Scuba Diving Certification ... check!

One of the things on the infamous life’s to-do list, almost since its inception, was this: get scuba diving certification. At the time I didn’t really know what that entails, just that a quick introductory dive in Mexico a few years ago was pretty fun so I wanted to do more of it ... some day.

For my 39th birthday, my “to me from me” present was scuba diving lessons. Sweetie and I took the PADI Open Water Certification theory and pool sessions at Adventures in Scuba in Calgary. Last year in September, having moved to a warmer climate, I realized I that unless I did the open water dives and completed the certification before the 1-year mark, I was gonna have to repeat the whole darned course and that did not appeal to me. So on asking around, someone recommended Al Boom Diving and I booked the first of my “real” dives to close the loop on that.


The Refresher

Being a novice diver and since some time had elapsed since my pool dives, I was required to take a skills refresher. The dive master was a middle-aged Englishman who seemed competent as an instructor and he did his best to conduct the skills tests in an orderly, professional manner. But one student always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Afterwards, my fellow student explained that performing the skills wasn’t the problem so much as reading the instructions written on the instructor’s underwater tablet; difficult to do without your glasses which, for obvious reasons, he was not wearing! No wonder he was lost, you’d think an instructor of that caliber would know better.

While my dim-sighted dive buddy was fumbling blindly through the session, I have no such problems with vision and I was treated to a full-on view of the instructor’s choice of swim attire for that day. Granted, he looked good for his age, was fit and trim and tanned, but no man of any age should be allowed in public wearing only florescent lime green speedos! Period. Given the fact that objects underwater appear magnified … well, let’s just say it was difficult to focus (and not in a good way).

The assistant instructor, while clad more modestly, was entertaining in his own right. Me thinks he was a Scot. Of the 4 students that day, I was the only female and as things often go in this country, men do everything for you whether you want them to or not. The other students had to fend for themselves while the Scotsman assembled all my gear, suited me up, did my buddy check and doted over my every need. As I was about to leap into the pool, he laughingly told me how he sometimes forgets to turn on his breathing air until he is already in the water (which is a silly safety blunder, especially for someone aspiring to be a full-fledged instructor; I double checked my own air, it was on). Once in the pool, he again let out a jovial belly laugh as he had again forgotten to turn on his air. This only confirmed my suspicion that the guy was a few fries short of a happy meal.


Out of the Pool and Into the Sea

After the refresher I have taken a number of dives and along with Arabic classes, scuba diving has become my new favorite hobby. On my second dive, I was treated to a glimpse of a shark! A small one, only about 1 meter long, not sure what species (probably "just" a sand shark) but still very cool.

When Sweetie was here last October, he too had to complete his certification before the year was up and we completed Dives 3 and 4 together in Fujairah, the eastern-most Emirate, less than 2 hours' drive across the Peninsula.

Red Tide

There is a phenomenon that happens in the sea when there is an over abundance of algae called, “Red Tide”. This happens for a number of reasons both natural and man-made and the result is sometimes discoloration of the water and damage to the marine environment. This was the case on Fujairah side of the peninsula last fall. However, this was not explained to us in advance and, being newbie divers from the land-locked prairie provinces, we had no idea why the sea was brown-ish and smelly!

We geared up as usual, flipped off the boat and into an ocean of black ink. Pitch black! Like, can’t see your hand in front of your face black! After the dives, I apologized to the 10 year old boy who was also getting certified and who was descending down the line below me. It was a disconcerting experience for me as an adult and I did not have someone kicking me in the head from above! (Don’t worry, the kid’s Dad was with him and was an experienced diver, the boy was in no danger).

Once at the bottom, the water was clear and the sunshine peaked through and the rest of the dive was pleasant enough. The algae clouds swirled around above us in a murky fog that looked like oil mixing with vinegar.

Good to Go for Gear

My 2008 Christmas gift “To Me From Me” (well, one of them anyway!) was my very own dive gear and as a belated Christmas surprise, Sweetie gave me a dive computer when we met in California in March. It is a very high tech unit and I have only now figured out how to set the correct time.

Road Trips

In March I took a spontaneous trip to Cyprus over the public holidays with the intent of seeing more of the underwater world. What I discovered though, is that anything I wanted to see was deeper than what my basic Open Water Certification would allow. My one and only dive there was a bit disappointing. The lesson: plan ahead better.

My Canadian friend who visited earlier this year gave me an excuse to dive a spot I have wanted to since I came. Actually, she had to coax me. I had heard it was for more advanced divers but she convinced me to go inspite of my sparce diving resume.

The tip of the Peninsula is called Khasab, Mussandam which is part of Oman. It is called “The Norway of Arabia”, the rock cliffs descend steeply into the ocean as you would see in Northern Europe (apparently, haven’t been there). It was fanastic!





The highlight for my friend was seeing a turtle which she was really hoping to see (by the time I realized that it was too late to send her to Fujeirah where I have seen them several times). The hightlight for me was seeing by far the biggest sea creature that I have seen: a 4 meter long Leopard Shark!


Not to worry, Leopard Sharks are not dangerous. In fact there is only one recorded "incident" in California with a swimmer who had a nose bleed and even then, there were no injuries.

Sea Creatures

In the dives I’ve taken since then have all been local and I have seen some neat stuff. Since I don’t yet have an underwater camera (my birthday and Christmas are coming!) I will once again post images that turn up on Google and try to credit where possible.

Cuttle fish. Lots of them on the Fujeirah side. Very strange creatures! They change color and texture depending on the environment and the situation.

LOTS of turtles or maybe it was the same ones several times. They are cool to watch and fairly docile; one can swim within a few meters of them before they notice and swim away. The biggest one I saw had a shell that was more than 24” (60 cm) across!

Little tiny ghost-like jellyfish that look just like they do in the cartoons! Fortunately I have never been stung but others have and it is unpleasant.

Coral, eels, sting rays, star fish, lobsters, crabs, angel fish, batfish, soldiers, groupers.

Sea cucumbers: If you were to stuff a black stocking full of sand, that's what they look like. during my "Underwater Naturalist" dive, the guide picked one up (which I thought ya weren't supposed to do) and had me hold onto it. Feels like a stocking full of sand.

Black pointy things (some kind of coral?) I see them frequently but I don't actually know what they are. The dive guide picked up one of these too. I held it in my palm for a minute or so. When I was finished examining it, I turned over my hand to drop it but it had stuck itself there. I gently brushed it off and it floated back down to its home on the sea bed.