Teo (centre) guides Darren and Shawn as they get used to their scuba equipment in the pool. — Photos by Clement Lee
SQUIRMING in his seat like an octopus out of water, eight-year-old Darren Lim quickly ducked behind the pages of a glossy diving magazine he was reading aloud from just moments before, when he realised he was the subject of focus behind the loud shutter clicks of thesundaypost’s DSLR camera.
When asked to name as many fish as he could recall, he immediately forgot his awkwardness and excitedly started counting off a laundry list of fish names at top speed from memory.
His current favourite is the puffer fish because of its ability to inflate itself into a round shape whenever it feels threatened.
It was one of the highlights of his recent year-end school holiday when he managed to see puffer fish for the first time in the open sea.
Youngest divers
Darren and fellow diver Shawn Lee, 10, were the first children from Sarawak to take part in the Kids Scuba camp at Borneo Reef World, Kota Kinabalu last Dec 5-8.
The camp has been organised for the past 10 years by Kuala Lumpur-based Kids Scuba. The family-oriented event is the largest and longest running kids’ scuba camp in Malaysia.
Shawn was thrilled to have the opportunity to go out diving twice a day in open water during the camp. Before this, her only scuba diving experience was in a swimming pool.
“I like to swim with the fish and learn more about them. It’s really fun! I like being underwater because the corals are really pretty and the water is really clear. The fishes are so pretty and so unique,” she enthused when asked why she liked scuba diving.
The love for scuba diving runs deep in Shawn’s family — her parents and older sister Sheena, 16, are scuba divers as well. Sheena has been diving since age nine and is now working towards her certification in the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi) Junior Open Water Diver course which prepares kids to become fully-fledged divers.
Padi is an international scuba diver training organisation. According to its website (www.padi.com), it has more than 6,200 dive centres and resorts, and more than 136,000 individual Padi professionals teaching courses and offering diving services around the world.
Darren and Shawn have fun in the pool during one of their Padi Seal Team sessions.
Shawn and Darren are the youngest children in Kuching to complete the Padi Seal Team programme — a scuba diving programme specially tailored for eight- to 10-year-olds.
Participants learn basic scuba diving and water safety skills such as swimming and breathing underwater, clearing a mask of water, and relieving pressure in the ears as they strive to complete a series of Aqua Missions.
With the course under their belt, Shawn and Darren had no problem plunging into the open waters of Sabah — but only up to a depth of five metres and under the watchful eye of their instructor Ernest Teo.
While the Seal Team programme has been around for a while as part of Padi, it is not widely known in Sarawak, according to Teo, one of a handful of certified Padi instructors in the state and the owner of a Padi dive centre in Kuching — one of only two now offering the said programme in Sarawak.
Since he started teaching scuba diving nine years ago, he has seen a significant increase in public queries from individuals wanting to learn diving as a leisure activity and also from local and foreign tourists in search of diving adventures in Sarawak waters.
Among the main reasons behind this upward trend are better access to quality instructions and professionally certified instructors, more affordable support services, equipment and rental, and better availability of information about local diving attractions.
Shawn does a buoyancy skill exercise in the pool.
However, many parents still have their doubts about scuba diving as a suitable children’s activity said Teo.
“Public knowledge about scuba diving is still not widespread here. Parents are sceptical about its advantages as they do not dive themselves.”
The Seal Team programme is conducted in a controlled environment (swimming pool) and by a certified Padi instructor.
Teo stressed it is safe enough that children without any prior swimming experience could also take part in the programme.
There is also the perception that scuba diving is an expensive past time — particularly for children. However, Teo thinks the cost is comparable with what parents are willing to spend on other children’s activities and hobbies such as music lessons and tuition.
The Seal Team programme is also a great school holiday activity to motivate children to spend time outdoors and away from electronic distractions like TVs and computers, he added.
Shawn and Darren practise sharing air while underwater.
Perceptions changing
Darren’s mum Diana Lim is all in favour of all her children learning how to scuba-dive after seeing the positive effect it has had on her second child. She has always wanted to learn how to dive but never had the opportunity.
“All this time, Darren likes fishes. I wanted him to go underwater and see all these things so that next time when he grows up, he will learn and experience more.
“I think he’s doing a lot better in school this year after I let him join the programme. Last time, he didn’t want to read and now he reads all the books about fishes and he knows the different types of fishes. It’s also a way to get him interested in reading and also other things,” she noted.
Recently, Diana’s eldest daughter Sarah Nicole, 14, also started taking diving lessons but under the Padi Junior Open Water Diver course.
“I like the water, I’ve always wanted to see what’s underneath the ocean’s surface. I wanted to discover more instead of just being on top of the boat and observing — boring! Through diving, I can discover the life below the sea. It’s more fun underwater,” she said.
When Diana’s youngest child, now two years old, comes of age, she plans to enrol her in the Seal Team programme as well.
With two of her three children taking up scuba diving, she admitted to being tempted to join them to finally fulfil that wish she has cherished for so long.
She acknowledged that some parents may be put off by the cost but she thinks it’s worth it.
“Not everyone gets to see life under the sea. I think these kids are very, very lucky. It’s not a sport that everyone can do. A lot of parents also think about the danger of letting their kids go down there. But I think it’s safe if they have a good guide and teacher.
“It will definitely bring them closer to nature. As with Darren, we cannot eat shark’s fin in front of him as he will scold you. So when we go for dinner, we are not allowed to order shark’s fin. In fact, a lot of fish we can’t eat now is because of him,” she shared with a smile.
Darren hovers in mid-water like his favourite puffer fish.
Positive impact
Meanwhile, Teo hopes more parents will look at scuba diving with an open mind — as a positive extracurricular activity for their children, given the many advantages it has.
“Kids who complete the programme and get the certificate can also go to any Padi centre around the world and sign up to join in Seal Team activities held there. In addition to teaching the basics of scuba diving, the programme encourages discipline, logical thinking, concentration, water safety and teamwork.
“More importantly, we teach them about the importance of marine conservation. When you expose your children at a very young age to the underwater world, it will teach them about responsibility, discipline and environmental consciousness so that they will grow up to help create a better world and brighter future,” Teo explained.
He has seen first-hand the negative effects of human activity on the ocean, which has also inspired him to get involved in environmental causes.
For the past two years, he has organised an annual underwater clean-up of one of the Japanese WWII shipwrecks off the coast of Santubong, which is also a popular diving spot.
Local and foreign volunteers work together to cut and collect abandoned fishing nets, which have snagged on the wreckage and other rubbish, posing a threat to the marine life that have made the wreck their home.
“Loving the environment is something this generation must pass on to the next because they are the ones who will be carrying on the torch, so to speak. When I see kids like Shawn and Darren who are so passionate about nature, it gives me hope that it’s not too late to make this world a better place,” he said.
(From left) Shawn, Teo and Darren dive in open water at Tunku Abdul Rahman Park in Sabah.