What your first try dive really looks like — minute by minute

A try dive is the gentlest possible way to find out whether this is for you. There is no theory to pass, no certificate to earn, no pressure. There is just your first breath underwater — and your decision about what comes next.

Before we get in the water (about 20 minutes)

We meet at the shore and talk things through, calmly. I ask whether you can swim, whether anything is worrying you, what you are hoping for. I fit the gear to you and show you how it works — the regulator, the mask, the BCD. I explain three simple hand signals and rule number one: you breathe calmly and you never hold your breath. That is everything you need to start.

The shallows — your practice ground for staying calm (about 15 minutes)

We step in where you can still stand on the bottom. You breathe through the regulator with your head above the water, then below it — still shallow enough to stand up in a second. We practise two things: breathing calmly, and letting a little water into the mask and then clearing it. It sounds serious, but it is genuinely simple, and it gives you a huge sense of calm for the rest of the dive.

We go down exactly as far as you want — not a metre further. The first descent is usually over before anyone has had a chance to look around.

Your first real descent (about 20–30 minutes)

We go down together, staying close, to a few metres — toward the mining excavator, the symbol of this place. I am beside you the whole time, keeping eye contact and managing your buoyancy. You have just one job: to breathe and to look. The rest is my work.

• Depth: usually down to about 6 metres, depending on how comfortable you feel.
• Close the whole time: I am not "leading the way", I am within arm’s reach.
• You can stop at any moment — one signal and we calmly head back up.

After you get out

We climb out, you hand back the gear, catch your breath and — if you are like most people — smile a little wider than you expected to. If you catch the bug, I take the cost of the try dive off the price of your OWD course. And if you decide it is not for you — that is fine too. Then you know it from your own experience, not from your imagination.