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Diving into your Bucket List

Ed Przybylek has a bucket list – and one of those was to have an underwater diving experience by participating in an introductory dive on the Great Barrier Reef. .

Ed and his wife travelled on Quicksilver Cruises to the Outer Barrier Reef and his bucket list included everything from skydiving to driving a car….. Ed is 59 years young and has been blind since he was 10 years old. James Hight a long term Quicksilver Dive Instructor took Ed underwater in what was a unique learning experience for both of them.

James said, “A dive brief prior to entering the water is normally very visual with pictures and signals so we had to work out a whole new set of signals once underwater. Ed and I had to find a communication avenue to ensure the safety of the dive. It had to be a team effort so I first talked through what was going to happen under water. We then worked on the signals such, as one tap on the shoulder meant – are you ok, two taps to kneel down on the sand. Ed was very confident and working on his skills before we entered the water was done with one finger on the forearm, then two fingers to practice the skills before we went diving.

Ed said; “ It was like flying down there”. James was very pleased that he was able to help Ed experience the underwater sensation of diving, “ Diving is very visual but for Ed it was the sensation and his different senses were highlighted underwater. It was a pleasure to take Ed on an introductory dive and he gave me a lot of trust to guide him underwater”

After surfacing from the dive Ed was smiling from ear to ear and said, “ I have just ticked one item of my bucket list but I have to add another – get certified”. Ed and his wife could not wait to get the photos back to the United States to “show the kids”.

Quicksilver Group Director of Sales & Marketing, Michael Healy said, “Every day passengers travel to see the Great Barrier Reef but for Ed we were delighted to be able to help make his dreams come true by “seeing” the reef in a different way.”