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Why Scuba Diving in School is one of the Best Sports You Can Offer
If you are reading this an already a scuba diver you will only be too aware of the thrills that scuba diving offers; a combination of intoxicating colours, weightlessness, adventure and being able to see a huge array of exotic marine life that others only witness in an aquarium.
However the list of benefits for children and young adults goes much further than this. Let me explain:
Exercise
Celebs like Jessica Alba, Sandra Bullock, Katie Holmes and Nina Dobrey all go diving for health reasons. Although scuba diving may seem like more of a fun holiday activity than a workout, scuba diving burns loads of calories while also tightening and toning your body.
Scuba diving provides a full body exercise that combines cardio and strength training, which burns calories, tones muscles and improves breathing. Although your body is buoyant in water you are weightless while scuba diving, so manoeuvring though water requires constant motion by your entire body, thus toning and strengthening muscles in your thighs, shoulders and your core. In fact, just 30 minutes of scuba diving can burn up to 400 calories for an average person. Most dives last around about 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the diver’s experience level and the type of diving they choose to do. It’s not uncommon to burn 500+ calories during one dive.
One of the greatest things about scuba diving, and the reason why so many celebrities enjoy it, is it doesn’t feel like a workout.
You don’t even need to be good at sport to be a good diver!
Education
Becoming a diver involves an element of training from a professional diving instructor. This includes involving many of the same subjects contained within the school curriculum but putting it in to practice in a fun and memorable way:
Physics – Students learn about the fundamentals of buoyancy and displacement (Boyles law) as they learn to become buoyant on the surface and weightless underwater. They also need to understand how pressure at different depths effects how long the air lasts in their tanks, decompression sickness and buoyancy control.
Biology – Learn about the various different types of fish and coral species, the true dangers of diving with sharks, migratory patterns, symbiotic relationships between clown fish and anenomies as well as the impact of global warming and other conservation issues.
Geography – Since learning to I have travelled around the world to remote parts such as Djibouti, the South of Egypt as well as the more glamorous destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef and the Maldives. As a Divemaster it provided me with work opportunities while taking a gap year and travelling around the world.
History – There are many famous wrecks around the world and the UK is littered with wrecks from both World Wars. Seeing as these wrecks are lying pretty much in the same state they were in as the same day they were blown up and sunk, this really brings home the reality and horror of war. You also develop a greater appreciation and understanding of what the men and women from both sides went through.
Social skills – Having just returned from a weeks’ diving cruise on the Red Sea, the teacher who arranged it was telling me about some of the feedback he’d received from the other teachers. Apparently many of the students showed more confidence, showed more interest in their subjects, were more independent and they were better at socialising with the other students.
There are many ways scuba diving can be introduced to schools, either through trial dives, a certification course such as the PADI open water course and diving trips and holidays.
Teachers can often benefit from the introduction of diving as they can receive free tuition and diving holidays.
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More information available on www.scubapro.com.
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
Overnight, the wind picked up, making the planned morning dive a bit bumpy on the Zodiacs to the drop point on Thomas Reef. There, we would dive along the reef before descending through the canyon and then passing under the arch before ascending the wall with a gentle drift. The site provided great encounters with more pelagic species, including shoals of large barracuda, tuna, and bigeye trevally.
Once back on the boat, it was time to get everything tied down again as we would head back south. This time, with the wind behind us, heading to Ras Mohammed to dive Jackfish Alley for another great gentle drift wall dive before then heading up the coast towards the Gulf of Suez to moor up at the wreck of the Thistlegorm. This being the highlight wreck dive of the trip and for many onboard, including myself, it was the first time diving this iconic wreck. I had heard so much about the wreck from friends, and globally, this is a must on any diver’s list. Fortunately for us, there was only one other boat at the site, which was a rarity. A great briefing was delivered by Ahmed, who provided a detailed background about the wreck’s history along with all the required safety information as the currents and visibility at the site can be variable.
Kitting up, there was a lot of excitement on deck before entering the water and heading down the shoreline. Descending to the wreck, there was a light northerly current which reduced the visibility, making it feel more like the conditions that can be found off the Welsh coast. At 10m from the bottom, the outline of the wreck appeared as we reached the area of the wreck which had been bombed, as our mooring line was attached to part of the propeller shaft. Arriving on deck, instantly everywhere you looked there were many of the supplies which the ship was carrying, including Bren Carrier tanks and projectiles that instantly stood out.
We headed around the exterior, taking a look at the large propeller and guns mounted on deck before entering the wreck on the port side to take a look in the holds. It was incredible to see all the trucks, Norton 16H, and BSA motorcycles still perfectly stacked within, providing a real snapshot in time.
Overall, we had four dives on the Thistlegorm, where for all of the dives we were the only group in the water, and at times, there were just three of us on the whole wreck, which made it even more special, especially knowing that most days the wreck has hundreds of divers. Along with the history of the wreck, there was plenty of marine life on the wreck and around, from big green turtles to batfish, along with shoals of mackerel being hunted by trevally. Some unforgettable dives.
The final leg of the trip saw us cross back over the Suez Canal to the Gobal Islands where we planned to stay the night and do three dives at the Dolphin House for the potential of sharing the dive with dolphins. The site, which included a channel that was teeming with reef fish, especially large numbers of goatfish that swam in large shoals along the edge of the reef. These were nice relaxing dives to end the week. Unfortunately, the dolphins didn’t show up, which was okay as like all marine life they are difficult to predict and you can’t guarantee what’s going to be seen. With the last dive complete, we headed back to port for the final night where it was time to clean all the kit and pack before the departure flight the next day.
The whole week from start to finish on Ghazala Explorer was amazing; the boat had all the facilities you need for a comfortable week aboard. The crew were always there to help throughout the day and the chefs providing top quality food which was required after every dive. The itinerary providing some of the best diving with a nice mixture of wreck and reef dives. I would recommend the trip to anyone, whether it’s your first Red Sea liveaboard in the Red Sea or you’re revisiting. Hopefully, it’s not too long before I head back to explore more of the Red Sea onboard Ghazala Explorer.
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
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