The Atlantians! They are living among us, and you can see them on the Palm Jumeirah island. All of them are there, at the Atlantis Dive Centre; where else they could have survived if not on an island, on and beneath the surface of the water…
Since I’ve been in Dubai, about 3 years now, almost all of the friends I have made here are constantly talking about diving. Some of them are divers; some are not. However, they do like to talk a lot about a variety of things, including diving. Their love the idea of discovering the underwater world, and find it amazing it enchants your eyes and chills you to your core.… UAE, with its long coast line, embraced by the shallow and warm waters of the Arabian sea in the west, and of the Indian Ocean in the East, offers many good locations for diving. Even if it is not the diver’s paradise that Maldives or The Great Barrier Reef are, the marine fauna are diverse, which makes it an excellent location for diving. I had my first underwater experience a long, long time ago, when I was three or four years old, playing with my toy fish in the bath tub, trying hard to make the water warmer around me, while my mother was washing the few strands of hair that I had on my head at that time. When I was five, I began going to the Black Sea every summer. Once, my father bought me a mask, an old Russian-style one, so heavy that my head was inevitably always under the water…
This happened during communist period in my country, when all the “good” things were coming from China and from Russia, with a lot of love! This is how I discovered the underwater life in the Black Sea: empty bottles, caps, cans, some shells, the odd jelly fish, some sea horses, but never a fish.. After I had been to Mussandam a few times to snorkel, I decided that the bottom up position on the surface of the water was not for me – and at that moment, I decided that when the right time came, I needed to learn how to dive. The right time came when I heard about the Atlantis Dive Centre, on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, in the close vicinity of the Atlantis Hotel.
The reason I chose it was simple: they have great facilities – two large indoor pools, a “classroom” equipped with everything that is necessary for a proper theory lesson, modern diving gear, and quick exit to the open waters of the sea, straight from the Palm. The Instructors are experienced, dedicated to their work, and patient with their students. They are willing to share all of their knowledge with you in order for you to become a proper diver. In other words, they are great, and my personal opinion is that Atlantis Dive Centre is one of the best in UAE. At 9:10 AM one Saturday morning, I was at the Dive Centre, and keen to learn the mysteries of scuba diving. At the reception I was introduced to the very friendly Kate Wawatai, who was my diving instructor for the day. Kate is a small human being, originally from New Zealand, but she has the energy of five large men, and she is always smiling, even underwater.
Usually I am quite unlucky when it comes to partners, instructors, or even mates – I always end up with men. But finally, my hopes were fulfilled by having a female instructor, and I knew it would be a splendid day. Kate invited me into the classroom.. I watched a short film explaining the concept of scuba diving, the gear, and the basic first steps. Then I had to take a short quiz, proving that I am very smart- or at least she made me feel that way- before filling in a special form, claiming that I am healthy and fit enough for diving. After that, Kate went to the table and drew a scheme, explaining the relation between water depths, pressure, and the air volume in your lungs during diving. I also draw something in my note book, in my own surrealistic style that nobody can understand, including me. After I successfully completed my theory class, we went to the training pools for my first contact with the diving gear and for my first experience in it underwater. The diving gear, even if it seems like a complicated mix of systems and devices, is really not. Actually, is quite simple and easy to use, especially when you have experienced instructors to explain it and to train you well. You just need to pay attention, and to remember a few mandatory rules, like how to use the regulator, how to clear it if necessary, how to clean your mask, inflate or deflate your vest, and how to communicate in the special underwater “language”.
Kate told me that the most important rule is to not hold your breath, but to breathe continuously in a normal way and not panic! Well, I am a very calm person and I don’t usually panic at all, but when she made the sign for going down, I pushed the button for releasing the air, and some- thing strange happened: instead of going down, my legs and my body started to lift up, and I was almost floating on the water like a hippo. Then I was angry and I panicked a bit, because I thought I was not good enough for diving. She quickly fixed the problem by adding some extra weights to my gear, and with over 10 kilos in my pockets, I managed to go down… It was great, even if it was in the pool! After a minute, I felt really relaxed and comfortable. We were dancing a bit and playing Frisbee underwater for about ten minutes. I felt very graceful in my movements, like nobody could resist me, and when she signalled for me to come up, I thought, ‘Yes! I am good!’ After the pool session, Kate prepared the equipment for going out to sea for my next test: diving into the open water. We put everything in the cart and we proceeded, along the beach, through the three ex exclusive resort properties of the Atlantis Hotel, to the diving spot: the monorail line. Or, more precisely, under the monorail line. Once there, we equipped ourselves, we repeated the basic steps, and then, from the special “hand on mask and regulator” and “crossed fins” position, I plunged, back first, into the water…A totally mess! A complete lack of artistic skill or grace! “Why are you laughing?” I asked Kate. “Because you did great!” she replied. Sure I did! I know she wanted me to feel good…. What can I say, compared to the pool session where I was extremely irresistible, the lack of finesse and the grace of a grizzly bear emerged now in the wild open space of the sea. I proudly ignored the “incident” like nothing happened; I turned on the fins engine and headed straight to the first pilon of the monorail. The depth there is about 14 meters, and after 3 meters, I started to feel the pressure.
There is another rule in diving; a very important one, which is that you have to equalize the pressure in your ears at each meter you go down, by holding your nose and blowing easily through your nostrils…with me this didn’t work properly, and I discovered that my left ear is defective. After I tried blowing and shaking my head a few times, we had to go up. Once I got to the surface, I had a surprise!! My friend was just jumping off of a boat, with a camera in his hand. He said he came to get some pictures of me diving… But I know what the real reason was – he just wanted to show his swimming skills and prove that he was better than me! What he didn’t know is the fact that I was trained by the crew of Atlantis Dive Centre and there is no way to beat me up now. Anyway, after my paparazzi session, Kate took me underwater again, but this time we started from the shore, and went down in steps, until we reached the monorail pilon again. Finally, I managed to fix the problem with my ear. Like with everything, you need practice. This time we spent 25 minutes underwater, and again I felt very comfortable, and the feeling I got diving into the open water of the sea was amazing. Despite the fact that I was not successful in catching a hammour with my bare hands, I saw some angel fish and some other kinds of beautiful fish which I don’t know by name. Time flew, and because we had used up all of the air in the tanks, we had to go up. From one moment to another, it was a great day for me. I learned something that I had really wanted to try – diving, and I am grateful to Kate and the whole team at the Atlantis Dive Centre for this special experience. Thanks to them, I can now say that I learned something new. I strongly recommend Atlantis Dive Centre to all of you, beginners, intermediate or experienced divers. Join them in the wonderful underwater world, and enter a new realm of experiencing it: the Wawatai style.
