me. It was being restricted to breathing out of my mouth that was the biggest challenge of all. In addition to that, you must learn how to clear your mask if it suddenly fills with water while you are at the ocean floor and until you are forced to learn it, you really don't realize how difficult that can be.

So while you are breathing out of your mouth, hoping your mask doesn't suddenly fill with salt water, you must keep yourself level in the water by controlling a certain amount of buoyancy without ramming yourself into the reef and possibly damaging it or yourself. This all looks so easy on T.V. but I assure you it was a physical challenge as well as a mental one, especially when we came upon two white-tipped reef sharks that were bigger than me.

White-Tipped reef shark that raised my blood pressure a bit....

After the initial learning phase, scuba diving was an amazing experience and definitely something I will continue to pursue. If you are comfortable in water, this will surely test you physically. I recommend warm water diving by the way...

login or register to post comments