Diving is an expensive recreational sport. Just ask Camosun SCUBA Club founder and president Rebecca Golat. Golat, a third-year Environmental Technology student, says that one dive costs roughly $75, depending on what kind of equipment you need. But, because they are a registered club through the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS), the CCSS covers half that cost, with the divers having to pay only the other half.
Golat says that because diving is so expensive, there’s no way she would have been able to do it on a student budget without the CCSS helping with funding.
“It dramatically reduced the cost,” she says.
Golat fell in love with diving when she was 12, after her parents got her diving lessons for her birthday; she says that Vancouver Island is hard to beat when it comes to diving.
“One of the best cold-water diving spots in the world is right here on Vancouver Island, so it was kind of natural to put [the club] together,” says Golat.
Diving requires a licence, but there are options if divers don’t want to get certified.
“We had people that joined that weren’t certified and we planned a couple of snorkelling trips that you didn’t have to have a diving licence for,” says Golat.
Golat says that the experiences to be had in the water in this part of the world are really something special.
“When I moved here the first thing I did was sign up to do a sea lion dive out at Race Rocks, and that was really awesome,” she says, adding that it was one of her best dives. “The sea lions will come up to you, and they’re really curious. They’re like big puppies. They’ll kind of nibble on your fins, and you’ll turn around, and they’ll blow bubbles in your face.”
It was Golat’s most memorable experience in the water; she says the size of the sea lions is not something to be taken lightly.
“They’re huge,” she says. “The males will be the size of a grizzly bear. It was very cool. I thought it would be scary, but when we got down there and we were with them, they’re not intimidating at all. They’re very playful and curious.”
There are about 20 people in the club; Golat says some dive occasionally, while the die-hards go every time. (Search Camosun Dive Club on Facebook for more information on the club.)
“We’ve taken a lot of people on their very first dive out in cold water,” she says, “and they just love it.”
Correction: A previous version of this story identified Rebecca Golat as Rebecca Gloat. We apologize for the mistake.
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