PADI Open Water Dive Certification at Diani Beach

I’m back in Nairobi from the coast and I miss it already, it's such a fantastic place to be. After my work with Soren in Kilifi I made my way South (involving four Matatus and a ferry ride) to Diani Beach. Several Peace Corps volunteers from my group were meeting there and the timing worked out perfectly so I could attend the four-day dive certification class and make my way back to Nairobi in time for my meetings there. A dive certification has been on my things-to-do-before-I-die list for some time and with the resident discount I am officially certified for several hundred dollars less than if I’d done it in the states.

Kilifi and Malindi, to the north of Mombasa, are full of Italian tourists. In fact, instead of the “how are you?” that I get all the time in Kakamega the kids shouted “Ciao!” at me, no doubt because of my Italian roots and complexion. At Diani beach the majority of tourists were German, and many of the signs were written in both German and English. Diani has the best beaches I’ve ever seen: clear blue water and perfect, white sand. It was also insanely expensive. The cheapest hotels were over a hundred bucks a night (with a resident rate) and it was almost impossible to find a meal for under ten bucks. Luckily I’m a Peace Corps volunteer. There was a campsite across the road from the beach for about six bucks a night and an easy walk away from a beach resort where we could spend the day pretending we were staying at the resort hotel and relaxing in their cushioned lawn chairs. Concerning the food, all the Kenyan staff had to eat somewhere, I reasoned, and I found a shack on the beach where a decent meal was less that fifty cents.

Speaking of Kenyan staff, one thing I found unfortunate is that every tourist staying at the luxury hotels was white, while the only Kenyans were the underpaid staff and people trying to hawk souvenirs on the beach. It was great using Swahili with them, as it was completely unexpected. A Tusker on the beach is 200 shillings, which means about a 150 shilling profit. I wonder how much of these enormous profit margins make it back to the staff (who I would guess are earning around 100 shillings a day) and how much of the money is simply going into the pockets of the wealthy, Indian hotel owners. I’d hope that at least the tips help.

Concerning diving, it was a lot to learn in a very short amount of time. A dive certification can take an entire semester and count as class credit, and we had just four days to learn everything. I spent most of my time in a pool and later in the ocean, or reading the book and studying buoyancy control, dive tables, and safe diving practices. My first dive in the ocean was amazing. We stayed on the inside of the reef, and even there I was surrounded by brightly colored coral, tropical fish, and an assortment of sea life. The conditions were not good on the outside of the reef due to choppy water but I plan to come back in January for another dive further out, where it is easy to spot larger fish, sea turtles, and even dolphins and whale sharks. The visibility was great as the water is warm, blue, and crystal clear. The world is two-thirds water, and now I feel I have that much more to explore. I just worry I’ve sucked myself into a money pit but now that I’m certified the dives are not terribly expensive and I plan to rent the equipment.

So now I’m in Nairobi. I ran into the FSD group on their way to various beach locations and safaris, and had a chance to see them off. Kakamega won’t be the same without them but there’s definitely less distractions from my job now. I also had four meetings today. I’m working on setting up my fundraiser through Peace Corps for disabled persons, I had a meeting at the FAO headquarters, and I managed (hopefully) to square away a market for fresh sweet potatoes. Tonight I’m off to Migori to spend a few days with the visitors from the states working at the BJCF orphanage, and then finally it’s back to my site. This has been a much needed break and I feel completely refreshed and am looking forward to getting back to my project.