I met Sally and her husband Adam in October 2020 and during that first meeting they mentioned that after snorkelling in the Maldives they had always wanted to go further and try a dive.
I arranged a Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) session for them at our local lagoon at Playa Jablillo. After explaining how everything works we entered the water and began training in the shallow water at the Lagoons edge.
It´s a perfect place to learn, it´s sheltered and calm and the water is clear with lots of marine life on show. The first time underwater for anyone creates mixed feelings, exhilaration a sense of awe and also a level of anxiety which is perfectly understandable.
They both took a little while to get used to it but settled in and completed a 45 minute dive. Laura presented them with a video of the whole experience as a permanent reminder of their first dive.
Both Sally and Adam enjoyed their underwater experience but Sally was hooked after that first session and told me should would love to see the statues at the Museo Atlantico, but that was just a dream to add to her wish list of things to do in the future.
A little while later Sally messaged me to ask about becoming a qualified diver, after a meeting we agreed a start date to begin the Scuba Diver course. Over three days we completed the training. There were times when Sally struggled due to nerves but she persevered and passed the course.
By now Sally really had the Scuba bug and she wanted to learn more, so we moved on to the Open Water course where she would learn to dive to 18 metres and so make the dream of diving the Museo Atlantico a reality.
Again there were times when nerves caused us to redo certain skills but every time underwater Sally improved and enjoyed it more. With that mindset I was always confident that she would pass the course. After the final qualification dive at Playa Chica, Sally was delighted with her accomplishment, which was thoroughly deserved
I was very proud of how far she had come and how much hard work she had put into overcoming her nerves.
The next step was to achieve her dream and dive the Museo Atlantico, I arranged a boat to take us and her friend Dionne a qualified diver to see the statues. On the morning of the dive Sally was a little nervous as she had not dived from a boat before so talked through what to do and how to deal with the anxiety. I told her I would be at her side all the way to video the whole experience and to make sure she was OK.
The dive was fantastic Sally rolled off the boat like a professional, descended down to the sea bed and began her exploration of the statues. With her Go Pro camera in her hand we followed the route through the myriad of statues.
I stayed close by, filming her and felt so proud of how relaxed she looked underwater, the progression from that first dive in Playa Jabillo to now was immense.
I captured the whole dive on video and a day later presented Sally with her dive film, she was over joyed to have such a reminder of a truly magical experience
From the start of Sally´s journey in diving there had been moments of anxiety and panic, as well as some huge highs, but her drive and determination to dive the Museo was so strong that it carried her through. I had seen Sally grow from someone who was nervous and unsure to someone whole dived the Museo like a real dive professional
Sally´s story is so typical of the many people I have trained, everyone starts off unsure and nervous but as they progress they relax more and really enjoy the experience of floating around underwater looking at the stunning marine life we have in Lanzarote.
If you want to know more please contact me at adventureunderwater@gmail.com
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