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Scuba: A journey to another world
Can you tell us about how you became a member of TAV? KAAN SERTCAN : My life at TAV Airports Holding began when I started here in August 2006. But even before then I always felt close to TAV. I graduated in 1998 from the Business Administration Department, School of Economics of Istanbul University. I then completed my post graduate degree on Business Administration at the Social Sciences Institute of Istanbul University. While I was a graduate student I worked in the auditing sector. Following eight years of experiences in auditing I was transferred to TAV as a Budget Chief. In this field I began to use my knowledge of financial analysis and control that I had consolidated in the auditing sector. Which feature of your job is it that appeals to you? KS : Since I was at university I have always told myself that I absolutely needed to work in a field where I could maintain control of something. My job must involve figures and the figures must be kept under control. I have managed to do what I set out to. Is diving a type of sports that coincides with your state of mind? In other words, making quick decisions but maintaining your calm may relate with diving. What do you think? KS :Diving may be described in different ways from a technical point of view, but I believe that the best one is that you take a journey to another world. Diving is a sport that can be practiced within set limits; you go to a place where you can stay a certain time, at a certain depth, at a certain distance and with limited air. Everything needs to be planned, because diving consists of a series of rules. How did you begin diving? KS : I began swimming when I was very little, with the support of my family. Later on I began to be interested in diving. When I was 15-16 I used to go snorkelling, to look at horn shells. Later this hobby grew into the sport of diving. I first became acquainted with scuba diving in 2006, when I joined a diving trip with a friend in Ayvalık. That’s when my life changed. I did a test dive and I was enthralled.
What difference is there between scuba diving and skin diving? KS : When you do skin diving you dive with the air in your lungs and your time is very limited. There is the risk of hyperventilating; that is to say, if you keep going up, breathing and going down, it’s as if you were deceiving your lungs and your brain. After a certain while, the body does not perceive that the oxygen is finished and when you go up you can experience what is called shallow water blackout. These are the risks entailed in skin diving. This is not the case with scuba diving. Yes, you put on your equipment and you go down, but you have 35 to 45 minutes to wander around. You can examine whatever you want, with a torch. That is what enthralled me. Later on I got my certificates and I became a three star diver. After the three star certificate of the World Underwater Federation (CMAS) I really set my heart on diving. At that point you can become an instructor if you want to. Or you can become an expert on cave diving, on shipwreck diving or on photography. We were talking about the rules of diving… KS :Yes, for example everyone has a buddy during dives. The distance between you and your buddy should be a maximum of one meter; your buddy should be an arm’s-length away. The maximum diving depth is established beforehand. One should not go further down. The diving leader deals with the transport and management of the diving team and everyone defers to the leader. No one can stay at a depth above or below the leader. This series of rules serves to discipline people. Before starting to dive you learn and implement everything during theoretical and pool training. You enter such a world that it becomes impossible to talk or to shout at people to communicate with them. Diving teaches you to do the right thing at the right time and to establish communication correctly. The most fundamental rule is not to panic, to keep calm. Water has a calming effect. Our blood circulation slows down; you hover in the middle of an environment free of gravity. It is very restful. Where is it that you must like to go diving? KS : I thought that I would first dive everywhere in Turkey and then I would go to Thailand, to Bali, to Sharm el Sheikh. Our country is beautiful from the point of view of underwater beauty; Kaş, Bodrum, Çeşme, Saroz, Ayvalık… For example, in Ayvalık there are red corals that are unique in the world. There is an area called Deli Mehmet, where only three star divers can go diving. From 35 to 42 metres there are corals, red corals. Only dives for training purposes can take place in this area. These sports teach one to respect nature, isn’t that right? KS : The main rule in scuba diving is that harpoons are not used. Or you cannot take away any seashell that you see underwater. The slogan of divers is not to take away anything from underwater and not to harm anything. We divers leave only our air bubbles in the water and we kill nothing, other than time. Above all, we practice a profession that opposes killing fish and harming living beings. At what point are you now in diving? KS :I am continuing to dive at the Pruva Scuba Center, as an assistant. Right now I am also thinking of beginning to do paragliding and sailing. Anybody who starts to practice these sports goes all the way. My objective in underwater sports is to become an instructor and to train others who set their heart on it. |
Index
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scuba | kaan-sertcan | TAV-airports | sport | -Airports | holding | Underwater | Federation |