PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience. Join Cintia on her journey from beginner to Scuba Instructor.
I'm a girl from the countryside in Argentina, raised surrounded by cows and living 800km from the nearest beach, the ocean was something very scary. At the same time, I've always felt fascinated by this enormous blue magical mass of water. So when my dad suggested on a family holiday that we could go to the sea and try a Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) I didn't hesitate for one second. So many years have passed since that day but I still remember every moment.
We started very early in the morning, first things first, filling up all the paperwork. Followed by checking the equipment, BCD(buoyancy control device), wetsuit, fins, and mask. Once everything was set up we had a briefing about the basics we needed to know to go underwater. Breathing and equalization techniques, signals and communication, and the functioning of the equipment.
One by one we started gearing up and going to the swimming pool to perform some skills before the actual dive. I was very nervous, my heart was beating so fast, and my hands were shaking, but I really wanted to do this so off I go to the water. I'm floating at the surface with all the gear on, feeling scared and excited, a rollercoaster of emotions. The instructor starts deflating my BCD and little by little I started sinking.
My first breath underwater. I almost cry, not only was I excited but also so proud of me for being able to do something so challenging! There I am performing the skills needed, with total ease, to go later to the ocean. The first test passed, time for the real thing.
So out of the swimming pool and short walk to the beach, where the boat was waiting for us. Coming closer to the dream that it's kind of becoming a nightmare, the stress starts rising. The boat was not a problem but I'm more of a river person, and the ocean truly scared me.
After ten minutes we arrived to the dive spot I jumped into the water, I'm in front of my instructor, and we are starting to descend, second breath underwater? I don't think so! I panicked completely, was I going to give up? Definitely not. So I go for a second time and guess what? this time I succeeded! And it was the most wonderful experience, so amazing that I made this my profession. That day, at sixteen years old I decided that one day I was going to become a professional diver.
Ten years later, few more DSD, and many certifications my teenage dream became true, another five years have to pass to find myself working in one of the top ten diving places in the world, Sipadan, in the company that today I call home Scuba Junkie.
Today it's me who takes people for their first breath underwater and what better place to do it than at Scuba Junkie Sipadan. Here on a Discovery Scuba Dive (DSD), you can get an introduction to this wonderful blue world, you can choose to take two or even three dives and appreciate a variety of marine life that I haven't seen in my seven years of diving, just outside of our jetty (and I've been diving in all the continents). Turtles are almost guaranteed in all our dives, with no need of taking a boat and the corals are still healthy in this isolated part of the world. The water is warm and clear, perfect to make bubbles all year round.
After your first breath underwater I can promise you will get addicted to it, and the good news is, we are here to fuel your addiction.