I finally made it! My long awaited dream... to become an Advance Diver! Not a big deal for some, but for someone who fear depth and darkness, its a great deal of challenge.
Along with the dives, I had a whole lot of first experiences, and for some, eye-opening.
1st time Night Dive
1st time Deep Dive
1st time i wrote my name spelled backward underwater
1st time i bunk with different nationalities of both genders
It seemed like a long journey from home to Palau Dayang till we stopped over for toilet break when i had my first reward, Ramley burger! That tiresome journey diminished the moment i sunk my teeth in the wholesome goodness, its simply yummy! (warning: not the Ramley at some bazaar in Singapore, it had to be specifically in Mersing).
Upon arrival, we were directed to our resorts, or “cave at its best” as one American quoted. “Do i understand that we, as in all of us including the guys and gals, are bunking altogether?!” this was bothering me. Yes, its the first time that i bunk with different nationals. Its kinda eye-opening seeing different people of different nationals’ sleeping-habits. The Americans wore boxers and went topless though the room is air-conditioned. Dutch sleeps in their jeans. French had the most unusual outfit for sleeping, a T over a pair of never-seen-before white tight shorts... I don't know about you, but why would anyone be sleeping in a super tight-fitting short shorts? Never mind that, “Goodnite everyone” and tucked myself to bed.
Next morning, i had the chance to watch the sunrise while brushing my teeth in the open. From a tint of yellow hue to its magnificent full bloom in golden glow... awesome! I stopped to watch the movement, rising gradually, forgotten my toothpaste watering down my neck.
We had our first dive after breakfast. It was a leisure dive, casually moving underwater, like i’m flying over the seabed. Next was our Nagivation Dive where we had to complete a square navigation using a compass. Ok, at least I was not lost underwater, managed to find back the right team after 10 complete finning at all 4 sides.
Finally, i had to come to term with my anxiety, Night Dive. Fear of the unseen, imagine dangling mid way down dark water, not knowing where you are heading, with the notion of “something” lurking nearby? “You can see much more than what day-dive offers, even at the same dive spot” my dive master assured us. I just gave a spastic smile.
“Ready? Descend!” The initial descend was almost pitch dark despite my expensive torch beaming like a lazar. It was like 90% darkness? Then 80%, 75%, 70%, 69% and so on... till i gained almost full sight. I was so proud of my beamer. It was the most powerful torch among all my divers’ including my instructor’s! While we went flying over the seabed, we tried to look calm and steady while most of the time, our eyes were darting at everything we could possibly see which was nothing much. Sure, i believe there should be a lot more marine to see at night if we hadn’t been too focused on where we were flying. When i held up my torch, it beamed the farthest. Gradually, the seabed looked like a stage with all the lights spotting on it and we the divers were the performers, dancing gracefully for the marine! When we ascend, we were welcomed by the starry night! The dark blanket over our heads was filled with sparkly diamonds! All of different sizes! I was so in awe at the sky... so beautiful! Never have i seen such a starry starry night back home! So, that was night dive for me, seeing more up in the sky than underwater.
Next day, was Deep Dive. “We’ll go slow right?” i was concerned about my ears as i did not managed to equalize at a certain level yesterday. But this time, i made sure i pop my ear-drums at every minute. Surprisingly, i like deep dive more. We had this experiment done underwater. Our instructor wanted us to write our names spelled backward. This is to test our reaction under more than 20m deep. Reason being deep diving may take you deep enough to feel the first mild effects of nitrogen narcosis, which may cause poor judgement and slow thinking. Anyway, when we hit the ground at abt 30m, we held one another’s arms to ensure safety and took turns to write our names. Time was recorded. When we ascend, our instructor gave us a de-brief. “Esther, you took 5 seconds to finish writing your name underwater but 7 seconds to re-write when onboard! How strange?” The team concluded that i think better underwater!
Next was Drift Dive. Supposedly a relaxing dive due to the current that will carry you along. Unfortunately for me, i was carried too far ahead of my instructor. Many times, i had to fin back to rejoin the line at the back. And every time i fin back, my team mates would look at me and signal “Hey, its you again! To the back pls...”
“Hey, we made it! We are finally Advance Divers!” my friend gave me a ‘hi-five’. We thought again, “It wasn’t so bad after all, isn't it?” Yeah, we both had a smirk on our lined-faced (lined caused by constant pressing of our mask on our face). No big deal for some, but for us, it was worth to call for a celebration!
*Ps: Incase you wonder, we saw turtle, sea-urchins, lizard fish, bump heads, moray eel, nudis, parrot fish, black/white spotted clown fish, a school of barracudas, plenty of corals and our bunk mates from other teams while diving.
