Hello! I’m Moo, the lead instructor at DIVEMAP. Today, I’d like to share the story of a high school girl who was even afraid to get into a swimming pool, but became a real scuba diver and ended up enjoying the waters of Seogwipo, Jeju, together with her mother. It was a pretty eventful three-day journey to get her Open Water certification!
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The story started with her mother. She had already fallen in love with the underwater world and the incredible fish she could see while diving, so she decided she wanted her daughter to experience the same joy of the ocean. Her daughter already loved fish, so Mom managed to convince her to come to our dive center. But there was one small problem. She loved fish… but she was afraid of water. Not exactly the easiest combination for learning to scuba dive. So, honestly, I spent quite a bit of time wondering how we were going to make this work.
I thought pool training would be relatively easy because a swimming pool is a safe and controlled environment. Well… I was wrong. She was worried that water might get inside her mask, that air might stop coming from the regulator, and even a little water touching her nose was enough to make her panic. After staying underwater for only a short time, she would immediately signal that she wanted to go back up. One time, she gave me the “I want to go up now!” signal almost as soon as she entered the water. I simply spread out my fingers and slowly counted to ten before we went back to the surface together. Little by little, I tried to help her become more comfortable with the water. But even after all that, we couldn’t say that the first day of pool training went very smoothly. She also seemed to have a bit of a fear of enclosed spaces, and the confined environment of the swimming pool made her feel especially uncomfortable. Then Mom told her something very important: “I have a similar fear of enclosed spaces. Pool training was really hard for me too. But once I got into the ocean, it actually felt much easier.” So we decided to trust Mom’s experience and get ready for the beach dive the next day.
On day two, we headed to the beach for her first open-water dive. The questions started almost immediately: “I’m scared because I can’t see very well,” “I can’t equalize,” and even, “Can’t I just put my body in the water and come right back out?” One challenging question after another. Still, I encouraged her to take it one step at a time. “Don’t worry. Let’s just see how far we can get today.” With Mom cheering us on from behind with a big “You can do it!”, we slowly made our way into the water. She was clearly still nervous at first, but there was one thing that quickly distracted her from her fear—fish. She already loved fish, so I handed her a dive light and encouraged her to focus on the marine life around her. Once her attention shifted from her fear to the underwater world, she was able to stay in the water much longer than before. When we finally came back to the surface after the dive, Mom looked genuinely surprised. “I thought she would come back up halfway through, but she stayed down the whole time!” For us, that was a huge step forward.
To encourage her, Mom joined the dive as well, making this a special day for both of them as they finally got to meet underwater for the first time. At first, the giant-stride entry from the boat was too intimidating, so we used the lift to get her into the water. Since boat diving was a completely different environment from the beach, she struggled a little with the entry and equalization at first. But once she began encountering all kinds of marine life underwater, she gradually relaxed and became more comfortable. By the end of the day, she had gained enough confidence to try the giant-stride entry on her own. And guess what? She actually found it easier—and much more fun—than using the lift. “I should have done this from the beginning!” she said with a laugh. It was also amazing to see how much she had changed in such a short time. Her buoyancy control was getting better, she could calmly deal with water entering her mask, and she was beginning to control her fin kicks on her own. Watching a student who had seemed like one of our biggest challenges on the first day gradually grow into a real diver was incredibly rewarding. Moments like this are exactly what make teaching so special for me as an instructor.
The day after the course, she was officially a certified diver and went fun diving with her mom. The girl who had been afraid of the water on the first day was nowhere to be seen. She was swimming freely underwater, exploring the ocean, and genuinely enjoying her dive. Honestly, even I was amazed by the transformation. In just a few days, she had gone from being afraid of the water to becoming a confident young diver. I hope these two—mother and daughter—continue to make many wonderful memories beneath the blue waters of Jeju. And whenever you visit Jeju, be sure to come and say hello to us at DIVEMAP too!
