Crystal's PADI OW Experience - Learning to Dive through FAYD!

Hi, I’m Asher (Crystal), and I’m here to talk about my FAYD (Fund A Youth Diver) programme experience.

First of all, I'd like to thank Kaia Initiative and the SeaKeepers for giving me this amazing opportunity. 

When I received the offer, I was overjoyed! Despite my parents being apprehensive about diving at my age at first, they ended up agreeing to it.

The e-Learning was a breeze for me, nothing too challenging and I thought maybe diving won't be so hard, since I am good at swimming. I took my time studying the e-Learning materials, ensuring I could display them the second I was in the water. I thought I was really well prepared! 

Until the first day. The equipment was heavy, and diving was NOTHING like swimming. I was so shocked. The lightest of currents swept me around as if I was nothing. That was until the instructors gave us weights. It was a struggle getting up from the ocean habitat and going back to the benches to rest. Regardless, I persevered through with the encouragement of my instructors. Everyone except my buddy was much older than us both, which left us shocked. I made a friend, the only other girl there, which was good. We had nice conversations and I tried to help her overcome her fear of the animals that dwelled in the habitat. The first day left me feeling exhausted, but I felt very inspired, and was ready for the next day.

The next day was the hardest. I had to learn a buoyancy technique I couldn't master. What's worse? My new friend decided to not come anymore! I was left with no dive buddy, and as the only female of the group. I felt a bit discouraged, but regardless, continued to stay strong and continue my training. I was very distracted by the animals surrounding me, I stared, and stared at my surroundings, until we were done. Our instructor decided to let us take a swim around the habitat, which was almost magical. A ray touched my hand, and a cownose ray darted below me and between my new buddy's legs. The manta rays soared above us like birds in the sky. I saw all kinds of sharks: blacktip reefs, scalloped hammerhead, zebras, and the occasional nurse shark! Being a HUGE shark fan, I was beyond ELATED. Not long after, our team was low on air, and it was time to get out of the tank, and to end the day. On the way out, we got some free ice cream from one of the vendors and chitchatted all the way to VivoCity.

On the last, final day, we were bulked with assessments. Most of our dives were spent on the bottom of the habitat tank, with me admiring our surroundings and occasionally waving to the public. After our final assessment, my Kaia buddy, Victor’s mom, was present, wanting to take photos of me and him. But it did end up as the whole group posing for photos, which is really funny to look at now.

At the end of the dive, I was really sad to end the experience, but I was more motivated than ever to continue to conserve what's in the ocean, so others can experience what we experienced, except in the wild. 

I really want to thank my instructors, Aaron and Chip, for guiding us along the way and certifying us as divers and I'd really like to thank all the people who gave us the opportunity.

-Asher (Crystal), 17

Kaia Initiative team:

Thank you for reading this article! If you read about our youths' experiences and want a chance to learn to dive too, sign up for FAYD now – you could be our next youth diver 🌊

tinyurl.com/kaiaFAYD