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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