KMTV reporter tries scuba diving in Canterbury

KentOnline / KMTV

There are hundreds of spots around the coast to explore ship wrecks, but being February we're not going to be mean. We sent our reporter Gabriel Morris to Kingsmead leisure centre to find out if scuba diving is any good

Transcript

00:00 It's after hours at this leisure centre. The swim is long gone but the water sports are far from over.

00:07 Well I'm here at Kings Mead Pool in Canterbury. I'm trying something new today. It's not swimming.

00:12 I'm going underneath the water and trying scuba diving.

00:16 Better get out of the work gear and get into something more appropriate for the pool.

00:21 Tonight you're basically going to be doing your tri-dive. So you're going to be taking your first breaths underwater

00:26 which is obviously a completely alien feeling. It's a great feeling.

00:31 So first of all you'll be getting into the shallow end and then they'll get the kit onto you.

00:36 They'll get you breathing in the water face first just to start off with, just to make sure you're getting used to the breathing.

00:42 And then once you're comfortable there you will go off for a swim down the pool.

00:47 A couple of lengths, just getting used to the equipment and everything else, getting used to your buoyancy.

00:53 After a few practices into the deep I went. It was a weird feeling at first.

00:59 And then comes learning to equalise your ears. It's a little like being on a plane.

01:06 But after a while it's all OK.

01:12 The pool's only around 3 metres underwater but that's perfect for training.

01:17 But Kent has many diving hot spots.

01:20 The big thing for us is Dover. Wreck diving.

01:25 Absolutely thousands of shipwrecks out there from world wars, from the 1700s.

01:32 Obviously some are protected but there are a lot that we can go diving on.

01:36 That's what I like. I like the history of finding the wrecks and doing the research to find out what they were, what they were carrying.

01:43 My instructor showed me a few tricks.

01:46 Maybe I need a little more practice but that's what the club is here for.

01:51 I quite like the club aspect that we've got here.

01:54 That's what made me join. I came here to do exactly what you're doing tonight, a tri-dive.

01:58 And then I went on from there, progressed through all my training levels and then became an instructor last year as well.

02:06 So I started from where you are and worked my way right up to what I do now for the club.

02:11 The time soon came to resurface.

02:15 Get your balance, get your balance. How was that?

02:19 It was weird not being out to the water.

02:21 I've never quite felt anything like this before but it's certainly worth a go.

02:27 Gabriel Morris for KMTV in Canterbury.

02:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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