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Take A Dive
Now’s the perfect time to get in the water. // B Y C Y N T H I A M C F A R L A N D
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water, you should be a better than average swimmer—able to tread water for 10 minutes, swim 200 yards without stopping and swim underwater for 50 feet while holding your breath.
TAKE A CLASS Depending on the class and instructor, you can typically obtain your basic scuba certification in about 30 to 40 hours. Classes are broken down into academics and time in the water, first in a pool and then at open water dive sites. “Most everyone uses online academic materials now, which is about five to six hours of online training,” explains Foote. “This streamlines the course, and you can do it on your schedule.”
Dive photo by Alan Youngblood via Unsplash; Group photo courtesy of Aquatic Center of Ocala
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any sports and recreational activities suffered in 2020 due to Covid-19 shutdowns. Scuba diving wasn’t one of them. Think about it. Participants are wearing masks, breathing purified PEOPLE COME FROM ALL air and in an underwater environment removed OVER THE WORLD TO DIVE from threat of respiratory FLORIDA’S WATERS. WITHIN viruses. Not to mention, having a blast. A ONE-HOUR DRIVE OF “Our business MARION COUNTY, DIVERS doubled last year, and it looks like we will even WILL FIND WELL OVER 20 surpass that this year,” SPRINGS WITH CRYSTALobserves Bill Foote, owner of Ocala Dive CLEAR WATER, ANCIENT Center, who’s been a rooms of America and ROCK FORMATIONS, certified diver since 1971. was a turning point for “The pandemic CAVERNS AND A VARIETY OF the dive industry,” says turned out to be better Clark, noting that it was AQUATIC LIFE. for business than I his inspiration to get thought it would, and into the sport. business this year is considerably better than last year,” adds Craig Clark, owner of WHO CAN PARTICIPATE? Aquatic Center of Ocala and a diving instructor Many scuba classes require students to be since 1999. at least 12 years old. For minors, it’s strongly Originally the acronym for “self-contained recommended that a parent be already underwater breathing apparatus,” SCUBA is certified or take the class at the same time. now an actual word. The sport has come a long There’s no upper age limit, but you do have way since 1959 when the YMCA organized the to fill out a statement of health. Conditions like first national scuba diving training program in asthma, epilepsy and some heart conditions the United States. are deal breakers, as they would make diving “The television series Sea Hunt, filmed here too risky. at Silver Springs, brought scuba into the living In addition to being comfortable in the
