A Knebworth woman who nearly drowned as a child has revealed how she conquered severe water phobia to become a qualified diving instructor.

Between the age of eight and her early 20s, Lisa Shafe was frightened to even put her head under a shower, thanks to a close brush with drowning.

Now 44, she explained: “I was only around eight and was sat on the back of a little dinghy which was in a swimming pool.

“We had gone to visit friends who had a pool in their garden.

“The adults weren’t by the pool, it was just us children. Someone ran past and caught their foot on the dinghy rope that was outside of the pool.

“The force threw the dinghy forward and I was catapulted off the back which such force I was almost knocked unconscious.

“I was sinking and barely conscious.

“The eldest daughter of the family we were visiting dragged me to the surface and hauled me out.”

But, recalling her earlier fascination with marine life, she eventually summoned the courage to try scuba diving with the St Albans Sub Aqua Club.

She said: “I was actually terrified and had to sit on my hands as I was shaking so much.

“However, I really believe you shouldn’t have any regrets in life and was determined to give it a go.

“As soon as I was actually underwater and I could see and I was breathing, I instantly relaxed and in a way I have never looked back.”

Lisa, a clinical research manager, has dived all over the world, including visiting deep wrecks. and qualified as an instructor in 2008.

She added: “Diving has given me so many wonderful memories and experiences. I’ve dived in the Caribbean, the Red Sea, Maldives, the South China Seas and parts of Europe. I’m currently planning a June trip to Norway too.

“Wrecks at great depths tend to be more complete and interesting.

“I love everything there is about diving, whether it’s the natural history or wrecks and seeing something very few, if any, people have ever seen before.”

To learn more about diving visit www.sasac.co.uk, or follow the Bitter and Twisted Sub Aqua Club on Facebook and Twitter.