Celine is on her first trip it out of Europa. She took a twelve-hour flight from Zurich to San Jose and is now exploring Costa Rica. The reason for this trip is to visit her boyfriend, ConnectOcean's very own DM Intern Matthias! Celine likes the ocean as long as she can touch the bottom, and she likes to spend time at the beach, but water is not her element. She doesn't feel very comfortable in the water. That is not a big problem if there is no particular reason to swim in the ocean. But, her boyfriend came to Costa Rica to do an internship as a divemaster. And of course, he wants to show her what he has been doing the last months. And yes, he wanted to show her the ocean with all the fantastic creatures as well... Now Celine has a small dilemma.
Celine is a curious person and likes to try new things. So she decided to do her open water course here in Costa Rica, even though she is afraid of the open ocean. She wants to see the beauty of the ocean that her boyfriend was telling her about, with her own eyes.
She finished her online theory and got ready to jump in the pool with Instructor Dave to learn the basics about scuba diving. This was already the first challenge for her, 200 meters swimming, and a 10 minute survival float. She isn't a really good swimmer, for that particular reason, she likes to stay out of the water, but now she has to swim the distance to continue with her scuba diving training. Against her apprehensions, she did a great job and mastered the swimming test. This success boosted her self-confidence and she started to feel more comfortable. The followings dive skills were no problem until she had to take off her mask under water. Water went in her nose and that caused some issues. She tried and tried, but she couldn't master the skill... so she ended the first pool session a little bit frustrated, but not ready to give up.
Two days later Celine jumped back in the pool for another go at mask clearing and to learn the other skills. This time she overcame her fear, and was able to clear a flooded mask!. The rest of the skills were then easy. She was now ready for the open ocean dives!
The following day, Celine and Dave went to the diving boat to do her first open water dive. Celine was nervous but also very excited for this new experience. She entered the water like a pro and mastered all surface and underwater skills without any problems. And what a first dive she had! She saw sharks, a bunch of rays, big schools of snappers, grunts and other fishes. The second dive was as great as the first.
Even though she was loving diving, the skill on Dive 3 loomed ahead. She had to take off the mask again, and this time in the ocean at a depth of 10 meters. As the third dive approached, she once again conquered her fears and completed the skill!
Dive four, her first fun dive, without any skill training, was a well-deserved reward. Celine is now a certified diver, and is super excited for her next chance to dive!
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