First time scuba diving - a few learnings

Sensible Things I learnt from my first scuba lesson-

• You DO NOT need to be able to swim 200m. You should be comfortable in water. I have a feeling they have taken people that cannot swim much for a discovery dive. You are wearing something equivalent to a life jacket all the time.
• The first dive is more like a tour. You move your legs and obey the instructor. My second dive taught me a lot more about balancing and control - when my instructor did not hold onto me and control everything.
• The guided dives are safe - even if the equipment fails you can get to the surface with ease. They key overall is not to panic.
• It was a comfortable and enjoyable experience for a 12 year old.
• Calm is the word. Don’t move your arms and stay calm. Breath and soon you’ll forget you are underwater.
• You swim way faster and go further when swimming underwater.

Fun things I learnt -

• It is amazing down there. I would compare it to watching the forest scenes from the movie Avatar. A beautiful different world where the sun filters in through the water, hundreds of fish swim at arms length, then dart away and hide behind rocks and stare at you.
• Swim in the Indian Ocean - where it is warm and you don’t need a wetsuit.
• Unless a fish is stuck in a rock or something it is hard to touch one. I tired a lot :)
• If you can then do snorkel above a diver - it is a lot of fun to play with the bubbles.