You look into the deep blue waters, then to your friends, and jump. You land with a splash, open your eyes and you’re engulfed in a bright array of colors, fish, coral, and seashells. That is just a small fraction of what you would experience on the Malta diving trip.
The Malta diving trip is led by Mr. Lobland, a math teacher who enjoys diving, especially in Malta, with the help of PADI instructors from The Dive Systems Malta. Malta was not only chosen for its extraordinary diving, but also for its security and price. “We wanted to find someplace that was beautiful, cheap, and was within a 4-5 hour flight range,” says Mr. Kirkwood.
The trip is a week long, starting on June 2nd and ending on June 8th, the prime time for the warm water swimming in Malta. If you are a 10-12 grader who is interested in obtaining the Open Water Certification – definitely consider going on the diving trip. However, you must have some qualifications prior to the trip. You must be comfortable swimming, and you will have to take an e-learning class before the trip so that you don’t have to spend your time on the island with your head stuck in a book to learn basic diving rules.
The schedule is as follows: each day will start at 8 am and end at around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. You will spend the first day getting settled into Malta. The next four days will be spent learning critical theory and taking part in the dives. On the last day, you will sightsee Valletta, the capital, before flying back home.
The purpose of this trip is not only to educate students about diving but also to learn about coral conservation and protection. One question Mr. Lobland would like students to ponder while on the trip is: “How have human interventions affected the coral reef environments?”. Over the past couple of years between 27-32% of the world’s reefs have been destroyed because of human activity. Mr. Lobland hopes to inspire students to consider the consequences our actions have on the environment
Another question he hopes students consider is, “What are the physiological effects of diving on the human body?”, Mr. Lobland wants young divers to reflect on how their body feels during the dive. Diving is a sport that affects many aspects of the body’s systems. Muscular, cardiovascular, respiratory and circulatory. Mr. Lobland wants students to be aware of this as well as pay attention to how their body feels and push their limits to a healthy extent.
Julian Giacomelli, a student who attended the trip last year, talked about the eye-opening experience. Not only did he get to visit a country he didn’t know much about, but he also discovered a whole underwater world he didn’t realize existed. He talked about the time they spent outside the water, adding that they had “lots of free time to explore Malta and look around.”
The Malta diving trip is one of the trips that can be both fun and provide real-world experiences. Led by esteemed divers, you learn about the ocean’s reefs and ecosystems from a professional perspective. Mr. Lobland is offering a trip that is not only healthy for you physically but also lets you learn about man’s destruction of coral reefs, while hopefully inspiring you to help change the cycle. While on this trip, Lobland wants you to know that the sea is the ultimate classroom.
