Times of the Islands Spring 2022

Teaching people to scuba dive is rewarding in so many
ways, but every now and then you come across a student
whose transformation is as rewarding to you as it is to
the new diver. These are the moments instructors live
for. Teaching skills is pretty straight forward, but when
the power of the sea makes an actual, literal, and visual
change in a person it stays with you forever. One such
experience is definitely worth sharing . . .
A young man and his mom walked into the dive shop
to fill out paperwork for a Discover Scuba Dive, and it
was immediately apparent that this 16 year-old was very
shy and withdrawn, and that I would need patience and
understanding to get him through the training. During
the pool sessions he surprised me, and accomplished the
skills with ease, though he never maintained eye contact
for any length of time. He would look long enough to see
the skill demonstrated and then look down. But he was
proficient and comfortable in performing them. I was confident
that he was ready to explore the underwater world.
On the 45-minute boat ride out to the dive site, I
briefed him on the dive plan and as before, he never
looked at me—just stared at the deck. The time came to
gear up to enter the water. He was very quiet and waited
for instructions. As soon as we stepped off the boat into
the sea, I looked up and saw the worry on his mother’s
face. I assured her that I would look after him as if he
were my own son; she nodded and off we went.
As we swam to the mooring line, I stayed beside him
and assured him he was doing just fine. We made it to
the line and I briefed him on how we would descend—
exact instructions. I asked him if he understood, if he was
ready, and reminded him that he must look at me and
communicate. He nodded and we slowly slipped below
the surface. As an instructor I was on high alert, fearing
that he would either panic and try to bolt to the surface
or never look at me for instructions or assurance.
I noticed his mask was fully flooded. I gave him the
signal to clear it and he did. It flooded again; he cleared
it. This is a skill that can derail experienced divers, but he
had listened and learned and did exactly what he should.
He stayed calm, looked to me for guidance, and followed
those instructions. To my surprise, he was fine and didn’t
seem stressed at all.
In the next few moments, the magical healing power
of the sea took hold of this introverted, shy teenager, and
he blossomed like a morning glory in the early morning
light. I could not believe what I was seeing. He started
pointing out fish and coral and looking at me with bright,
excited eyes. His SOUL was smiling! It was truly magical
to watch. We completed our dive, did our safety stop, and
got back on the boat. I was so proud. We went to the bow
between dives to debrief and plan the next dive. With his
mother beside him, I asked how he felt about the dive.
This young man looked me square in the eyes and talked
about all the fish and coral we had seen. He wanted to
know the names of each one, and asked questions about
how to learn them all. We spent the entire surface interval
conversing about the beauty the sea held.
What a treat to spot a friendly Nassau grouper, so-named from its historically large populations in the Bahamas.
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