Learn to Dive | Back from Redang | Open Water Diver Certification | Scuba Diving | Loneliness | Shore Dives | Boat Dive | Sunrise at Redang | First Leisure Dive | Redang Bay | Redang Trip People
Mumble: Was quite stressed at work today. Felt want to resign from the job. But I told myself, I'm quite lucky to have Andrew around to listen to me, and Gary who gave me a chocolate to cheer up. I miss Ah Jie, while treasuring the Ah Goh who is still with me.
I remember I was fairly obsessed when reading the above from the Introduction of the Open Water Diver manual.
"My life will never be the same?" I asked myself, is that true? Will that happen to me?
I've got to know about PADI for years since my time in Australia. It means the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, which is the world's largest diver training organization.
Open Water Diver certification is a full entry level certification. This course teaches what we need to know to explore the underwater world, whether simply snorkeling in the shallows with mask, fins and snorkel, or visiting longer and deeper using scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus).
Upon certification, an Open Water Diver can dive to a depth of 18 meters.
Buddy system is pretty crucial in diving. It's best to dive together with a buddy, so that we can help each other, for example, to check the gears before starting, and to take care of the other party while in the water.
I partnered with Hanafi during the 1st shore dive, then Azli for the 2nd shore dive. During boat dive, Mei Siew was my buddy. Azli is quite famous since he threw up in every dive. I was lucky enough for not seeing that, coz he ascended to the surface before vomiting. But others said, vomiting is a way to attract fishes!!
During the 1st shore dive, I first experienced the salty sea. When I put the mouthpieces into my mouth, I could feel the saltiness, which is very different from the swimming pool. When clearing my mask, OMG, the salty sea water made my eyes so painful.
Furthermore, when I hold my buddy to put on the fins, the waves added to the difficulty. What we could do was just to ask each other to be steady, do it slowly instead of rushing.
Shore dive means, we walk from the shore into the sea. We started with only 5 meters depth. Though the depth was only 5 meters, I could feel the left ear pain. I did expect to have equalization problem, however I tried not to depend too much on medicine, before I tested myself in the sea.
Therefore, when I descended to kneel down at the bottom, it was not an easy job. When I finally reached the bottom and was bearing the pain, I found myself unable to kneel down still, due to insufficient weight. Also, perhaps due to my intention to stabilize myself, I felt a slight cramp on my left leg, but I told myself, it'd go away after some time, just bear with it.
After doing some skills for Open Water Dive 1, we swam around. Because I moved my fins too fast, I was proceeding very quickly, and after awhile, I found both my legs were cramped. I ascended to the surface, under the supervision of Shaiful (a Dive Master). He then performed cramp removal, as well as adding another weight for me.
It was funny. After Shaiful and I descended into the water again, Darius (an instructor) coincidently passed by. I was blur enough to just directly follow Darius since then. After awhile, only I realized, how come Shaiful had got hair grown on his head??? I must have followed the wrong person!!
Nevertheless, after the first dive in the sea, I gained more confidence to place myself in the sea for the next few sessions to complete the certification.
Mumble: Was quite stressed at work today. Felt want to resign from the job. But I told myself, I'm quite lucky to have Andrew around to listen to me, and Gary who gave me a chocolate to cheer up. I miss Ah Jie, while treasuring the Ah Goh who is still with me.
It feels strange the first time. Your mask. Your awkward gear, a bit heavy. You ease into the water and your face slips below the surface. Inhale; the air comes with a reassuring hiss, and for the first time, you breath underwater. In moments, you forget your mask. Your equipment transforms to light and agile, and you're free like you've never experienced before. With that first underwater breath, the door opens to a different world. Not a world apart, but different nonetheless.
Go through that door. Your life will never be the same.
I remember I was fairly obsessed when reading the above from the Introduction of the Open Water Diver manual.
"My life will never be the same?" I asked myself, is that true? Will that happen to me?
I've got to know about PADI for years since my time in Australia. It means the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, which is the world's largest diver training organization.
From left: Ben, Mei Siew, Haan, Kim, Goh and Darius (a very dedicated instructor).
Open Water Diver certification is a full entry level certification. This course teaches what we need to know to explore the underwater world, whether simply snorkeling in the shallows with mask, fins and snorkel, or visiting longer and deeper using scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus).
Upon certification, an Open Water Diver can dive to a depth of 18 meters.
Believe it or not, my instructor, Cyrena, is 2 years younger than me. She's the youngest compared to all her students (this batch).
Buddy system is pretty crucial in diving. It's best to dive together with a buddy, so that we can help each other, for example, to check the gears before starting, and to take care of the other party while in the water.
I partnered with Hanafi during the 1st shore dive, then Azli for the 2nd shore dive. During boat dive, Mei Siew was my buddy. Azli is quite famous since he threw up in every dive. I was lucky enough for not seeing that, coz he ascended to the surface before vomiting. But others said, vomiting is a way to attract fishes!!
Ben and Mei Siew.
Azli, Darius and Haan. In fact, the easiest way is to inflate your BCD, have yourself float on the water, then wear the fins.
During the 1st shore dive, I first experienced the salty sea. When I put the mouthpieces into my mouth, I could feel the saltiness, which is very different from the swimming pool. When clearing my mask, OMG, the salty sea water made my eyes so painful.
Furthermore, when I hold my buddy to put on the fins, the waves added to the difficulty. What we could do was just to ask each other to be steady, do it slowly instead of rushing.
Going for a shore dive. I'm on the left, holding the fins in fluorescent green color.
Shore dive means, we walk from the shore into the sea. We started with only 5 meters depth. Though the depth was only 5 meters, I could feel the left ear pain. I did expect to have equalization problem, however I tried not to depend too much on medicine, before I tested myself in the sea.
Therefore, when I descended to kneel down at the bottom, it was not an easy job. When I finally reached the bottom and was bearing the pain, I found myself unable to kneel down still, due to insufficient weight. Also, perhaps due to my intention to stabilize myself, I felt a slight cramp on my left leg, but I told myself, it'd go away after some time, just bear with it.
After doing some skills for Open Water Dive 1, we swam around. Because I moved my fins too fast, I was proceeding very quickly, and after awhile, I found both my legs were cramped. I ascended to the surface, under the supervision of Shaiful (a Dive Master). He then performed cramp removal, as well as adding another weight for me.
Shaiful was giving me a hand too while gearing up.
It was funny. After Shaiful and I descended into the water again, Darius (an instructor) coincidently passed by. I was blur enough to just directly follow Darius since then. After awhile, only I realized, how come Shaiful had got hair grown on his head??? I must have followed the wrong person!!
Nevertheless, after the first dive in the sea, I gained more confidence to place myself in the sea for the next few sessions to complete the certification.
3 comments:
I love scuba diving too, but after the certification, I only managed to go for two diving trips and have stopped since then. It has been more than 4 years now! I wish I can go underwater again!
Welcome to the world of diving... I hope you get more dives in the coming years. Don't let work get in the way of you having fun!
Nothing beats the tranquility of being underwater, I've been diving for close to 8 years now and have logged more than 1000 dives (no joke; I used to work as a divemaster in Pulau Perhentian).
Do check out this blog http://borneoturtle.blogspot.com if you want to join some trips that we organize.
Hi Gerald, thanks for sharing your experience as well as the URL. took a look at the site, there are really a lot of trips every month. BTW, where are u from?
CK, i've some friends who have also got their license but not much activities after that. I hope I would be an active one :)
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