Our Blue Paradise

Down where it's completely serene, where fish rules, and where corals flourish.

There are many dive spots in Saipan, depending on your expertise, and what you want to see. Popular dive spots include The Grotto, Dimple, Laulau, Naftan Point, Obyan, Banzai, Wing Beach, Coral Garden, Emily and Shoan Maru wreckdive spots. We have been to all of them, except the most popular one -- The Grotto.

We have also gone with almost all the dive instructors/shops here: Aqua Connection, Fishguyz, Rubin, Tai Doram, and Green Flash.

Update: It has been a year now since we have gotten scuba certified.

Laulau

Wing Beach

Emily

Coral Garden

Oleai

Shoan Maru

P E R S O N A L S T O R Y

discovering Saipan's underwater world

A personal account about conquering fear and diving, this story I wrote first got published in TAGA Plus, a sports and lifestyle quarterly magazine in the Marianas.

I never imagined that at 40, I will learn to scuba.

Call it shallow, but yes, this is a milestone. Growing up, I have always had this fear of swimming. When I was about five, probably in an attempt for me to learn, my father had me wrap my arms around his shoulders, only for him to straight up deep dive into the pool, leaving young me, traumatized.

I can float, yes, but in my mind, I do not know how to swim. Maybe, I have never gotten over that fear.

Fast forward to several decades later, here I am enjoying the underwater paradise of Saipan, something I have never even thought of ever experiencing. The past month, I have fluttered with over a dozen butterfly fish, glided with sea turtles, galloped with seahorses, and even almost shook tentacles with an extremely shy octopus.

How did all these happen? I guess, by just trying and wanting to conquer my fear.

Also, at the back of my mind, it would be a shame not to dive in Saipan. The island isn’t one of the world’s best diving destinations for nothing.

testing the waters.

As soon as the COVID-19 restrictions on scuba diving were lifted, and local discounts on dive classes started floating on social media, we knew we had to dive.

And so last July, my husband, Larry, and I signed up for “Discover Scuba,” a super introduction to scuba diving offered by local business, Aqua Connections.

Larry already decided that he will be taking the Open Dive certification course, but I was still indecisive, so the “discovery” was more about me literally “testing the waters” and seeing if I would be comfortable with it or not.

On the day of our “test dive,” we were given a crash course where we learned about the gear and how to use them, the hand signals to remember, how to remove water from the mask, among many other things. We suited up, and had our first taste of scuba diving at Sugar Dock.

Our instructor, Hoshi, gave us a pep talk, and really did his best to calm my nerves. I remember him being patient with us, as we walked inch by inch toward the deeper part of the sea, until we got to about 4 feet deep, where he first asked us to submerge and breathe through our mouthpiece, called a regulator.

He also made sure to remind us of the most important rule on scuba diving—“never hold your breath.”

I followed the instructions to a tee, secured my mask, checked my gear, put the regulator in my mouth, positioned myself, and took my first breath underwater. The sound of bubbles from our tanks echoed loudly deep in the waters.

Funnily enough, I could not get myself to stay submerged. Hoshi wanted us to stay planted on the ocean floor and not float, and he had to add weights on me to keep me from drifting away. He also kept checking on me, through hand signals, to see if I was okay.

From there, we began our slow descent from being underwater at 4 feet to about 8 feet. Aside from seeing some fish, we saw a very tiny seahorse, which I would say was the marine highlight of that “dive.” And also, yes, I know it’s not that deep, but it is deep enough to convince a nervous wreck like me to go even deeper.

getting ready for the open ocean.

We signed up for the PADI Open Water Certification course immediately after our “Discover Scuba” session. Just when I thought it’s simply going to be about diving somewhere deeper, I was wrong. We were handed a decently thick Open Water Diver Manual to fully review, plus a set of test sheets to answer.

I was nervous when the first day of the course came, but felt better when I saw a familiar face, Frankie, who would be with us on our journey. I got even more relieved when Frankie said he has not done any diving. At least, I would not be the only one who’s probably nervous.

After reviewing our test results, we got suited up and began our pool training. There, we got reacquainted with our gear and how to use them, how to breathe properly underwater, how to remove water from our masks, how to check our tanks, how to swim and adjust our buoyancy, as well as the buddy system, which is basically having a partner underwater.

We were also taught some major skills—removing our regulators underwater and switching to using our buddy’s alternate regulator, as well as removing and putting back our masks on, also underwater, which was a real challenge for me.

After spending hours on the pool, the time came for us to get to the ocean.

Hoshi asked if I was ready. I said yes.

open diving at Laulau…finally!

Our group of four went to Laulau, probably the most popular diving spot on Saipan next to the Grotto. After some pep talk and a quick refresher from Hoshi, we began our deep journey to the unknown.

From the shore, we walked toward this channel where a rope awaits to help make it easier for divers to descend. At that point, I was really nervous. My mind was asking, “Are you sure you’re ready to sink and perhaps get eaten by sharks?” but my heart was screaming “YOLO! You only live once, so live!”

Needless to say, I grabbed the rope, focused on Hoshi’s instructions, and went full on underwater.

I was the first to go, not because I was the bravest, but most probably because I was the one who needed guidance the most. Tightly grabbing on to the rope, little by little each one of us descended into the deep blue. I remember stopping at one point because I started getting anxious when it dawned on me that we were really legit underwater, and that there’s no way we’re turning back (well, there was, but thankfully, we didn’t).

Most probably sensing my nerves, Hoshi helped by holding my hands then wiggling my arms as if to say “relax”, and also by motioning with his hands to breathe calmly, which worked. My husband also kept an eye on me, and so did Frankie, making sure that I am safe. We all made sure we’re safe.

At one point while underwater, Hoshi made us switch regulators with our buddy, as well as do all the other scuba lessons we learned during our pool training. All these as we also worked on our buoyancy.

That first experience deep underwater was amazing! We kept diving, swimming with, and gazing at countless fish, corals, and sponges. The entire time, though, I would admit, I was very conscious and kept looking at my tank’s gauge, fascinated by the fact that I could actually really breathe deep underwater but, at the same time, wary as to how much air I still have in my tank to keep going.

Much as we were enjoying our dive, having descended up until we reached 24 feet deep, we also had to learn to swim back to the surface.

After some more minutes, Hoshi guided us to a rope, which we had to grab on to as we ascended, making one quick safety stop before finally resurfacing through another channel, our portal back to the “normal” dimension.

As soon as I saw I was out of the water, I took my mask off to breathe normal air. We waited on each other to resurface. Once we’re complete, the four of us slowly walked back to shore, tired but excited as we talked about the experience. For a few minutes we rested, before gearing up with our other tank and heading back to the ocean for yet another dive.

At 40, thank you for this experience of a lifetime.

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