Diving in deep blue sea

Adjusting his goggles one final time, alumni Eric Amrhein, class of ’16, stands on the end of a platform before stepping off the edge. As he sinks into the water, his vision is immediately filled with bright turquoise and aquamarine, and, defying the laws of nature, he is able to breathe underwater.

Amrhein first started scuba diving last year as part of his Senior Project. “I just did all the training required to get certified as a PADI scuba diver, which is basically the biggest worldwide diving association. I had to do a bunch of work in a classroom setting and take a bunch of tests as well as training in a pool and eventually doing dives in a quarry to complete it,” Amrhein said.

According to Amrhein, scuba diving is much more than a prolonged swim. “It’s a super dangerous sport in that you can’t really have a bad day, or there can be serious consequences,” he said. “[You have to calculate] how much air you will use and how fast, so you can make sure you won’t run out.” For example, he notes, hand signals must be used to coordinate with other group members underwater.

Amrhein has not dived much since completing his Senior Project due to the high expenses involved, but he would like to start increasing the quantity of his trips. “It’s super expensive, and although you can dive places like Ocean City, Md., the conditions are not the best there, so it kind of is a big ordeal to go,” he said.

Amrhein hopes to continue scuba diving in the future in order to explore the ocean and feed his interest in sharks. “I’m super into the ocean, so I love being able to explore deeper water than you can get to snorkeling and actually stay down there for a while and see the life living there,” he said.

Christina Giovanazi is a Sports Editor and Ianna Pirozzi is an In-Focus Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.