Pittsburgh Zoo Hosts Scuba Diving Training Course
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Seals, polar bears and sharks won't be the only ones swimming at Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium this weekend.
A temporary pool has been filled with water for scuba diver training.
"When you come out this weekend, we hope you have a bathing suit, but if you do forget, we've got plenty of wet suits here," says Dave Reidenbach, a spokesman for the traveling scuba training pool called "Be a Diver."
For instructor Megan Cochran, of Washington Scuba Center, it's part training, part psychology. Especially with kids.
"You really want to reassure them that they're going to have a fun time," she says, "because I was talking with a little girl and she was afraid of sharks in the water."
Her mother, Beth Cochran, is also a scuba trainer.
"Kids take to the water even better than adults do," she says. "You just let them get in and do their thing and they relax and have a great time. We go slow, explain everything. They don't think; they don't worry about it. They're just natural."
For those who hesitate, the pool is only four-feet deep.
"You don't even have to use your arms to swim," a young girl says. "You can use your flippers."
"You get to actually breathe underwater," says another.
A third girl sums up the experience.
"I'd like to do this forever," she said.
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