With the seasons’ changing comes the change in our mood as well as in the things we choose to participate in. With the winter’s coming, if we don’t have a specific activity to keep us busy throughout the year we are always on the search of trying to find different ways to escape our busy daily routines. Activities that are related to the element of water almost automatically enter our “black list” because of the season’s low temperatures. Things however shouldn’t be so absolute. The purpose of this text is to present some of the positives that diving can offer during the winter season. Too often, the people’s reaction following the question “What do you do?” is “Ok, and what about the winter time?” The answer is “We dive!!” and here are some of the reasons!
More underwater life! The great number of tourists, boats, and fishermen during the summer months are some of the reasons for the decreased underwater activity during that time. During the winter though people that visit the sea are minimum and the few lucky ones to be there during such time (That’s us!) get an amazing reward full of life!
All beaches become private! With the pleasant exception of a few winter swimmers, all beaches during the months of winter season become exclusive to the few lucky ones (Again us!) that get to have them for relaxation and debrief. Of course in order for us to be able to enjoy all these, the proper weather protection on our behalf is absolutely necessary.
Better visibility. During winter months the algae development gets restricted a lot, due to lower water temperatures. The intense northern winds, that usually take place in winter keep the water crystal clear and the underwater sea life reaches high levels. All these factors can guarantee an amazing underwater experience that will keep you warm during your stay in the crisp water!
Additional insulation layers improves a diver’s skills. By adding to one’s insulation layers for extra protection from the colder environment, we get to learn to function, automatically, in an already demanding place in relatively more difficult conditions than during the summer thus improving our skills regarding buoyancy as well as our overall diving skills.
It’s the ideal time to learn how to use a dry suit. One of the things that we get to learn as soon as we make our first visit in a dive center is the different kinds of suits that we have the chance in our dives depending on the weather! Dry suits and the ability to use one gives one huge advantage as divers since it automatically allows us to dive in all underwater environments, while improves our diving skills whether we consider ourselves experienced divers or we are just starting our underwater journey.
I’m someone who enjoys exclusivity! If indeed you are a person who enjoys his exclusivity in whatever it is that you want to do, then winter is the ideal season for you to try diving. Chances are that if you start a diving program during wintertime then most likely it will resemble a private lesson! Of course, this can no way be a rule since we cannot know how many of us had the same idea!
Health benefits from diving during winter are more than a few:
Orestis Papadogoulas
SCUBA Diving Instructor
