Jacob Marrocco

 

KINGSTON, R.I. - University of Rhode Island sophomore Colin Howarth sat calmly and leaned back in his chair while detailing his experiences swimming with sharks in oceans all over the world. 

 

He has plunged into the depths of the seven seas, travelled to locations in the Caribbean, Canada, New England and Florida and has built up an extensive resume with more than 150 dives in only nine years of certification, averaging more than 16 a year. 

 

Howarth, 19, comes from a family of SCUBA divers and has been certified to take part in the activity since he was 10 years old, the youngest age a person can become certified. His first few dives took place in North Carolina and he said he had some minor complications during these attempts, but ultimately learned from his experiences. 

 

“[Diving] was kind of my dad’s thing when he was younger," Howarth said. "Then he wanted to go to Key West, Fla., for a week, so we decided we would all get certified and go diving. The whole week, the first time, I was pretty immature, but I was pretty good.”

 

Coming up too early can be potentially deadly for a SCUBA diver, he said, as the pressure that builds when they are several leagues under the sea could result in a condition known as the bends or decompression sickness. 

 

According to EMedicine Health, as a person lowers deeper into the water nitrogen builds up in their oxygen tank. The diver has to surface very slowly depending on far they have travelled down and the amount of pressure that has built up. If the person returns to the surface before the nitrogen leaves the body, the gas will turn into bubbles and affect whichever organs in which they are found.

 

Luckily, Howarth has always been cautious on his despite swimming with some less than friendly sea creatures.  He has captured images of several shark species with which he and his family have swam and bravely cited the experience as thought it were an everyday occurrence. 

 

“Diving with sharks is pretty exhilarating," Howarth said. "When you’re 100 feet under the water and you look up and there’s eight sharks surrounding you, and then you’re at 30 feet and you surface and you’re at ye level with the sharks. It can be a little scary at times, but it’s more interesting than scary.”

 

Howarth said that though he enjoys SCUBA diving tremendously as a hobby, he is often prevented from doing it more as   a result of work and school. He is a journalism major at URI, writes two articles a week for the Good 5-cent Cigar and works part-time at Caliente, a Mexican restaurant in the Emporium. 

 

Howarth said he has more free time over the summer, but works more frequently at his mother's sandwich shop in Bristol, R.I., when he is out of school. He wants to continue pursuing diving as a hobby despite his lack of free time because it allows him to take his mind off life and relax in the depths of the world's seas...with creatures that could kill him.