It's not as expensive as you might think _ and it's a conversation stopper

VINCENT NOEL

Of all the dive sites in all the world, the coral enclaves that dot Cambodia's southern coastal archipelago surely rank among the most obscure. Indeed, Cambodia isn't an obvious travel destination for anything except those temples, that nightlife, and the remnants of that regime.

But that's just what attracts people like Charlotte, an adventure-loving Swedish carpet layer, and Benjamin, a Belgian aid worker, to take the plunge while passing through.

That and the fact that over the past couple of years, a handful of fully-certified diving companies, notably EcoSea which operates its own boats year-round, have set up shop to service a small but growing market that not only includes low budget novices but already accomplished divers who just must have that conversation stopping Cambodia dive entry on the logbooks they carry around with them everywhere. For though the coral and water clarity in the area won't worry dive operators on the Great Barrier Reef, the Maldives or even the Similan Islands, the Cambodian coral and marine life are still undeniably abundant.

In a pinch, Fred Tittle, EcoSea's PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) certified mastermind can guide anyone with reasonable swimming ability and a little determination through the first five modules of the PADI diving course, tick-off the requisite pool skills and then take it to the ocean for more exercises and a tantalising taster of the glories of the sea in a demanding but deeply satisfying three days.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Day one is spent in the classroom at the EcoSea shop on Sihanoukville's undulating main drag, Phlauv-Ekareach, just across from the Oasis Hotel. Comfortably seated in low slung chairs around a coffee table stacked with multi-lingual manuals and knowledge review papers, the walls painted a fitting deep-sea blue, the day is spent watching a succession of entertaining but informative official PADI DVDs. These guide you through from the rudiments of submarine air pressure physics to the knottier issue of calculating how long and how deep you can go with successive dives.

Each unit involves about a 45 minute viewing followed by twenty or so minutes filling in the knowledge reviews. This is surprisingly easy as the information in the videos is presented in a way that tends to stick in the mind. No one scores a perfect 10 but Fred, or one of his qualified colleagues, explains the missed points until they are clear _ and then on to the next.

Likely as not, Fred will then lend you a dive manual to take back to your hotel or guesthouse to browse overnight in preparation for the first practical lessons the following morning in the pool of the nearby Orchidee guesthouse, one of Sihanoukville's best-run establishments with rooms at $10-25 a night.

And that's when the fun really starts. It's time to sort out a wetsuit, BCD (Buoyancy Control Device), weight belt, flippers and snorkel mask that fit from EcoSea's well-stocked wardrobe, and suit up.

But first you learn how to put it all together, turn the air on and check everything until it sinks in _ so you don't. If ever there was an activity that exemplified the safety-first ethic, scuba diving is it.

Basically, you strap the BCD _ like an elaborate life jacket only black and with lots of fittings and instruments dangling from it like octopus tentacles _ around the scuba tank. You can control how the jacket inflates or deflates with a switch attached to a hose which you attach to the air tank. Careful control is the key to both submerging and resurfacing at a safe rate.
Another hose attaches to an air supply regulator that you place in your mouth to breath and yet another hose is there as a reserve in case someone you are diving with runs out of air.
After turning on the air, you can check how much you have on a gauge while another gauge will indicate how far down you go in metres, which in the "confined water" of the Orchidee pool, is no more than 3 metres, so no worries there!

Once you're kitted up, the next step is to learn the pool entry technique which involves sitting on the side holding on to your regulator and snorkel mask with one hand and weight belt with the other and then falling sideways to the right so as not to bump the air tank.

Instantly, one reaches for the BCD inflator button because with all that weight, you don't expect to float.
However, in practice you don't immediately sink like a stone to the bottom and experienced divers like Fred are actually able to dive and surface wearing their weight belts even without the aid of a BCD.

After assembling in the shallow end, everyone is ready to walk back out into the deep and find out for the first time what it feels like to breathe underwater; like a big, clumsy fish on a respirator. In fact, there's nothing to it, just breathe normally, and remember that one of the cardinal sins of diving is to hold your breath. Another golden rule is to "equalize" or clear your ears often as you go down to avoid painful pressure problems

After practising one or two skills like mask clearing and regulator swapping, it's back topside for some rest before rounding out the skills sets.

That leaves the afternoon free to revise from the textbook or explore Sihanoukville, a sleepy tourist town and port city with light traffic, good food and accommodation, and a nightlife like an embryonic Phnom Penh scene.

STEPPING OUT

Open water diving experience can be acquired over successive one day trips or an over-nighter which includes camping in comfort in the woods behind a Crusoe-esque beach with all the charms of a camp fire and night skies that sparkle like champagne.

However, there is a big difference for every new diver between practising a meter or so beneath the surface of a swimming pool and stepping out like a slapstick comic, right flipper first into the ocean, pulling the plug on your BCD and descending slowly into the kingdom of Neptune.
Many a nerve has been known to fail at this point and there's never any shame in it, according to experienced divers.

Some of the apprehension is dispelled by running the PADI pre-dive safety check The code to help you remember is BWRAF _ which stands for Buoyancy device, Weights, Releases, Air supply and Final OK. To make it easier, PADI created the acronym "Begin With Review And Friend" or "Boogie With the Rich And Famous", if you prefer.

Nevertheless, Fred's assurances that statistically, scuba diving is safer than walking may spring to mind as you let the air out of your BCD and descend. After your intensive classroom and pool time, you should also remember to take time to clear the ears as you go down slowly by pinching your nose and blowing out of near empty lungs and/or wiggling the jaw from side to side at intervals of approximately 3 metres.

Even so, on your first decent you may feel like a child on their first day at school and it is certainly comforting to have Fred or one of his qualified cohorts close enough to hold your wrist while you get used to controlling your buoyancy.

First open water dives don't go below 12 metres and there is very little that can go wrong so long as you remember to keep breathing and keep your BCD deflated.

To avoid getting too introspective, the first dive is a relaxed affair that involves practising a few basic skills and then just leisurely focusing on the gorgeous marine environment, with its multi-coloured corals in wondrous forms and kaleidoscopic fish population, all of which appear friendly and much smaller than you!

After two-three more dives which step up the skills practices, one feels eager to get off the leash and just glide over the coral hills, taking in the ever-changing vistas while looking out for unusual marine species.

The atmosphere back onboard is invariably charged with a sense of achievement and excitement at having discovered what amounts to a new inner universe and most people who come this far become periodic divers.

If you have another day in town, EcoSea will probably have time to issue your PADI certification there and then. If not, Fred will forward it to you wherever you are.

FMore information: EcoSea DiveTel. 855-12-654-104. Email: Dive@EcoSea.com. Website: http://www.ecosea.com/