Scuba instructor explores liquid space

It is a murky December Tuesday in Boulder City, and the aura of the holiday season can be felt throughout the town. The sidewalks of Nevada Way, which are regularly filled with locals casually strolling outside stores, look depleted.

It is safe to say the first day of winter has hibernated anyone who cannot endure the dramatic drop in temperature and frigid winds punishing against their face.

Though when you talk to scuba instructor Nick Somers, it is easy to tell that he does not need the holiday season to bring out that childish joy in him. Especially when the discussion revolves around scuba diving. A passion that will make his face light up like a child's on Christmas morning. Even after completing more than 5,000 dives in his career.

"Diving is an abnormal thing. We can't fly, we don't have feathers. We're not astronauts, we can't float in space. Doing scuba is the closest thing to being an astronaut. You're weightless, and you can move and fly underwater like a bird," explains Somers, who has has completed approximately 5,280 dives to date.

Somers, or "The Walrus" as he is known in the diving community because of his distinguishable horseshoe mustache and love for water, originally trained with a Navy SEAL instructor in order to work his way up to the title of master instructor that he holds today.

The biggest lesson Somers tries to pass on to his students is a lesson his instructor taught him: There is always room to learn, never stop improving.

"People tell me after our lessons, 'your philosophy of teaching just carries on in real life.' It's situational awareness of what is going on around you. If I can do something to make something better for someone else, and show them an easier way to do it, I'm going to do it," says Somers.

Not only does Somers live and breathe scuba diving, but he stands by the rehab capacity that being underwater gives to a body that might have been injured.

A few years ago his wife had back surgery after an automobile accident, and ended up getting cages and rods placed in to her. Because Somers decided to put her through rehab exercises in the water, her body healed faster than anyone else who was in the doctor's office at the same time as her.

"Anybody that has any joint or bone pain, it's a great physical workout because there is no stress on the body," explains Somers, who attests to how great the cardiovascular benefits of water aerobics are as well. "That's why you see so many athletes in the water after a major injury."

Even though the calendar says December, that does not stop Somers from diving. What he does to stay warm when the water at Lake Mead is cold is fill his wet suit with warm water. That way the cold water cannot infiltrate his suit, and allows him to dive year-round.

This strategy has allowed Somers to have more than 300 personal dives throughout his 27-year career as a scuba diver. Not to mention the 2,300-2,400 pool sessions teaching students, and more than 2,000 lake dive lessons.

According to The Walrus, "I feel more comfortable in the water than I do out of the water."

Somers takes a breather from talking about scuba for a second and begins an interesting conversation about his outdoor hobbies, such as hunting and shooting. As if betraying his devotion to scuba, he quickly glances down at the screensaver on his phone and says, "stay calm and scuba, that's my motto."

After living in Las Vegas his entire life, Somers moved out to Boulder City 12 years ago to be with his wife, who has resided here since 1965. He began teaching at Scubafy Dive Center once it opened it's doors in 2011 after teaching at multiple other companies throughout his career.

What separates working for the owners of Scubafy, Charlie and Holly Franks, is that they deeply care about the experience their customers are receiving, he said. If an instructor at Scubafy feels as though the student needs more time, the Franks family will allow that person to continue taking lessons at no cost until her or she feels ready to go in the water on his or her own.

At the end of the day, the amphibious master diver just wants to be where he feels is his second home, and with a school of fish willing to swim along with him.

"I don't want to be so deep in the water, isolated from anyone. I want to be up where everyone is taking pictures and having fun celebrating," says Somers with the same childlike enthusiasm as earlier.

For more information about Scubafy, or to contact Somers call 702-293-2021, or visit www.SCUBAfy.com.

Contact reporter Juan Diego Pergentili at jpergentili@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow him on Twitter @jdpbcreview.