The Earth's surface is covered with more than 70 per cent water. The underwater world is full of amazing life forms, hides interesting places and unusual silence. Exploring underwater life allows you to discover a new and different world and experience beauty in a way that is inaccessible on land. Can diving be a good hobby?  How do we take the first steps and convince ourselves that this adventure is just for us? We asked Mr Adam Rogula, an experienced diver and employee of the OXO Section of Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn, about this.

Where did your fascination with the underwater world come from?

I have been drawn to water for a long time. It's hard to say why, but I have always enjoyed spending time in the water. I used to fish when I was a child and for many years I had an aquarium at home, in front of which I could sit for hours and watch my fish. It always calmed me down. Maybe that's where my fascination began.

What was it like at the very beginning? It was the beginning of 2011, I was still living in England at the time and while looking for a diving school I came across a shop in Oxford, and as there was a promotion there, I bought my first wetsuit, fins and mask. After arriving in Poland I had children and put my interests aside for a good four years. In 2015 I did a basic diving course, then underwater navigation and took a break a bit for financial reasons. I returned to my interest for good in 2018, when I found the Heliox diving school in Katowice, Poland, which I am still involved with today. There I met Tomek Maślonka, a professional, passionate diver, who became my instructor and friend. I have done all my subsequent certifications with him.

Cave diving, ice diving, night diving, wreck diving, deep diving, navigational diving and you can go on and on. You need a course for each of these. Please tell me how many courses you have taken ?

Open Water Diver, that's the basic qualification, then Ice Diver, which is an ice diving qualification, I also have night diving, in difficult visibility conditions. Then there's Nitrox, with enriched air, Twinset, which is a double cylinder, Drysuit. I have an assistant instructor, or what is called a Master Diver, and of course a diving instructor. I am also certified to dive in a full face mask. This full-face mask is needed for underwater work, because it is equipped with communication and we have contact with the surface thanks to it, to report what is happening underwater and possibly get some orders from above.

I have an Intro to Cave, which is the so-called first level for cave diving. As an instructor, I am also qualified to administer pure oxygen and it is called Oxygen Provider. Just like a doctor in an ambulance, I can administer pure oxygen to a diver to breathe. I suppose there are even more of these qualifications, but I would have to look through my whole pencil case at home because I can't remember now.

It is extensive diving.

It is very extensive, also a diver is not equal to a diver. When someone says they dive, you also have to make allowances for how they dive, who they dive with, what they dive on and how much time they've actually spent underwater.

What's the best thing about diving?

The holy calm. That's what puts your head at ease. There are no outside sounds, no one talking, no phones, you're alone with yourself, and even more so if it's a wreck or a cave where you're really on your own, it cuts you off from the outside world altogether.

Your favourite place to dive?

Anywhere there is something interesting underwater really. I don't think I have such a single favourite place. Of the convenient answers, I'd say it's best if there's a diving infrastructure, that you can comfortably pull up and get into the water and that the visibility is pretty cool.

And a coral reef like this?

Of course everyone raves about the reefs, which are mega beautiful and colourful and there's nothing to discuss here at all. The Red Sea in Egypt is fabulous, but I think I had such a most wonderful experience at the cenotes in Tulum, Mexico. Beautiful life underwater. Underground caves filled with fresh crystalline water, offering a unique diving experience. In the cenotes you can encounter the effect of 'light rays' coming through holes in the ceilings, creating a magical atmosphere. And best of all, I saw fish there that I used to have in an aquarium! Cichlids. I laid down there on the bottom and didn't want to move from there. Also, I recommend the cenotes, it is an amazing place on earth.

What would you recommend to people who want to try a diving adventure? Do you need to have any predispositions?

Let me put it this way, in our country you don't really need a licence to start diving. It's not like you need a driving licence to drive a car. It's just that if you don't have a licence, no dive centre will fill your cylinders. The other thing is that on such a course you learn a lot of important things that you can later use while diving, for example how to save someone underwater. Above all, the qualification makes you aware of a lot and I would recommend it to anyone starting out on such an adventure.

As far as predisposition is concerned, there are a few limitations in terms of health, such as sick sinuses, diseases of the circulatory system, cardiovascular system or epilepsy. You also don't have to be a great swimmer to dive, as diving doesn't have much in common with swimming, although good swimmers do better at holding a position suitable for diving so-called trim, but other than that practically anyone could try it.

Once we decided to give it a try, I would recommend finding a so-called intro, which can be purchased at any dive school. This involves a one-off entry with an instructor. Usually, the intros take place in a controlled pool-type environment where there is clear, warm, transparent water, where we can see the instructor and his established underwater signs. After the instruction, when everything is fine, you don't have a breathing problem, you don't panic, then you can go deeper with the instructor. After such an intro, you can tell if this is for me or if it just doesn't suit me very well. The cost of such a service without a course costs around 200-300 PLN.

Is diving an expensive hobby?

Let me put it this way, it can be expensive, very expensive and even exorbitantly expensive.

A basic ABC set consisting of a mask, snorkel and fins can be bought in Decathlon for about 200 PLN. The mask itself can be bought for 100 PLN, or even for 500 PLN, but you don't have to go crazy here; the mask should fit well and be made of solid materials so that it doesn't blow up somewhere. I have a mask which I bought in England, I still use it today and dive in it practically all the time, it's simply sensational. You can buy a wetsuit for 300 PLN. You can rent a cylinder with an automatic regulator in a diving centre, so you can start diving for a couple of hundred zlotys.

As for more advanced equipment, a dry suit, the cheapest you can get, I'm talking about new equipment, is about 5-6 thousand. There are a lot of gadgets that you just have to have with you, like a compass, a diving knife or a computer. You can also buy such a computer for more than a thousand zlotys, it looks like a smartwatch and you can safely recreationally dive with it. But there are also computers from 5 to 8 thousand and they already calculate the time we can be under water. Also - the sky is the limit - when it comes to spending money. We can dive in Poland, where some diving sites have free entry, and you can fly somewhere to the Maldives and pay a huge amount of money.

What are your plans for diving? Any underwater dreams?

As always, there are many plans. I would like to go to Molnar in Hungary in the near future and finish a cave course there.

My dream is to dive in Iceland between two tectonic plates, where the water is crystal clear and the temperature is around 4 degrees Celsius. Just the fact that you are in some kind of tectonic fissure is something unimaginable.

Also, there are many plans and ideas, only time and money limit us really, because you know you have to get a team together. We usually go in fours, and then renting accommodation and a vehicle is cheaper, and, as you know, in a group it is easier to get together and at the same time it is a nice holiday.