If there was one thing I did not see coming my way, it would have to have been a SCUBA diving lesson. Nonetheless, there it was and of course I took it in my stride. All I can say, is that it was THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING I HAVE EVER DONE!!  EVER!!  I had so much fun I was still buzzing from the excitement until I went to bed. All I dreamt of was being under the water. It was like even the dreams gave me spurts of thrilling excitement thus I had about four hours of sleep because I kept waking up and reliving the experience. To be completely honest, I think my family was glad to see me shut my bedroom door when it came to chill time because I sounded like a broken record. The only thing that came out of my mouth was “THAT WAS SO FUN. LET’S GO BACK.”

I feel like it was fate that I got this opportunity. Do I belief in fate, no idea, but the way it all happened was so unexpected thus making my point. My mum’s friend from high school, contacted us saying she wanted to volunteer me as I blind diver for this project for her friend. My mum told me about it and said it was my choice since I have never really done any SCUBA diving before. Of course, I said I would love to try so she put me touch with another awesome lady who had moved here from Germany and was the first qualified ASD. She then put me in contact with the diving school, and the rest is pretty much history. This documented project was created by a company by the name of PADI. This company is from the US and has many courses for divers as well as an ocean safety program which I appreciate quite a bit. The pool sessions for the course was held at Water Orphans in Pretoria with one of their instructors. However, there were also instructors from Phoenix and Reef Divers. I wasn’t the only blind diver at the training, so I got to learn some pretty cool things about being a blind diver. Since our hearing has compensated for the lost vision, us blind divers can hear much more than the abled bodied person. Our hearing concentrates on what’s around us and we can pick up things before the other divers can see them coming. I was told all of this by the other professional blind diver that I was fortunate enough to meet. All I can say is that I can’t wait to test it out for myself.

I can’t even explain the feeling of being meters under water and having the most calming feeling take over. It was surreal, it’s all I can think about. Being under there, you must remain calm and, in my case, focused. The amazing diving school that I was fortunate to go to, Water Orphans, had taken part in a documented training program. The program was to train diving instructors to assist divers with different disabilities giving them the capability to SCUBA dive. Might I just say, best idea EVER. I never thought I would do the sport as it’s mostly known as a seen sport, but the tables have turned. Or shall I say, the disabled have found their buoyancy. I know the instructors I was lucky enough to meet will either cringe or laugh at that but hey, I tried.

You are probably wondering how I managed to dive, considering I can’t see whether my oxygen tank is full or not. Not that it matters because you get those sneaky few that test you by turning your oxygen tank off, good people. Anyways, I was able to meet another blind diver. The gentleman lost his vision eight years ago and started diving after he went blind. He created a blind version of the diver sign language that is used under water. At first it was new, trying to remember each sign but I got it quickly enough. I know, “sign language?”, pretty ironic considering we can’t see it, but it was tactile. The signs used under water were slightly adjusted to accommodate us a blind divers. So, there was always contact between the buddy, also known as an adaptive support diver, in this case. As the ASD, it was their job to guide the blind diver and use the adaptive signals to communicate under water. As the blind diver, you just have to pay attention to the tactile signals for guidance, fish watching or just exiting the water.

This was the first ever training course for adaptive support divers in South Africa and I am SO happy I got to be apart of it. Not only did it teach me that LITERALLY anything is possible, but I got to meet some amazing people. From the awesome and downright crazy diving instructors to the absolutely inspiring head of the project, who is in a wheelchair just by the way, who is another diving instructor from overseas and a blind diver who taught me the blind SCUBA sign language. All these people gave me yet another opportunity to open the eyes of many and see that anything can happen if you are just willing to try. I honestly don’t know how to put my gratitude and amazement into words, for getting a chance to experience what this sport is like. From the thrill of risking losing the reg, to the wonderful feeling of being meters under water, surrounded by the sound of nothing but your breathing and the occasional diver swimming alongside.

P.S.  beside for the thought of being aware of my reg in my mouth, all I could think of during the dive was “Jess, please don’t fin slap someone in the face….”

P.P.S   I am TOTALLY going to convince my parents to let me do this on a more regular basis… I’m getting super excited all over again just by writing this, I have to stop. 

“As a diver, you are weightless and can move in all directions. You approach the freedom of a bird as you move in three dimensions in a fluid environment.” Dennis Graver