Takes a dip with al mahara PaDi swim school

What’s on

t might surprise you to learn that around half the population of America can’t swim – and neither can nine million Brits. And while numbers for the UAE aren’t available, we do have one stat from the What’s On office – one of us also can’t swim, which is a bit of a problem in a city with a huge watersports scene and a swimming pool in many apartment blocks.

But where can Abu Dhabians go to learn to love water? The Westin Hotel and Al Mahara PADI Swim School offer an adults swimming course, which starts with the basics – feeling comfortable in a pool. “The first step is to really learn to trust water,” says instructor Kathleen Russell. ‘Then the process of learning to swim and building those foundational skills will come through.” Our fear of drowning means What’s On spends the first 30-minute lesson walking up and down the pool, blowing bubbles with our face down in the water and learning a bit more about the physics of water. The next lesson sees us more relaxed and confident in the pool and we manage to float (albeit with assistance).

While everyone is different, Russell explains that adults typically take ten lessons or more to learn. “Once we learn to submerse then we can learn about body positioning – like our floats and glides – and then we learn how to integrate our movements together. After that we can actually start building our swim strokes, both front and back.”

Is it worth doing? Definitely. Not only is learning how to swim a potentially life-saving skill, but it’s enjoyable too.

Various locations including The Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi, Dhs680 for eight lessons. Tel: (050) 1118125. Taxi: The Westin. divemahara.com