DECATUR — If there is a body of water around, Ted Kuzel says he’s never far from tranquility base.
The plunge beneath the surface of lakes or oceans is this recreational diver’s journey to another world, a place of eddying calm and blood pressure-easing peace and quiet.
“The chances of me ever landing on the moon or going into outer space? That isn’t going to happen,” said the 41-year-old Decatur man, who in his dry day job is health, safety and environmental manager for a construction contractor.
“But I can get the same effect, the effect of going into a beautiful new world, as soon as I go underwater. I get a sense of peace and tranquility and, well, it’s humbling.”
The man who taught him how to enter that world and what gear to use to stay alive while down there is scuba diving instructor Mike Cooney. His tiny Pro Dive Shop in Decatur is a well-packed Aladdin’s sunken cave of essentials and accessories, and he says true enthusiasts can spend about as much as they want on very fancy equipment. On the other hand, a good basic gear package — including the crucial regulator which controls your air supply — costs about $2,000 and other stuff, like air tanks, can be rented.
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Cooney will teach beginners all the essentials they need to know in a 32-hour basic diving course that costs $450 with students providing mask, fins and snorkel and Cooney loaning the rest. The instruction covers academic class work and training dives in both swimming pools and open water and will lead to students swimming away with the basic certification that proves they know how to dive. It’s the qualification you need to dive safely anywhere from an Illinois gravel pit to renting gear at some sun-kissed Caribbean diving resort where reef fish in fluorescent colors are waiting to make your acquaintance.
Cooney says anybody comfortable in the water can learn fast, once they get past certain basic knee-jerk reactions to disappearing beneath the surface and staying there awhile.
“Just the fact of being able to breathe underwater takes some getting used to,” said Cooney, 70. “Your mother always said you were going to drown if you stayed underwater and you have to overcome that. When you see that moment happen with people, when you are there with them and you see the lights come on, I always think to myself ‘You found the trigger, teaching them will be simple now.’ ”
He says the breathtaking views in clear warm seas and the amazing fish populations of places like the Florida Keys are a diver’s reward every bit as wonderful as you can imagine. But he also points out there are cheaper and interesting places to dive close to home, too.
One personal favorite is Mermet Springs in Southern Illinois, an 8.5-acre lake now run as a diver’s playground. Carefully controlled water inflows keep visibility remarkably good — it can be up to 40 feet while 45 feet down — and the place is filled with cool things to dive around and through. How about an actual Boeing 727 aircraft that was used in the 1997 movie “U.S. Marshals” with Wesley Snipes? Other submerged features include a school bus and sunken boats and they all teem with fish that aren’t scared of you.
“And don’t forget we got Lake Michigan not too far away,” added Cooney. “That has the finest wreck diving in the world.”
All you need to get started is that $450 for the scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) dive course and the courage to swallow your fear and swim with the fishes.
“Me, I don’t care if I’m in the sea or in a lake,” Cooney said. “If my head’s under water, it’s a good day.”
treid@herald-review.com|421-7977
