Have you ever wanted to do something new and exciting, like hang gliding, rock climbing, or scuba diving, but didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars finding out whether or not you liked it? Swimming through the clear waters of the Caribbean while gazing at tropical fish and colorful coral would be amazing, but what if scuba diving turns out to not be your thing, even if you thought it would be? That would be an expensive test run.
Fortunately, you can try scuba diving for very little green. Did you know there’s a place in Chattanooga where you can learn the basics for just twenty bucks? When I learned about Leisure Time Dive and Snow Ski Center, I called and scheduled an appointment to take their discovery dive. I’d never dreamed about swimming through the clear waters of Caribbean, but the idea of being underwater without needing to resurface every few seconds for air sounded fun.
Plus, I’d recently seen the movie The Guardian, and could envision myself being lowered from a helicopter into open waters to rescue people in distress. If Kevin Costner could do it, so could I.
Located at 3520 Brainerd Road, Leisure Time has been around since the 1970s. Leisure Time is a PADI training facility. PADI is an organization that certifies divers. If you want to swim in open waters, you’re going to have to be certified, as no one will fill your oxygen tanks if you’re not. You don’t become certified during a discovery dive, but you will find out whether or not scuba diving is your thing.
When I arrived at Leisure Time, I spent a few minutes browsing the store, which is packed with scuba and ski gear. I also talked with one of the owners about their open water dives, which take place about an hour north of Chattanooga, and their dive trips to destinations in the U.S. and beyond. Before signing up for a scuba diving adventure in Destin, however, I wanted to make sure I could breathe underwater without losing my marbles.
After a few minutes, my instructor, Bill Byes, took me to the diving area. The discovery dive takes place in a heated indoor pool with an instructor, allowing you to experience the adventure of scuba diving in a safe and relaxing environment. As I walked in, all of my equipment was laid out poolside: swim mask, oxygen tank, flippers, weight belt, vest, and so on. I’m sure there’s a technical name for the vest, but since this is an article about a novice dive, “vest” will work. A bit of anxiety swelled up in my chest as I saw all of the straps and tubes and gizmos on the vest, but I took a deep breath and told myself, “If Kevin Costner can do it, so can I...”
Bill saw me take a breath and complimented me on learning the first rule of scuba diving: Never stop breathing. Or always breathe. Either way, breathing is important. “We live under one atmosphere. When you’re 33 feet under water, you’re under a second atmosphere, and when you’re 66 feet under water, you’re under three atmospheres. If you take a balloon underwater, it will shrink from the pressure. The same thing happens to your lungs. If you hold your breath while you’re swimming to the surface, your lungs will expand,” Bill said. This is a bad thing, he assured me as I checked the depth of the deep end of the pool. Nine feet. Good.
The math lesson over, I suited up and followed Bill into the pool. Slipping into my gear took a few minutes as I fumbled with the straps on the vest, but I was soon fastened in and ready to dive - or so I thought.
Here’s the great thing about learning to scuba dive at Leisure Time: The instructors take you through the process one small step at a time, and make sure you’re comfortable with each step before you take the next one. Once you know everything you need to know to make your first dive, you’ll realize there’s not much to it, but learning the preliminaries is a process.
My first and only “uh oh” moment came when I tried to breathe underwater for the first time. Bill showed me how to grab the regulator (the gizmo that delivers oxygen to your mouth), clear the water out of it, and begin breathing. I followed his instructions perfectly, but when I dipped into the water, my brain said “Stop breathing!” and I forgot everything he’d said. My second try went better, and by my third try, I felt like I had all but grown gills.
As the lesson progressed, I was having trouble sinking. We were standing in only a few feet of water, but whenever I submerged, I floated to the top - despite weighing 230 pounds on land. Flapping my arms to stay under didn’t help, and I’m sure made me look ridiculous. If it did, Bill never let on, but instead patiently worked with me to correct the problem.
To get me to sink, my instructor taught me about buoyancy - the hardest but most important scuba diving skill to learn. To stay under, I needed to relax, breathe in and out slowly, and expel more of the air in my lungs. I was breathing, but quickly, and I was taking short breaths and tensing my muscles. I was thrilled when I applied what Bill had taught me and my butt hit the bottom of the shallow end of the pool.
It was time to go deeper. With no fanfare, Bill said, “Are you ready to swim?” I nodded yes and went under.
I was tempted to swim as I always have - using my arms and legs to propel me. But Bill, who I’m convinced is a human-aquatic hybrid, placed his arms at his side and made large, slow movements with his legs. I tried to follow suit, and did well until I came to the end of the pool and had to turn around. Back against the edge of the pool or into corners was an issue for my entire time underwater; I never did master turning tightly, but since this was an introductory dive, I didn’t worry about it.
After I’d become acclimated to being underwater, Bill taught me how to juggle three eggs. I watched him, failed badly, then watched him again. I’ve never been able to juggle, but to my surprise, I nailed it on the second try. Next, I swam through a metal hoop and learned to toss a plastic rocket in a beeline through the water.
I’ll be headlining with Shamu the Killer Whale at Sea World this summer.
The next step, if I decide to take it, is the PADI open water diver course, which is about a two hundred dollar investment. For those who have never scuba dived but are curious, I wholly recommend taking the discovery dive. I loved the time I spent underwater. Nothing I have ever experienced compares to the weightless exhilaration of breathing underwater. It truly is a feeling only a diver - or a Kevin Costner wannabe - knows.