Sophomore Paul Blanchet has been diving since he was eleven-years-old beginning at the peak of the pandemic.
Paul typically enjoys diving with sharks, but is not opposed to being with other marine life in the ocean, He once dove in the Georgia Aquarium located in Atlanta alongside a whale shark.
“Originally, I was supposed to go to France, but then Covid happened and my mom then decided why not to go get a diving license? Ever since then, I fell in love with it,” said the sophomore, explaining how he originally got into SCUBA diving.
Want to get into SCUBA diving like Paul?
First, visit this website to learn more about instructional opportunities and getting certified.
https://www.padi.com/education/learn-to-dive
What does the acronym SCUBA represent?
Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus
What does the acronym PADI mean?
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors. If you seek to learn SCUBA, make sure your instructor is PADI trained and approved.
According to PADI, the basic beginning course is known as, “PADI® Open Water Diver is the first scuba certification level. A highly-trained PADI Instructor will teach you how to scuba dive in a relaxed, supportive learning environment. By the end of the course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to dive at home or abroad and be an ambassador for the underwater world.
Once you’ve completed a basic course, you can try out, PADI’s Advanced Open Water Diver course. According to the website, this course is “all about advancing your skills. You’ll practice navigation and buoyancy, try deep diving and make three specialty dives of your choosing (it’s like a specialty sampler platter). For every specialty dive you complete, you can earn credit toward PADI® specialty certifications.”
Here are a few of the many options: Deep, Digital Underwater Photography, Dive Against Debris, Dry Suit, Enriched Air Nitrox, Fish Identification, Night, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Search & Recovery, Underwater Naturalist, Underwater Navigation, and Wreck Diver.
To find out more about diving and diving experiences, sophomore Paul Blanchet would be more than happy to share his open water, and deep water dive adventures with you.
