When I took a 3-month trip through Southeast Asia, one of my goals was to learn how to scuba dive.

Despite having what I would call a healthy fear, or at least hesitation, where scuba diving is concerned, I’d seen so many beautiful photos and videos of people exploring colorful coral reefs and underwater rock fields that I knew this was a skill I absolutely needed to add to my tool belt. And I couldn’t think of a better opportunity than this trip where I’d be visiting countries like Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines with notoriously gorgeous waters.

I actually got not just one, but three scuba diving certifications on the tiny island of Guam, and I did all of my training at the local MDA Guam Dive Shop. While Guam is not the cheapest place to get scuba diving certifications, I can’t recommend the team over at MDA enough. Not only is the staff easily the kindest and most helpful group of people you’ll meet on the island, the dive instructor, Ken Holbein, consistently goes out of his way to help you get as far into your diving certification(s) as you want, not to mention provides you with more than enough knowledge and expertise to help you feel safe during the learning process.

That being said, in the two weeks that I spent on Guam, I earned a total of three diving certifications: my Open Water, Enriched Air, and Advanced Open Water.

If you’ve ever wanted to become a scuba diver, take this to heart: these diving certifications are your key to the underwater world. Issued through the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and executed through PADI associated dive shops around the world, their variety of curriculum give you the know-how and hands-on experience to safely and confidently dive.

Diving is one of the most unique and rewarding experiences I’ve ever pursued, and it’s something that I’m constantly trying to learn more about. That’s why I’ve decided to do a blogging series about scuba diving. For the next few weeks I’m going to be publishing content that addresses practical knowledge about how to become a scuba diver, guides to dive sites, ways to become a professional diver, how to be a responsible diver, and resources that all divers should have at their disposal.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to scuba dive but didn’t know where to start, or are looking to expand your current scuba diving knowledge base, then be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss a post – cheers!