ENRICHMENT丨Sanya Scuba Trip

WAS have a long tradition of organising exciting trips to provide enriching experiences for our students?, and this includes travelling to Thailand, the Philippines and Sanya in previous years to go scuba diving. In December, 25 students from WASNJ and WASCZ continued this tradition!?We know that students who have participated in a wide variety of experiences can write the best university applications. Anyone applying to university with a scuba diving qualification will certainly stand out from the rest of the applicants!

As we enjoyed the trip to Sanya in December 2020 so much, we decided to return there, and work with the scuba diving instructors from SSI. SSI is an internationally recognised scuba diving organisation, and?when the students get the SSI scuba diving certificates it means they are qualified to go scuba diving anywhere in the world.

The students from both schools met at Nanjing airport very early on the morning of Saturday 17th December for the flight to Sanya. When we landed, we were greeted by the scuba diving leader, Miss Sandy, and she helped us get to the Coral Hotel on Wuzhizhou Island. After checking in, we tried on our wetsuits to make sure they were the correct size, and then we had a nice welcome meal in the hotel restaurant.

?On Sunday 18th, the students met in the hotel’s conference room to start to learn about scuba diving. The instructors explained each part of the scuba diving equipment and how to use it, and some of the skills and techniques that are required when scuba diving.

In the afternoon, we had planned to go to the hotel swimming pool to start to practice some of the skills, but as the weather wasn’t good, we decided to complete the scuba diving theory and take the exam. All of the students passed the exam! In the evening, we had another lovely meal in the hotel restaurant, this time a hot pot.

The weather the next day was much better, so the students spent the day in the hotel swimming pool. First, they practiced putting the scuba diving equipment together, including doing the safety checks before going into the pool. Then they practiced the skills they had learned the previous day. One of the main skills is to learn how to clear the mask while underwater. If water gets into the mask, or if the mask gets misty, it can affect how much can be seen and could be dangerous. By letting extra water get into the mask, then breathing out strongly, the mask becomes clear. All of the students were able to demonstrate this skill!

The students were in small groups, with?one instructor to 3 students. By the end of the day, the students had completed the training in the swimming pool which meant that they were able to continue the training in the sea the next day.

Some of the students already know how to scuba dive, so the scuba diving instructors arranged for them to go to the Atlantis aquarium in Sanya. The students visited the aquarium and also?had the chance to do a scuba dive inside the aquarium! This was a very special visit and the students really enjoyed it. That evening, we had a BBQ outside in the hotel’s garden.

On the Tuesday and Wednesday, the students went scuba diving in the sea. Due to the bad weather in Sanya just before we arrived, there was a lot of sand in the sea which meant that the visibility was quite low. However, it was still possible to see some fish, coral and many other things underwater.

In order to get the Open Water scuba diving certificate, the students needed to complete 4 scuba dives and demonstrate the skills underwater. Another important skill is to demonstrate buoyancy underwater, by controlling the amount of air in the BCD. The BCD is the jacket that scuba divers wear and it also has the air tank attached. Scuba divers use the buttons to control how much air is in the BCD.

By the end of the trip, WAS have?20 new scuba divers, with 11 students completing all stages of the Open Water qualification! Mr Hunter, Miss Cockburn and Mr Li are delighted with the students on the trip, they worked really hard and it was nice for the students at WASCZ to meet the students at WASNJ and make friends with them. It is our intention to organise more scuba diving trips in the future, and now that it is becoming possible to travel internationally, hopefully we will go back to Thailand, and maybe to new scuba diving locations such as Bali in Indonesia.?

WASCZ C. Zhu (Year 12)?

As a Year 12 student I was very happy to take part in a scuba diving trip in the midst of a busy school schedule, having no previous diving experience I managed to get my diving certification.?It was a great experience to have in my last year at WASCZ.?

The instructor was very patient and I managed to overcome my inner fears although I still felt intimidated by open water.?

If I get chance in the future, I am more than happy to diving again!?

WASCZ H. Chen (Year 10)?

I was very happy to participate in the Sanya scuba diving activity, which is organized by the school again. This time we went to?a new dive site to complete the dive -- the aquarium of Atlantis. This is my first time diving in an aquarium, the last four dives I've done have been in the ocean. I?couldn't disguise my excitement and joyfulness. After getting my outfit on and finishing the final check, I couldn't wait to start the dive. I was a little nervous at first, because this was my?first dive after a two-year break, and I always had to do the ear pressure balancing during the?dive because my body was not used to it, but when I dived to the bottom, the beautiful?scenery made me forget my body discomfort.?

There are dozens of different kinds of fish in?the aquarium. The water is clear enough to make the sunlight from above fall into the water?and form shadows. I chased shoal of fish through the water, looked at the artificial scenery, and the coach took pictures of us. Everything was a new and interesting experience for me.?After this experience, I have more love and yearning for diving.

WASCZ A. Yuan (Year 10)?

WASCZ A. Yuan (Year 10)?

I'm very honored to have done it. With each dive we feel the feedback of nature. Although the process is a little hard, but I believe that the difficulty and the harvest must be proportional. Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to experience different sports and different life.?

WASCZ?C. Wang (Year 9)

I hadn't been scuba diving before and this trip gave me an opportunity to try something new. Scuba diving is fun, and I really enjoy the scenery underneath the water. Different kind of fish and coral reef, varied and colorful. These are the views that you can’t see from the shore. The only pity is that the water is a little cloudy, otherwise visibility would be better. After a couple days of scuba diving learning, I got a qualification as an open water diver. In the future, I hope I can have more chance to dive and more opportunities to try new things.?

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WASCZ C. Lv?(Year 8)?

The scuba diving trip was awesome! We checked into the hotel on the coral Island in Sanya. The scenery in Sanya is very beautiful and the climate is pleasant. In the next few days we learned scuba diving and finished four dives in the sea, we saw the fish and coral in the sea, we also tasted the special food and experienced the special characteristics of Sanya. We all enjoyed the trip.?

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WASNJ W. Tang (Year 8)?

The days in Sanya was very fun. We first had some training then went to dive in the sea. During the diving training we had to get familiar with our equipment that we need to dive with. We learned how to float under the water by exhaling and inhaling. We also learned in our googles got water in it what should we do. The last two days we dived in the sea and to check if we know and how to use the skills that learned in the pool. I got the Open Water certificate of a scuba diver.