Hi my name is Georgia Beuth and I recently received my PADI Open Water diver, to dive in fresh and salt water. Scuba diving was something that I never really thought about doing, my dad is a keen fisherman and enjoys the occasional dive for scallops and crayfish, so I was familiar with diving, but didn’t really think I would ever be doing it.
For my birthday, my parents signed me up for a week of dive school, which I didn’t expect at all. I was mixed with emotions, scared, nervous and excited. Before I knew it, it was my first day of dive school and my tutor Douglas was an approachable and funny person. Our first couple of days was book work and tests, the last couple days were the proper dive in the Aquatic Centre and out in lake Rotoma.
One of the most difficult techniques to master for me was the hover this took a lot of practice with controlling my breathing. Once I had finally got the hang of it I felt accomplished and ready for my first proper sea dive. My next dive was with my Dad out in the Bay of Plenty. My first time in the sea under the surface was truly unforgettable, there were so many creatures and there was so much to see. The second dive with my dad was beautiful and successful, as we made our way round the rock walls we saw many fish and shells, we decided to crack open a Kina and feed it to the fish that were swimming all around us, that was amazing to see. We kept swimming and came across a decent sized Crayfish, dad got his noose and grabbed it from deep in the crack of the rock, I opened the catch bag and trapped it in. Not long after dad spots another crayfish, then another, and another. Dad seemed pleased so we started to head back when Dad saw a huge tail in hidden in between some rocks, he wrapped the noose around the tail and yanked it out. I opened the catch bag as far as it could and guided the crayfish into the bag. Dad and I look at each other in disbelief, if I didn’t have my regulator in my jaw would’ve dropped to the ground. I struggled to pull the bag to the surface and dump it into the boat.
We got home and got this massive Cray out of the bag and onto the scales, it weighed 2.4kg which was a stunner. This was one of the highlights of my trip which wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t get the help from Dive HQ to complete this course. So if you’re interested in diving or even enjoy being in the water I would highly recommend you to do this course it’s a lot of fun.
Happy Diving Georgia Beuth