Readers of this column will know that I unexpectedly passed my PADI Open Water Diver Certificate this year. Now I am hooked!

However, it was all very well going beneath the waves, swimming about and saying ‘ooh’ whenever I saw something that took my fancy. I hadn’t a clue what I was looking at and it bugged me. I would pop out of the water smiling radiantly, to bombard my long suffering dive master with eager questions as to what we had seen. The poor man must have dreaded my dives! I would pour over his battered copy of Reef Fish Identification by Paul Humann (published by New World Publications – a fantastically photographed and researched book), trying to name all I had seen.

Then I noticed the Underwater Naturalist Speciality Dive Course in my diver’s log.

I visited my dive instructor.

Eager Divers

Now, bearing in mind that this is the person who did not let me drown on my first dive (bless him), but who freely admits that he did not think I would complete the course, it must have been a surprise to have me seek him out with a request for more training!

“There is an underwater naturalist dive as part of the Advanced Diver Certificate, why don’t you try that?” he smiled. I gulped. This was more than I had expected.

“You’ll have fun!” he assured me ignoring my stunned expression. “You go on a deep dive, a wreck dive, a naturalist dive, a night dive and learn underwater compass navigation. Five dives over two days, a bit of study – easy!”

Hmmmm!

Well reader, I wanted that naturalist dive, so, I signed up. I waded through the home study and passed the examinations, which readied me for each separate dive.

Beautiful Brain Coral

The deep dive was first. I learnt how difficult it is to spell the word ‘coral’ at 75 feet below. “Simple enough” I hear you say. Well of course it is when you try to spell it on land. Beneath the sea with the effects of pressure and nitrogen narcosis affecting my thinking, it became an obsession to get it right. I was diving on the wreck of the ‘Oosterdiep’, which still has a car on its deck with perfect, gleaming chrome bumpers. It was interesting to note the effects the pressure had on me. I could marvel at the bright chrome on the car but not spell correctly.

Next the wreck dive, to the ‘Cathley H’. I mapped it for hazards from sharp to blunt end as it would be the site of my night dive the following evening. The resulting map (you try drawing a map of a wreck underwater) was “very detailed” according to my instructor. What he meant was that it was a bit of a mess!

After a night’s well earned rest, diving is physically and mentally demanding especially when new skills are being learnt, it was time for the underwater naturalist dive. At last!

For Certification I had to identify five vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. I ended up with lists that covered both sides of an underwater slate. There was so much to see. I had been studying and knew the names of a few creatures, my instructor supplied many more and I looked up the rest. It was fun and I learnt a lot. The diversity of sea life in Anguilla’s waters is amazing. Divers here are really very lucky.
Next was the navigator dive. We went to Sandy Shallows just off Sandy Island. I had to compass navigate a one hundred feet square box and arrive no more than 25 feet away from my start point. This was without doubt the hardest task in the Certification. At first I found myself amongst a large clump of Fire Coral – so called because it feels like you have been burnt when you touch it. Ouch! I had to start again. Next I got completely confused and couldn’t think which way to go. I caught my instructor’s eye and realized I was not doing well. Just before my air ran out I kept my wits about me, dodged the naughty coral and ended up just eight feet away from my start point. Hurrah, underwater high fives all around!

Later it was time for the night dive. My husband came aboard for moral support.
I was just about to roll backwards into the dark depths when my flashlight died. Crumbs, not a good omen! A smart tap did wonders and I descended with my fingers mentally crossed – they were actually busy holding the light and the descent line.

The dive master had told me of the giant turtle inhabiting this wreck. I thought he was joking but when I got to the bottom of the descent line and found the waiting welcome party consisted of a GINORMOUS (yes, this is a word! See the Oxford Dictionary – British slang, a mixture of ‘giant’ and ‘enormous’) turtle and a huge ray I found he was not. I was stunned by the turtle. I was less enamoured with the ray. It was stately and graceful in its flying motions through the water but it was too close to the descent line. I did not want to land on him accidentally. Luckily our lights disturbed them and they both departed or I would have been in a bit of a pickle.

The wreck was lovely at night. One side was bright yellow as the coral was feeding, so was open and waving in the slight current. The rays were all over the ship in odd places so I kept my wits about me to keep from bumping into one accidentally. The plankton glowed as I completed my required tasks and we ascended.

Amazing! Me an Advanced Diver – Wow!

It took a while for my success to filter into my brain so my husband, instructor and dive master took me to celebrate but that, and the resulting hangover the next morning is, as they say dear reader, another story….

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