((TRT: 03:32))
((Topic Banner: Underwater Museum))
((Reporter: Tahira Kibria))
((Camera: Matthew Ritenour))
((Underwater Camera: Abdul Aziz Khan))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Rawlings, Virginia))
((Main characters: 3 male))
((NATS))
((Joseph Shields
Diver))
It's the next best thing to being in space. It's the weightlessness. It’s the same feeling, I would suppose as astronauts feel, you know, when they're up there. But we're down here in this beautiful world and it is also a weightless, beautiful world.
((NATS))
((Fred Foster
Diver))
Just being suspended like the whole world’s moving, but you aren’t if you don't want to. And you don't weigh anything, but you weigh everything. The whole thing is kind of there.
((NATS))
((Joseph Shields
Diver))
It’s a perfectly preserved ecosystem here because no fishing, no poaching, nothing. None of that is allowed on the property at all.
((NATS))
((Robert Grose
Owner, Lake Phoenix Scuba Park & Family Campground))
Primarily, it’s a scuba park for training and then to keep your skills up as a diver. We are a campground as well. So, you bring your RV [recreational vehicle] in, your family. And we have 50 amp, 30 amp hookups for your RV, water and a dump station on the way out.
((NATS))
((Robert Grose
Owner, Lake Phoenix Scuba Park & Family Campground))
The helicopter, so we submerged that. That came from the Navy and muchly appreciated. It was fun to sink, but other things we get from donations, a car here or a bus. We prep it to get it ready for the water. So, there's no harmful chemicals or oils that are left behind.
((NATS))
((Robert Grose
Owner, Lake Phoenix Scuba Park & Family Campground))
My favorite underwater attraction would be the plane. If you go down to about 50 feet [15 m], and then you swim towards that plane, just the size of it as you come up to it, is breathtaking. ((NATS))
((Robert Grose
Owner, Lake Phoenix Scuba Park & Family Campground))
We have people coming from Delaware, Maryland, D.C., sometimes, you know, North Carolina.
((NATS))
((Fred Foster
Diver))
But whatever your favorite food is, every time you eat it there’s a new experience. We had a new experience today. And when we dive later on today, there will be a new experience. The plane's been there for years. We’ve dove there for years.
((NATS))
((Joseph Shields
Diver))
We're shouldering almost 90 to 100 pounds [40 to 45 kg] of gear on us before we get in the water. Once we get in the water, all of that becomes neutral and weightless. But to that point, you have to get from point A to point B.
((NATS))
((Fred Foster
Diver))
You gotta get in.
((NATS))
((Joseph Shields
Diver))
We have to learn how to react to the environment as the environment changes. All of a sudden you’re diving, and then all of a sudden some haze comes through, algae comes through. It decreases your visibility, which means that our team skills have to get tighter and closer. That means we have to even get closer.
((NATS))
((Joseph Shields
Diver))
We have to learn how to be able to manage problems and manage failures while we are underwater and still keep each other safe and bring each other home.
((NATS))
((Robert Grose
Owner, Lake Phoenix Scuba Park & Family Campground))
We have been pretty fortunate. People needed a place to go. This is outside. And go scuba diving. You don't have a minimum distance underneath the water. People dive all year round.
((NATS))
((Fred Foster
Diver))
Diving is great everywhere. There is no bad diving, alright. A dirty waterhole, if you’re under the water, it’s a good day of diving. I’ve messed up some dives, but I never had a bad day diving.
((NATS))
