Taking a plunge into the unknown
The deep blue sea has endless possibilities for students like junior Quynh Nguyen
Junior Quynh Nguyen is breaking through the barriers of traditional hobbies. She wants to explore oceans all over the world, including Spain this summer. Even though under water exploring has been around since Aristotle's time, it is not widespread for high school students. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
By Christine LaPlaca
April 25, 2008
Diving into the colorful waters of the Atlantic Ocean and exploring the sea life is one way to get the feeling of another world. Scuba diving as a recreational activity has increased as more people try to see beyond the dry world.
When junior Quynh Nguyen first started getting involved in scuba diving, she did not know there would be such a long process in becoming certified. For three weeks, she had to go to Millbrook Quarry and get basic training in scuba diving.
“For one night a week for about five hours, I would go to Cub Run and they would show us the basic things like how to set up the equipment, how to put the equipment on, what to do under water and first aid and emergency procedures if something happened,” Nguyen said.
Scuba diving is an expensive recreational activity to get involved in. The cost when starting out can be as much as $1,400.
“Diving is a very expensive sport to get into initially,” dive master Matt Citron said. “It’s shocking sometimes for people to find out how much it costs to go diving. The benefit to that is when you spend money and buy good gear up front and you take care of it, then it lasts you a long time.”
Scuba divers can reach different levels which allow them to take part in more activities. There are basic, advanced and master divers, as well as rescue divers, deep divers and night divers. The highest level you can reach is becoming a dive master, which allows you to do wreck diving, night diving and cave diving.
“The dive master is more or less an assistant instructor,” Citron said. “You help the instructor with really anything that they need. You can sort of pull students aside that are having difficulty in the water and help reinforce different skills.”
Sophomore Chris Anthony has been influenced by his grandfather to start scuba diving at a young age.
“My grandpa started when he was my age and he’s been doing it for about 60 years,” Anthony said. “He really got me into it.”
Anthony hopes to become an instructor when he is older and is already involved with salvaging shipwrecks. He is already certified to go on rescue missions.
“When I turn 18, I’d like to become an instructor as a side job,” Anthony said. “I would like to go all over the Pacific like Palau, Micronesia, but mainly just freshwater shipwrecks and all over the Great Lakes.”
There are many places Nguyen wants to travel to and scuba dive. She hopes to visit tropical places and see diverse sea life. Nguyen is planning on diving off the coast of Spain this summer with her family.
“I want to go to the Maldives, an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean,” Nguyen said. “I’m going scuba diving this summer on the coast of Spain at a beach called L’Ametlla de Mar. I’m really excited because it’s the first time going out in open water and I get to go down without a dive master. I’m not going by myself, but I’m going down without anyone looking after me.”
Diving can become dangerous if something goes wrong with a diver’s equipment. Nguyen had one of these frightening experiences when she thought her tank was slipping, taking away her means of oxygen.
“I was at the quarry, and I felt something slip from my back and for a second I thought it was my tank, so I started panicking because I thought I would die,” Nguyen said. “When I looked down, my weight belt fell off of me. It snapped off and it fell down.”
Explore a new hobby
The Dive Shop
3013 Nutley Street
Fairfax, Va. 22031
Virginia Scuba Inc.
6884 Wellington Road
Manassas, Va. 20109
Adventure Scuba Company
13901 Metrotech Drive
Chantilly, Va. 20151