In honor of celebrating Earth Month and summer creeping right around the corner, it is the perfect time to take on a new adventure and get scuba certified! Scuba diving is a great way to admire our coastal reefs right here in Santa Barbara, form new friendships, explore new educational opportunities, or simply just try something completely different. I know the idea of scuba diving can sound scary, but I’m here to tell you about my own diving experience and the important tips to get you started! Taking your first breath underwater is truly an eye-opening experience you will never forget.
How I got scuba certified
Last winter break, my sister and I got the opportunity to dive on our vacation in Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island right off the coast of Venezuela. Shoutout to the Blue Bay Diving Resort crew for being so welcoming and such amazing teachers! Even though there are many different types of Open Water Diver certifications, I got mine through PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), which offers world-class training at different centers around the world.
I started my two-day course by completing the online PADI Open Water eLearning modules. Each course will require some sort of prior training, to make sure you know the basics of scuba diving, safety measures, important terminology, and everything you need to know about your gear, before entering the water. Each day was divided into two parts, first we would spend 70 minutes going over basic safety measures. After, we would go on two free dives at the end of both days. I saw new underwater landscapes filled with turtles, stunning coral reefs, every kind of fish I could possibly imagine, and endless streams of crystal clear blue water. It was truly a surreal experience.
Diving into unknown deep waters totally seems risky at first, it’s not an irrational feeling to find it scary. However, if you are properly trained and certified, there is nothing to be afraid of! The main thing my instructor would always tell us is to stay calm and never hold your breath out of anxiousness. The number one rule is to always breathe and relax. I cannot stress enough how important it is to feel safe underwater during this new experience, it is a learning experience and every dive instructor understands that. Get to know your instructor, meet the other staff members, learn to find your way around the dive center, and most importantly get to know the people in your group well. It is so good to embrace each other’s presence, because they can be great future friends and dive buddies.
Getting scuba certified at ucsb
Santa Barbara has so many diverse underwater landscapes, it is the perfect place to dive for people of all different skill levels. Conveniently, you can get scuba certified right here on campus! UCSB’s Department of Recreation offers three different scuba diving courses, including SCUBA I – Open Water Certification. The course consists of different lectures, pool instruction sessions, and ocean dives. Overall, it is a great introduction to the underwater world, offered multiple times during the spring and summer quarters. Upon completion of the course you will be NAUI Open Water SCUBA certified, which is internationally recognized! Wherever you wish to go on vacation, scuba diving can become a part of your itinerary.
Besides getting certified offering a great way to meet other dive friends, on-campus clubs such as UCSB Scuba and Freediving Club are awesome to make new connections and get out there. Each quarter they hold many social events, go on diving trips to many beautiful places such as Catalina Island, and host different speaker events. Also, the UCSB Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology Department offers so many different majors and academic opportunities that fit your possible educational interests. Whether you are wishing to complete a Marine Biology major, or take on a research program to learn more about biodiversity and environmental impacts, diving is a great skill to have under your belt. These are just some of the many opportunities here on campus, but it is a great way to build your own relationship with the ocean. As college students, life can feel stressful with homework and all of our other individual responsibilities. Diving is a great recreational activity to be present in the moment, away from the outside distractions of everyday reality. My trip to Curaçao taught me to be open-minded and embrace new adventures, thanks to diving!