I’m T1 and had been for 20 years before I first dived. It’s a few years now since I’ve scuba dived, mainly because the money and opportunity weren’t there any more. However, in my time I clocked up 112 dives. I loved it, there’s few things better than discovering communities of life forms below the sea. I trained in the Southern Hemisphere and am a Certified Diver with NAUI, not PADI, but the demands are similar. I only dived in warmer waters; the coldest was the Mediterranean.
I always went into the water at 9 or above, preferably 11, as I knew that I would have sufficient to counter the loss of energy that occurred during an hour’s dive and heat loss . The water was always colder than me and since I wore a wet suit, not a dry suit, the heat from me was transferred to the surrounding water. I also knew that I needed to have energy to deal with unexpected events, currents, and to survive on the surface if I came up some way from the dive boat and/or in rough weather. The bcd (buoyancy control device - a jerkin that’s inflated and deflated to help make a diver buoyancy neutral) has pockets that can contain waterproof packets of glucotabs or jelly babies that can be accessed once you surface. I had lucozade, glucotabs etc waiting on the dive boat. If you need to do a shore entry or exit then that will take more energy and the kit’s heavy when you’re on land.
It’s important, I found, to fully educate a dive buddy about T1 hypo symptoms, although I was lucky and they never needed to rescue me. Divers, good divers, keep a close eye on their buddy while underwater as there can be other things apart from T1, from kit fails to accidental injuries, that mean they need help. Again, I was lucky, and a buddy was always someone to share the joy and excitement of what we saw rather than someone who helped or needed help, though our older daughter was once rescued by her buddy when some hoses split and her air escaped.
I found that the deeper I dived, the more energy I used as the water was colder down there. The PADI and NAUI qualifications certify you to descend to 30 metres but the best things are often found much closer to the surface, and if you get the opportunity, and if Climate Change doesn’t bleach them all, then there are few things lovelier, in my opinion, than an hour spent at 5 - 10 meters watching the amazing fish, nudibrachs, clams and anemones to be seen on a coral garden.
Oh dear, I miss it. After I qualified the rest of the family followed suit. Our older daughter did a degree in Marine Biology, later became a Dive Instructor and worked in Fiji and NZ before getting a ‘real’ job teaching science.
If you can do it safely then I think scuba diving’s a so-called risk worth taking.
