№2 — Diving certificate
Even though I have been to Southeast Asia, I have not stayed long enough to even consider getting a diving license, which is apparently the thing to do there. Additionally, th Traunsee with a maximum temperature of 22°C during extremely hot summers does not scream “Come and dive here instead of 30°C water in Thailand”. Nevertheless, I did not want to wait for my next SE-Asia trip.
After comparing diving schools in Austria with several in Southeast Asia, I decided to go ahead and get certified back home in cold and boring lakes — at least that is what my friends told me. Admittedly, it is not a fully new experience this week as I already started the course in May with theory and dives in confined water (read swimming pool) in Vienna. However, I only completed my open water dives this weekend. That still counts, right?
Silia and I travelled to the lakes in Upper Austria and found a very nice mobile diving school located in Altmünster on the Traunsee. The diving instructor, Peter, took us to the neighboring Attersee where we learned that our friends were right with one thing — the water is really, really cold. Even though I was wearing a 5.5mm wetsuit with an ice west, hat, gloves and diving shoes, I was freezing at water temperatures of around 17°C on the surface and 11°C at 15 meters depth. Still, it was worth it. We saw several fish, an old canoe and even a sunken sailing boat while being down there. Even though I have no point of reference, I woud not deem this boring.
The next day, we had one more dive to go to be certified. This time, Peter took us to the Langbathsee. Even though the water was slightly colder (yay), the dive was more exciting. Since the water in the Attersee allowed us to see a whooping 2 meters, we were extremely happy to see ten meters! While we did not see any boats despite our amazing visibility, the landscape was mesmerizing. Also, some diver nailed a random sign to a sunken tree at -10 meters.
Overall, I can recommend getting a diving license in Austrian waters. First, it is not much more expensive than getting it in Southeast Asia. Second, the quality of teachers is very high and they go extreme lengths to make sure everybody is comfortable with the tasks. Third, learning to dive in cold water with low visibility makes every subsequent dive in warm, clear water extremely easy. If you experienced the worst and pushed through, it simply has to become better. At least I keep telling myself this.
Click here to see my list of past experiences and ideas what to do next. If you have a suggestion for future new experiences, feel free to comment or drop me a message.
