I was there for an experience, and an experience is what I got. After last Monday's pool session, I didn't think I'd make it for the real dive. I panicked just submerging into the 2m(!) deep pool with the respirator. Haha. But after some personal attention and calming down Mr Alex, I managed to convince myself that I could breathe underwater lol. Funny how the brain took time to be convinced it's possible to breathe through the respirator and not thru the nose at all. After a very difficult first session, I was ready to call it quits.
Fortunately (in some cynical way), Far also experienced the same sucky 1st session. After comparing notes about how we panicked at several points along the session, we motivated ourselves that we'd do better the next time. And we did! At least I submerged without panicking and the rest of the session was fruitful despite the several instances where I couldn't keep myself "sunken" (fats must've made me too buoyant lol). Oh and I still grabbed onto Alex a couple of times haha.
Alas after a grueling 6 hour bus ride to Mersing (with the usual crazy Fri nite jam at the Woodlands causeway..dunno why they didn't use Tuas as originally planned...) and a 4 hour boat ride to Pulau Aur (imagine what a "bumpy" sleep we had), we had only an hour's rest before we were off to sea. I guess the thing that kept us awake was the excitement of the dive pumping thru our veins. I was disappointed that Alex wasn't gonna take us for the dive. Sob sob. Was looking forward to that. Good thing was that I was shifted to Far's group so at least we could be buddies...yay! Jumping into the sea alone took a lot of guts cos we didn't have the comfort of the walls of the swimming pool around us. The first dive was scary yet exciting. I was almost in denial that I made it...so I took a handful of sand to prove I was really there. Haha.
The second dive was also alright..we did more skills this time. But again my problem was that I kept surfacing so they had to put on more weights on me. After Ross "rescued" me from surfacing a couple of times, we surfaced earlier than the rest of the group. By then I was a lil dizzy and thought I might not go for the 3rd dive. Of course Christophe was like..oh I won't be able to certify u etc, which I didn't mind since I was really there for the experience. But since I was feeling better later, I went ahead for it. I didn't know what I was in for.
18m underwater was a longgggg way down. Equalization was more crucial this time cos my ears started hurting. I didn't feel quite right at first cos I heard something clinging at my tank. But Christophe must've thought it was my usual panicking so he said I was alright to continue anyway. The dive was great - saw a lot of corals, a few schools of fish...there were clown fish, baracudas, rainbow fish...all sorts of fish..even sea cucumber of various kinds! Mashallah, the wonders of God's creation! It was definitely lovely, but I must say Redang was much better with better colours and more abundant corals. I was getting better at getting my buoyancy right...I could bring myself down whenever I was floating higher, and up when I was too low. Oh, but except a few times when I was too low that I hit some corals. Ouch!
Somehow things started going wrong. I was floating up too much - a couple of times Far managed to bring me down. Then I must've drifted too far from the group cos no one came to pull me back down. And weirdly enough I couldn't deflate my BCD to go back down. Luckily Far was such a sweet buddy and surfaced with me to find out what's wrong. I told her to go ahead without me and that I'd return to the boat cos I don't seem to be submerging even tho I was pressing my deflate button...that was enough to make me worried. After some checks she realised my tank was dislodged from my BCD. Later on she told me she was wondering why my tank was floating upwards even tho I was kicking downwards. She tried to get our instructor's attn back down but apparently they asked her to continue on with them (thanks a lot ha). So I did the emergency gesture on surface and another instructor on the boat came to my aid. As she was trying to refit my tank, I think it was sort of pulling my into the water so I panicked even more. Then she said the simplest thing..put the respirator back in my mouth and breathe - duh, the littlest things u don't realise when u're panicking. She asked another guy to sing for me to calm me down but in my head I was like..come on..I'm not 5 years old lol. So after that lil rescue I floated on my back while she towed me back to the boat. Phew. It must've seemed minor to the pros but to me it was scary enough an experience. Who knows what might have happened if the tank totally dislodged and floated away...I don't think damaging the corals would be top of my worries. When we were back on the island I finally looked at my cuts...which were plenty. Ross said he noticed I was struggling at the area with the "dangerous" corals, and true enough, I had several "burns" from the fire coral (Wiki: Even though this fire coral looks like real life coral, it is actually closer on the family tree to jellyfish and other stinging anemones.) Yikes! The burns were quite deep and needless to say, stang really badly. The stinging got 10 times worse when Ross sprayed some anti-sting thingy. It was like goddddddd please help get rid of the pain. Had to ask Far to convince me not to wash off the medication. Lol.
The most disappointing part of the incident was that Christophe was unaware it ever happened. When he surfaced with the group, he proceeded to undo his gear as if nothing happened. Only later he came by our room to ask me what went wrong and well, at least he apologised for not checking my tank. I was a lil pissed that he didn't notice I was doing fine all along till that point, and instead went like...u should try to help urself instead of waiting for help. Bleah. Ross was even more clueless, teasing me about how I probably killed some corals and how the stings must've felt multi-orgasmic. I didn't feel so bad cos at least he was "only" the assistant. Only when I told him how the stings were hurting and what happened to my tank..he took me more seriously. Good thing I got towed back before things went worse.
After that harrowing experience, I didn't think I was in the mental nor physical state to continue diving. 3 out of 4 dives - so close to certification. But I guess it wasn't a big loss, since after all I was there for the experience. And I don't think I'm likely to dive again soon or anytime. I accomplished what I set out to. I went to the abyss and back (must exaggerate a bit lah..haha). And I'm proud of myself for acheiving that. Woo hoo! Diving's not for me I guess, I'll stick to snorkeling! Definitely less hassle...no more tanks and dive gear haha.
