I am never a good swimmer in the first place and it had been years since I last swam. It is an understatement to say that I'm not very good with water sports (paddling in a boat doesn't count). However, when the opportunity came up for a scuba diving trip with my aunt and uncle, I didn't hesitate to sign up. The plan was to complete the PADI Open Water Certification in two days with one-on-one private lesson given by one of the most experienced instructors in Hong Kong, AY. Time to put on my study hat!
We arrived at the Bohol Beach Club resort in Bohol, Philippines on a Saturday. I had a whole manual to study and I barely got through the first chapter from the hours I spent on the flight...hmm, I guess I was a bit rusty with studying. No matter, class did not begin until the next morning so I still had a bit of time.
I met with AY the next day and after a couple of hours of theory, I began my confined water session at the swimming pool. Not so fast! The minimum requirement for the certification was 200m swim and 10 minutes treading water, neither of which I'd done in the last fifteen years. I was not at all confident about my ability to complete those requirements. Fortunately, my improved cardio from skating compensated for my horribly ineffective swimming technique. On the not so bright side, it was much harder to keep myself afloat in the water, much harder than I recall. I was so relieved when I completed the swim and water treading.
The next couple of hours were totally information overload as I tried to digest all those unfamiliar knowledge thrown my way. How to identify the different parts of the equipment? How to put on all the gears? How to breath through my mouth and not my nose? How to clear the water from my mask? What is equalization? How to fin? How to unload all my gears while in the water? How to put them on while in the water? How to control where I want to be whle underwater? How it feels if I run out of air? What to do when I am low on air? How to snorkel? But most importantly...how do I keep that discomforting feeling under control??!! Sure I could stick my head out inside a pool but it would be a totally different story in the ocean. I was overwhelmed.
Later in the afternoon, I had my first open water dive. AY and I took a short boat ride to the BBC House Reef dive site not far from the resort. The good thing? I had absolutely no qualms about jumping into water with all those heavy gears weighing me down. The bad thing? I got freaked out by the salty sea water. Okay, "freaked out" was too mild. I was down right panicky. I took a huge gulp of sea water and was so disturbed by the salty taste that it took me the longest time just to get calm while floating with the help of the BCD. I had huge trouble with descending under water. The whole experience was most disturbing and I aborted more than a few times. However, with the patient help of AY, I eventually made it. The underwater world was so beautiful with corals and fish of many different colours. I swam among huge school of tropical fish and they were not even afraid of me! It was the cutest thing when a little clown fish bit my elbow. AY later told me that they are defensive of their home so that was its way of checking me out. My dive lasted 34 minutes though it felt much longer than that. Dinner was another lesson on theory and I wrote my first written test. Needless to say, I was thankful for my good memory.
If I thought day 1 was hard, day 2 was even harder. We began our day early for a 3-dives day. This time we boarded a bigger boat which took us to an island about 45 minutes away from the resort. I began my first dive pretty much in the same fashion as yesterday...with lots of panic and many unsuccessful attempts with descending underwater. Only difference was, it was much harder for me to equalize pressure while descending and it added to my stress. In order to convince myself that I could do it, I pep talked to myself obviously ("I know I can do it. I know that I can."). At the same time, AY tried to calm me down by telling me that I didn't have to complete the dive if I didn't feel up to it. I couldn't help but laugh at having these completely opposite approaches blasting at the same time. I eventually made it, yay.
While AY and I made our way over to meet up with the rest of the group, I had the highlight of my trip. A huge sea turtle about the size of a small bike wheel was right next to me within arm's reach! It was the most beautiful creature and I wanted to squeal with joy (but of course I didn't). During this dive, we also saw a huge school of baracudas, hundreds of them. They swam in formation and we were surrounded by these big fishes momentarily. Since I was wearing a short-sleeved wet suit, I could feel a blast of cold current around me in the warm tropical water as these fish made their way. It was the strangest sensation.
While we waited around on the boat for our next dive, I started to have a sinking feeling in my stomach. Landlubber that I am, the gentle rocking of the waves got me a bad case of motion sickness. To keep the details brief, let me just say two things. Fish loved my breakfast and I fed them four times. I felt pretty embarrased.
Diving-wise, I was finally getting the hang of things. Descending was not much of an issue anymore as I got more comfortable with this new environment. While I was underwater, I took my time to admire all that was surrounding me and was less occupied with equalization/clear mask/am-I-going-to-drown. We ran into another big school of jet fish and it was rather funny. Before I knew what happened, AY decisively pushed me away from him and snapped an awesome picture of me with hundreds of jet fish in the background. I hope to see that picture soon.
AY commented that my finning was pretty good. Hahaa, I knew all those lower body workout from skating has to be useful one way or another! Another interesting thing was I needed not much added weight to achieve neutral buoyancy. I would like to think that it was because I have more muscle than fat but I suspect the fact that I was not wearing a full-length wet suit had much to do with it too (the material of wet suit makes you float).
The underwater world is vast and beautiful. I felt privileged that I had an opportunity to explore it just for a tiny bit. There is so much to see and so much to learn. I am always fascinated by acquariums and watching the different aquatic creatures as I descend level by level. Scuba diving feels like being inside the most gorgeous acquarium and I came in close contact with many things only previously accessible through a thick layer of glass. Unlike training for skating (including cross-training on bike or running), there's no competitive aspect to scuba diving. It's not a race to see who can go from A to B the quickest. It is a chance to appreciate a different side of nature and I am encouraged to take my time to explore. Have I got bitten by the scuba diving bug? Well, at this point, I am not sure. However, now that I gain another skill set, traveling to the tropics will be doubly more fun.
Photographs courtesy of Mitchell Yeung and Samson Au.
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