scuba diving

SCUBA DIVING

SCUBA DIVING

We have a taste for adventure and a passion for doing interesting things whilst on holiday. Three years ago Martin and I decided to spend our summer holiday learning to dive in the Maldives. I had always wanted to dive since watching "The wonderful world of Jacques Cousteau" on television as a child. Martin felt the same way but thought it was an impossible dream as he is a lifelong asthmatic. After searching the web and finding a G.P. (doctor) who was an asthmatic diver himself, Martin discovered that he would be able to learn to dive as long as he took the correct precautions, which he now does.

During that holiday we passed the PADI Open Water course and saw many wonderful things, the largest being a Whale Shark. We discovered that we were lucky divers and on our second Open Water dive saw a Whale Shark drift past us looking like a small submarine with a domino pattern on its back. We knew it was a plankton eater so we were not on its lunch menu, but the sheer size of it was overwhelming. During our stay at Ari Beach resort we also saw many other underwater creatures; black tip and white tip reef sharks, grey reef sharks, all manner of rays (except manta rays), turtles, myriad rainbow coloured fish and coral.

The next year we returned to the Maldives as I wished to consolidate my diving skills (they are geared to teaching scuba diving in the resorts) and this time we saw the Manta Rays we missed at Ari Beach.

Should asthmatics be banned from diving?

It depends on the asthmatic. If you smoke (you are an idiot), aren't well controlled, or severe (e.g steriod dependent), or if you tend to have asthma attacks without warning, then in my view you shouldn't dive.

If your asthma is well-controlled and you are fit enough to exercise hard without resorting to relievers (e.g. ventolin), then go ahead and try it, but speak to your doctor first.

There is no valid scientific evidence that mild

A whale shark, these are really big, like watching a small submarine passing you by underwater.

asthmatics are more at risk, but the theoetrical danger remains very real. Click here for a good, balanced article from Mt Sinai hospital. My personal view (but remember my doctorate is scientific, not medical) is that a case-by-case appraoch is needed - PADI's blanket ban on asthmatics is discriminatory & unnecessary.

Manuela the Manta Ray

During or 1998 summer holiday in the Maldives we experienced what could only be described as 'Manta Soup'. In Gan we had a dive where we were surrounded by twenty-seven manta rays batting around us. Now many would think that nothing could top this as a dive of all time, but it was.

We were on a two-island diving holiday. Gan was the first stop and after a week we moved on to Full Moon resort. We wanted to finish the holiday in luxury. Gan was supposed to have more basic accommodation and Full Moon was a five star holiday island full of honeymooners.

To keep boredom at bay we had pre-booked another twenty dives and on reaching the resort opted to turn that into a PADI advanced open water qualification. During the various dives we had a truly memorable experience with Manta Rays.

Towards the end of the sessions we were taken to Manta Point. There we saw ten mantas, four turtles, four white-tip sharks, a porcupine fish, lots of fusilier fish in a circular formation and a large Napoleon fish (they are so ugly but full of character, one of my favourite fish). That is just a list taken from my log book, but what stays in mind is the way we saw them. It was like watching a movie of extras passing by the camera - cue the turtles, cue the sharks, cue the rays - one after another wonderful rare sights met our eyes.

Towards the end of the dive Martin and I had been let loose by the dive master, Adam. By then he had confidence in our diving ability to let us go at our own pace. So when he had to leave with the less air conserving divers we had the option to stay behind. We did so. We were enjoying another visitation by manta rays when a group of three went passed us, two smaller manta rays with a larger one in between them. Attached to the right wing of the larger ray were three Remoras, jostling for space. You could almost hear them saying to each other "budge up can't keep hold!" or, "you are taking up too much space, come on move over!". These rays glided slowly and majestically passed us. Martin and I looked at them and elected to stay, we had a little bit of air left before we had to start to rise for the safety stop. As we floated in the warm sea the larger manta ray turned and glided back towards us. We noticed the scar marks on her wings, proving to ourselves that it was a female. She gilded and swooped slowly and gently around us, watching us watching her. Until Martin tapped his air gauge to show we had to rise. We slowly started upward, and as we did so the Manta Ray moved off. There had been intelligence in her behaviour we were as interesting to her as she was to us.

When we got to the surface we told the others what had happened, and named her Manuela the Manta.

To see a 'flock' of Manta Rays swim around you is a sight to die for, magic!

LINKS:

PADI Europe

Ari Beach

Manta Ray picture from here

Whale Shark picture from here