Dive Otago instructor Rene Louie said it was like going from one world to another.
"You have that blissful silence down there and then you burst out on the surface again and everyone’s so excited — they had an amazing time, they saw a massive fish and they got really excited about it."
Seven secondary school pupils from across Otago, Southland and South Canterbury explored a shipwreck and the kelp forests at Aramoana yesterday as part of their Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource Open Water Diver Certification course.
Mr Louie said they would repeat the exercise today, and at the end of it, they would become fully certified divers.
He said the certification would allow them to dive with a buddy, independent of an instructor, down to 18m.
It would also allow them to buy scuba equipment, book diving trips and explore wrecks, reefs and underwater kelp forests in more than 183 countries.
The young divers said it was an amazing experience, adventuring beneath the waves and seeing wildlife not normally seen by land dwellers.
Mr Louie said another group of secondary school pupils would complete the Advanced Open Water Course with Dive Otago next week.
