Learning a new sport is a challenge. With any luck, you’ll discover you’re a natural and take to your chosen activity like, ahem… a fish to water. More likely, you’ll enter into training with a certain amount of trepidation, especially if – as with scuba diving – there’s a little more to it than first meets the eye.
Experience a dazzling underwater world
But never let that put you off. For all the practice and persistence you’ll need to succeed, the rewards make it all worthwhile. And with diving in particular, more than any other sport, the experience opens you up to an entire new world.
Even hardcore activities like skydiving, mountain biking, snowboarding or rock climbing can’t offer the extreme shift in perception that scuba diving can. Yes, they can give you an adrenaline rush and a huge sense of achievement but they don’t give you a passport to what is essentially an alternative reality. Diving in the open ocean is a feeling like nothing else on earth – unless you’re an astronaut, we can’t think of any other way to be transported so completely from everything you know and understand.
Is it for me?
From the silence of the subterranean world to the chance to see all manner of marine life up close, the sensory-rich experience of being underwater is pure freedom. It is also a great leveller. Back on dry land you might worry about not being as physically capable as the people around you. But the great thing about being less fit, less mobile or less agile than you’d ideally like is that once you descend into the deep, it’s all irrelevant. Here, without the constraints of gravity, everyone can feel graceful and nimble.
Diving is a sport for almost anyone. You just need a mask, a tank of air and a sense of adventure. Watch the video below for a glimpse of what to expect when you learn:
Guests of Constance Hotels and Resorts have access to some of the best dive sites in the Indian Ocean. At Constance Ephélia in the Seychelles you can dive the magnificent Port Launay Marine Park. Explore the North and South Ari Atolls at Constance Halaveli and Constance Moofushi in the Maldives, or some of the multiple reef sites around the waters of Constance Tsarabanjina in Madagascar. All our hotels can arrange for you to become a certified PADI Open Water Diver, or simply test out your affinity for the sport with a taster session before you commit.
Need more inspiration? Get in the mood for your upcoming adventure before you even leave home. For more diving information, tips and advice, our recommended websites include Divernet, Dive Magazine, Scuba Diver Life, Dive Advisor and Sport Diver. And if you’re on Twitter some great scuba dive accounts to follow include @scubadivergirls, @shawnheinrichs, @divemistress, and giants of conservation @SylviaEarle and @JMCousteau.
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