The Deep

Scuba diving is one way to get up close and personal with aquatic life.

But forgetting signals and techniques can make for quite a problem.

Last year, my family took a trip to a resort in the Dominican Republic during Christmas break. When we got to the resort after a three-hour plane trip, we found out the resort wasn’t fully completed and there were still some problems with the beach.

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Even with the small problem at the beginning, the dive was an amazing experience.

— AJ Stevenson

So I was kind of bummed about missing out from hanging out with my friends for New Year’s Eve. Instead, I was stuck at a unfinished resort.

There was not much to do but sit around the pool.  While I walking to the pool, I saw a sign that interested me. It was for scuba certification classes.

My dad, who is scuba certified, urged me to do it.  After two days of book work and dives, I achieved my certification.

A couple months after we returned from the Dominican, my dad and I were looking in Victoria, British Columbia. We were going there on a family trip in a few months and saw that there was a dive shop that offered dives nearby, so my dad decided that it would be a good idea to do a cold water dive while we were there and booked us a dive.

On the day of the dive, I felt excited and nervous for my first dive of more than 10 meters and in cold water. We met the dive master in the parking lot of a pier where we put on thick wet suits designed for the cold water and started to head to the dive location trying to remember all the signals and techniques.

On the walk, the wetsuit got extremely hot out in the sun and I was looking forward to hopping in the 60-degree water. Once we began the dive, it was like I entered a whole new world. I could see fish and plants in better detail and color than ever before. We spent around an hour diving 20 meters under the surface looking at the octopus, rockfish, anemones, hagfish, eelpout, and starfish that were just inches away from us.

The dive went smoothly except I forgot how to clear my mask underwater and had to resurface in the beginning, which did not please my dad. Even with the small problem at the beginning, the dive was an amazing experience. At the end of the dive, after spending an hour in the cold water, I was about ready to resurface.

Since that dive, I’ve done other dives in the warmer waters of St. Martin and Florida which were also a great dives.

Overall, diving is one of my favorite things to do on vacation and it is by far the best way to observe marine life.

Just don’t forget how to clear a mask when you’re 20 meters deep.