Oh and of course, I have to thank my dive buddy - Far, for helping me throughout. I think it's our first trip overseas together..sorta.. (after so many years..ha) and it was fantastic! Here's to more adventurous trips eh? Cheers!
Fortunately (in some cynical way), Far also experienced the same sucky 1st session. After comparing notes about how we panicked at several points along the session, we motivated ourselves that we'd do better the next time. And we did! At least I submerged without panicking and the rest of the session was fruitful despite the several instances where I couldn't keep myself "sunken" (fats must've made me too buoyant lol). Oh and I still grabbed onto Alex a couple of times haha.
Alas after a grueling 6 hour bus ride to Mersing (with the usual crazy Fri nite jam at the Woodlands causeway..dunno why they didn't use Tuas as originally planned...) and a 4 hour boat ride to Pulau Aur (imagine what a "bumpy" sleep we had), we had only an hour's rest before we were off to sea. I guess the thing that kept us awake was the excitement of the dive pumping thru our veins. I was disappointed that Alex wasn't gonna take us for the dive. Sob sob. Was looking forward to that. Good thing was that I was shifted to Far's group so at least we could be buddies...yay! Jumping into the sea alone took a lot of guts cos we didn't have the comfort of the walls of the swimming pool around us. The first dive was scary yet exciting. I was almost in denial that I made it...so I took a handful of sand to prove I was really there. Haha.
The second dive was also alright..we did more skills this time. But again my problem was that I kept surfacing so they had to put on more weights on me. After Ross "rescued" me from surfacing a couple of times, we surfaced earlier than the rest of the group. By then I was a lil dizzy and thought I might not go for the 3rd dive. Of course Christophe was like..oh I won't be able to certify u etc, which I didn't mind since I was really there for the experience. But since I was feeling better later, I went ahead for it. I didn't know what I was in for.
18m underwater was a longgggg way down. Equalization was more crucial this time cos my ears started hurting. I didn't feel quite right at first cos I heard something clinging at my tank. But Christophe must've thought it was my usual panicking so he said I was alright to continue anyway. The dive was great - saw a lot of corals, a few schools of fish...there were clown fish, baracudas, rainbow fish...all sorts of fish..even sea cucumber of various kinds! Mashallah, the wonders of God's creation! It was definitely lovely, but I must say Redang was much better with better colours and more abundant corals. I was getting better at getting my buoyancy right...I could bring myself down whenever I was floating higher, and up when I was too low. Oh, but except a few times when I was too low that I hit some corals. Ouch!
Somehow things started going wrong. I was floating up too much - a couple of times Far managed to bring me down. Then I must've drifted too far from the group cos no one came to pull me back down. And weirdly enough I couldn't deflate my BCD to go back down. Luckily Far was such a sweet buddy and surfaced with me to find out what's wrong. I told her to go ahead without me and that I'd return to the boat cos I don't seem to be submerging even tho I was pressing my deflate button...that was enough to make me worried. After some checks she realised my tank was dislodged from my BCD. Later on she told me she was wondering why my tank was floating upwards even tho I was kicking downwards. She tried to get our instructor's attn back down but apparently they asked her to continue on with them (thanks a lot ha). So I did the emergency gesture on surface and another instructor on the boat came to my aid. As she was trying to refit my tank, I think it was sort of pulling my into the water so I panicked even more. Then she said the simplest thing..put the respirator back in my mouth and breathe - duh, the littlest things u don't realise when u're panicking. She asked another guy to sing for me to calm me down but in my head I was like..come on..I'm not 5 years old lol. So after that lil rescue I floated on my back while she towed me back to the boat. Phew. It must've seemed minor to the pros but to me it was scary enough an experience. Who knows what might have happened if the tank totally dislodged and floated away...I don't think damaging the corals would be top of my worries. When we were back on the island I finally looked at my cuts...which were plenty. Ross said he noticed I was struggling at the area with the "dangerous" corals, and true enough, I had several "burns" from the fire coral (Wiki: Even though this fire coral looks like real life coral, it is actually closer on the family tree to jellyfish and other stinging anemones.) Yikes! The burns were quite deep and needless to say, stang really badly. The stinging got 10 times worse when Ross sprayed some anti-sting thingy. It was like goddddddd please help get rid of the pain. Had to ask Far to convince me not to wash off the medication. Lol.
The most disappointing part of the incident was that Christophe was unaware it ever happened. When he surfaced with the group, he proceeded to undo his gear as if nothing happened. Only later he came by our room to ask me what went wrong and well, at least he apologised for not checking my tank. I was a lil pissed that he didn't notice I was doing fine all along till that point, and instead went like...u should try to help urself instead of waiting for help. Bleah. Ross was even more clueless, teasing me about how I probably killed some corals and how the stings must've felt multi-orgasmic. I didn't feel so bad cos at least he was "only" the assistant. Only when I told him how the stings were hurting and what happened to my tank..he took me more seriously. Good thing I got towed back before things went worse.
After that harrowing experience, I didn't think I was in the mental nor physical state to continue diving. 3 out of 4 dives - so close to certification. But I guess it wasn't a big loss, since after all I was there for the experience. And I don't think I'm likely to dive again soon or anytime. I accomplished what I set out to. I went to the abyss and back (must exaggerate a bit lah..haha). And I'm proud of myself for acheiving that. Woo hoo! Diving's not for me I guess, I'll stick to snorkeling! Definitely less hassle...no more tanks and dive gear haha.
Oh and of course, I have to thank my dive buddy - Far, for helping me throughout. I think it's our first trip overseas together..sorta.. (after so many years..ha) and it was fantastic! Here's to more adventurous trips eh? Cheers!
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