Scuba Diving in San Salvador, Bahamas

My SCUBA Background

My dad got me a SCUBA diving open water (basic) course voucher for Christmas in 2023. I then waited almost 3 months to utilize it, getting my certification in March; Partially because I am huge procrastinator but mostly because I did not want to swim in freezing lake water in the winter. I did not know what to expect. I had heard SCUBA diving was awesome, and being a natural explorer I was curious to try it. In hindsight I am so glad I did it, because it is my favorite thing in the world.

I had about a month to complete a booklet on the "rules"; Mostly how to not kill yourself underwater. After this lengthy period - prime for anxiety buildup - the weekend for swimming finally arrived. First, a classroom lesson early in the morning (even earlier for me, because I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to drive there from campus in Greenville, SC). Later that day, we headed to the Y to put on all of our gear and jump in the pool. We learned some basic skills, then the rest the next day, and it was off to another week of school.

The next weekend was when we were to go to the lake. I'll admit, I was nervous. Obviously, anyone would be nervous when trying something potentially dangerous for the first time, however I was more worried that I would fail or seem like an idiot on top of worrying about the actual procedures. Once we rode the boat out to the diving area on Lake Keowee - directly in front of the nuclear station outflow, in order to stay warm - we did a quick review on the skills and then jumped in. We first hovered on the surface a bit to learn the lay of the land (or rather, the layout of the underwater terrain), then finally we headed below. Instantly a sense of bliss washed over me. Being able to swim underwater, breathing like a fish, is sort of like being on a whole new planet. It felt like I was somewhere whe

Thank you to JT Lee and Bermuda Triangle!
(Photo: JT)

re no one else had been. Of course, the bottom of Lake Keowee was not that exciting, but we did get some fish to eat out of our hands. At the end of our second day, he told us to go down a few feet for one last "skill" (despite the fact that I almost had NO compressed air left), but it turned out that it was just our "initiation", where he "knighted" us with a swim fin to certify us. Later that week, I got my card saying that I was officially certified.

Exploring San Salvador

It was rumored that Dr. Ritchie (the head of the trip) and I might go scuba diving while in San Salvador, so I brought my huge fins as well as my diving mask. These fins ended up being the reason/excuse to bring my mother's humungous suitcase. A few days in Dr. Ritchie told me that we were to go diving at Club Med, one of if not the only resort on San Salvador. I was nervous again, not because I didn't think I could do it, but because it would be my first non-training dive. On top of that, it was in a foreign country on a very remote island which I doubt had any decompression chambers. It did not help my anxiety that everyone at Club Med was native in French. Thankfully, they spoke English, because my limited high school French would not have saved us. It was reassuring to know that Dr. Ritchie was also nervous about the big crowd.

We went out to the first reef with two other Frenchmen plus our guide who would show us where to go. Having a guide was Dr. Ritchie's preference because I was so new to diving. Besides some miscommunications, everything went swimmingly. Unfortunately, I did not bring a case for my GoPro camera, so I could not bring it down with us (the limit was 33ft). Thankfully, Dr. Ritchie did get some pictures, albeit mostly of corals. I had never been below the 25 feet at Lake Keowee, so going to 65 feet (the arbitrary maximum depth of my certification) was a whole new experience. To be honest, you don't really think about being underwater when you're down there, it just becomes natural. I know it's cliche, but it's true. Both times we dove the wall, or the point where the seafloor drops off to normal depth from the island shallows. We saw some sharks, bigger fish than above and a massive grouper who would look good in a soup. Dr. Ritchie was happy because we saw corals and sponges which were not present near the surface. The most interesting things for me were the barrel sponges: Huge barrel outcrops which you could fit into! The experience was AMAZING and I am so grateful for the opportunity. The only problem is, I cannot wait to go diving again - Too bad South Carolina's coastal waters are opaque!

(Photo: Dr. Kim Ritchie)