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DAVIDSON - As he prepares to teach a scuba diving class at the Davidson Pool, instructor Neil Fisher, clad in his wetsuit, steps into the cool water and lets out a quick yelp. "Heater broken?" he asks. "Glad I brought the suit." Eleven students sit alongside the pool on Tuesday night, awaiting an introductory scuba diving course organized by the town recreation office. Fisher is here from The Diving Center in Saskatoon to teach the course. He began diving in 1985 and started teaching it four years later. Davidson's recreation director, Morgan Grainger, says he went scuba diving during a trip to Mexico. With events like this course and last year's water polo classes, he says, he's trying to offer "something unique" to local residents. His 13-year-old daughter Emma is here too, and she's also dragged along her friend, Mikyla Sullivan. Neither of them have been scuba diving before, but they both figured it would be fun. Fisher sets up the equipment while the group, which includes men and women from a range of ages, watches an instructional video that explains the gear and the risks involved. While scuba diving is fairly safe when the directions are followed, divers are at risk of ear damage, lung overexpansion injury and drowning. After the video finishes, Fisher leads the class over to the equipment. He shows them the air tanks, which weigh about 25 pounds but feel weightless once underwater. He explains that the air pressure inside these is 100 times greater than the pressure inside a car tire. "They blow up just like a bomb," he says, but adds, "They're not particularly wont to blowing up on their own." Each tank is outfitted with a buoyancy compensation device (BCD), which adjusts each diver's buoyancy while in the water. It's like a life jacket filled with air instead of foam. There are buttons to let air in and out. Fisher warns the students not to use the BCD in lieu of swimming to the surface. "You don't put air into this and become the Pillsbury doughboy," he says. The tanks provide air through a regulator, the device that fits into the diver's mouth. Each tank comes with two: one for its wearer and one for a buddy, in case his or her tank runs out or malfunctions. There are also compasses and gauges for air pressure and depth. While it's important for divers to familiarize themselves with these features, Fisher points out, they're less than essential when swimming in a pool eight feet deep. The most important rule, he says, is to never hold your breath while underwater. Divers need to just breathe normally while their regulators are in their mouths, and if they must take them out, they should just blow little bubbles until they can put them back in again. Finally, the students are ready to get in the water and try it out. The class divides into two groups, and the first group goes over to pick out their masks and fins. There's some brief confusion amongst the mostly-female group since the fins are all labelled in men's sizes. Once the group has their gear, they descend into the pool, most of them shuddering at the cold temperature. Fisher helps them put on their tanks, warning them not to take their masks off once they've put them on because they'll quickly fog up in the open air. "This is just like putting on a coat," he says as he helps one student put the jacket on, attaching the "Velcro cummerbund" to keep it in place. After all the students are ready, he puts on his own tank. Then he shows the group how to use the regulators, which sometimes start wasting air if they're left in a certain position. He explains that most of the problems that happen underwater, like water in your mask or a regulator issue, can be solved without returning to the surface. "There's really nothing that can go wrong underwater that we can't fix underwater," he says. Fisher then demonstrates the hand motions: thumbs up means "swim up," thumbs down means "swim down," holding his hand flat and waving it from side to side means there's a problem. Pointing to his eyes, then to himself, means "watch me." "I got a couple of rude ones I won't show you," he says. "Family show." The students try on their regulators. Fisher tells them they'll be hearing bubbles blowing constantly, although seasoned divers learn to ignore the sound. He puts on his mask, which is tinted red to give a more natural view, compensating for the water's blue tint. "That's the good thing about being an instructor," he says. "You get the fancy stuff." Fisher demonstrates how to purge water from the regulator. One of the students observes that the group sounds like an army of Darth Vaders, loudly breathing in and out. At last, they're ready to go underwater. Fisher tells the class to put the regulators in and sink until their knees are resting on the pool floor. Easier said than done, as some of the students require lead weights to keep them below the surface. After they dip under the water, Fisher goes to each one to check their equipment. They soon return to the surface. Some masks need adjusting, and a couple of students with contact lenses decide to try diving without them. Fisher reminds the class that if they need to sneeze, they should do it through the regulator without trying to take it out. The same goes for coughing and vomiting. "Good for underwater photography," he says dryly. "Brings the fish in." Then he turns to one student to see what her trouble is. "You weren't blowing out through your nose," he observes. "And your mascara's running like crazy." Then the students try equalizing, which means plugging their noses every time they breathe. Some of them observe that scuba diving is more complicated than it looks. "It's harder than I thought it would be," says one. "This is so unnatural," remarks another. Meanwhile, Fisher chides some of them for using the BCD to rise to the surface, just as he'd said not to. "I see people bobbing up about four feet out of the water, which leads me to believe that some of you are cheating," he says. "I know pretty much all the tricks." But the longer these students stay at it, the better they get. Eventually the first group becomes comfortable under the water, staying below the surface for extended intervals. "Once they get down there, they stay down there," says Fisher. "I'm surprised they're not all freezing to death." The second group still sits along the side of the pool, talking with the divers who rise to the surface, and eagerly awaiting their turn. Grainger jokingly tells one of the lifeguards she should clean out the pool drain while she's underwater. Fisher talks about some of the open-air dives he's done, exploring and recovering sunken boats and airplanes in places like Lake Diefenbaker and White Swan Lake. Finally, it's the second group's turn to try on the equipment and go for a swim. As the first group slowly makes its way out of the water, they begin removing their gear and getting ready to leave. One diver rises to the surface reluctantly, taking out her regulator to speak. "That's the coolest thing I think I've ever done in my life," she says. The leaderonline is a division of The Davidson Leader, Davidson, Saskatchewan, Canada. |
By Joel van der Veen