This was the first time I was given breathing lessons and I was finding it hard with the mask on my face, over two pounds weight tied to my waist and an oxygen tank strapped to my back.
Two dive instructors from the Aquaconnections dive shop checked our progress as they gave me and my three companions a crash course in scuba diving. I had wanted to try diving for a long time but always backed out at the thought that I have to learn how to swim first.
There I was, drowsy after a leisurely lunch and dragging my heavy body into the pristine waters of Managaha Island.
I had visions of taking Scuba Diving 101 and undergo hours of classroom instruction where we will be introduced into the different diving gear and their uses before being launched into the water.
But there we were, doing a few minutes of underwater breathing exercises and before we knew it, our instructors were guiding us deeper beneath the huge waves, holding onto the ropes to stay together.
For first timers, we sure picked up a windy day where strong currents make diving difficult but we didn’t know that yet. We held on to the ropes as lifelines as we edged our way down into the deep. (well, not that deep at 8 feet, but for a non-swimmer like me, it sure was deep!)
Our instructors monitored our progress, gauging our breathing by the bubbles we made and we had to give them the ok signal with our hands.
I was exhilarated thinking I was actually scuba diving when suddenly, everything went dark and all I saw were strands of hair covering my mask. I forgot to breathe through my mouth and I then remembered that I was a non-swimmer. Panicking, I flailed my arms and tried to surface. A dive instructor immediately assisted me to resurface. Gulping huge breaths, I realized my hair had gone loose. I fixed it and assured my instructor I was going down again.
I forgot all kinds of fear when we reached our destination. Multi-colored fishes swam toward us and around a bed of corals we couldn’t help but reach out to touch them. Everything was just beautiful.
We stayed down for about 25 minutes before our dive instructors signaled us to go back. It was a first experience which just spurred my interest to go diving again.
Completing our scuba diving experience was photographer and diving instructor Kotaro Tsujino of Underwater Adventures who documented our attempts. Tsujino said he had been photographing and taking underwater video of divers for several years, including events like underwater weddings. He can be contacted at 670-322-0599 or email him at [email protected].
Our dive instructors from the Aquaconnections were Youme Sharry and Takehiro Fukuya but they have two other instructors—Tohru Narita and Donato Beside. You can visit www.saipan-aquaconnections.com or email them at [email protected]. Diving at Managaha Island is indeed an experience you would like to do again and again!
To get to Managaha, please call Tasi Tours & Transportation Inc. at (670) 234-7148, fax (670) 235-7141 or email [email protected].
