Sara Rich long had an affinity for the underwater world.

But she never really had been, well, under water.

And living in landlocked Kansas, Rich figured her pursuit of watery bliss would have to wait until she moved to one coast or another.

That thinking changed, however, earlier this year.

Rich had a vacation planned in Florida, and she started thinking about diving there. Her daily walk to work carried her past the Scuba Shack in East Lawrence, and one day she decided to stop in.

“It was very convenient,” Rich recalled. “They were so willing to accommodate me. I was on a short schedule. I said, ‘I’m leaving for Florida next week.’ I explained what my situation was, and they basically took care of it.”

Taking the plunge | LJWorld.com

Three years ago, when my husband and I signed up for scuba diving lessons, we envisioned it as a life-changing — or at least a vacation-changing — decision.

Since we had always been partial to beach getaways, we figured we would find ample opportunity to practice our newfound skills. Just days after completing certification, we hopped a plane bound for the British Virgin Islands, where we found time to hit the ocean bottom nine times in between other activities, such as getting married and enjoying our honeymoon.

Sleep with the fishes

Soldiers and Marines severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan will have the opportunity to learn adapted water skiing, scuba and other water sports as guests at the 2006 Adaptive Water Sports Festival, presented by Disabled Sports USA, the Wounded Warrior Project, Graybeards, and the Fire Department of New York City.

Specially trained volunteers from the FDNY, including Firefighter Tom Westman, winner of the CBS 2005 Survivor series, will be on hand to teach the “Wounded Warriors.” Despite the fact that most have single and even multiple amputations and other severe injuries, all will participate and learn.

Wounded service members learn to water ski, scuba, sail in New York

Of all the outlandish experiences on offer to travellers, little compares with the unnatural thrill you get from breathing underwater. At first, it seems so wrong. You put your head under — perhaps in a swimming pool or a shallow lagoon — and you can see other student divers around you trying to come to terms with the sheer strangeness of it all. You exhale, and a plume of bubbles appears briefly in front of you, trembling like a living thing as it leaves your body and enters the liquid world. You realise that breathing has become the most enthralling thing you’ve ever done. You are becoming a scuba diver, and it feels so right . . .

Bottoms up

When West Virginians want to participate in an outdoor adventure, the obvious activities come to mind: whitewater rafting, rock climbing or skiing.

But the co-owners of X-treme Sports in Beckley think another outdoor activity will soon make a big splash in the Mountain State.

“Scuba diving is really growing in popularity,” said owner Alan Floresca. When he and Jim Holt took over the shop ten years ago, everything in it revolved around scuba diving.

John Moore runs Divebums, a San Diego-specific dive information website. Over the years, he’s made marine-themed t-shirts and calendars. However, his most recent creations focus on the little known — but increasingly popular — specialty courses known as Stupid Diver and Advanced Stupid Diver. These courses, of course, are only offered through the dive instruction organization known as the Professional Association of Stupid Divers (PASD). Once you complete the certification requirements (which are, very, very easy to do), you can get your own t-shirt and proclaim to the world that you’re a proud member of the Association of Stupid Divers!

Professional Association of Stupid Divers’ T-shirts Available NOW! – Divester

Journalist Kate Rew gives an interesting account of trying free diving for the first time, deep within the glamourous confines of the 30 metres deep submarine escape tank in Gosport, England. The tank training is part of a comprehensive free diving course run by a company called Deeper Blue, who also organise trips for free divers to Egypt.

Free Diving: A Beginner’s Guide – divehappy.com: Scuba Diving In Thailand and South East Asia

A shark was waiting for unwitting divers as they entered the scuba pool during the Keizer Iris Festival.

Fortunately, it was plastic.

If they could overcome their fears of rubberized carnivores, the divers got to face the real hurdle: breathing under water.

Keizertimes.com

Recently, Scuba Schools International teamed up with the Local 80 Divers Association to create a system that will help production companies hire underwater technicians for filming movies. (Local 80 is an organization that promotes safe diving within the film industry. Over the years, they’ve worked on numerous productions, including Titanic, Into the Blue, and Surface.)

SSI’s New Motion Picture Diver Certification

I normally surface swim face-up on my back. I learned that hard way that tank valves and lots of other equipment can get pretty snarled when you carelessly swim into a patch of kelp.

On the other hand, kelp dives usually have the most fish action so go give the Divester article a read and enjoy!