Brand New Open Water Divers (almost)

From left: Sam, J, Christine, MK the instructor, Walter, Ricky, Ms Wong, and me in front.

This is the group of new PADI Open Water learners onboard Kaleebso for our open water dive certification. We all "...did well, and can do even better on the next dive!" (Quote MK). haha Congratulations to all of us!

LET'S GO DIVING! :)

p/s: um... "almost" because I don't think any of us have our actual dive certs yet. hehe Looking forward to the graduation dinner.

Check out J's blog

J's one of the new Open Water divers that graduated with me :) Always goes around with her camera and a great big smile, like in the food picture below. And probably underwater too, but the regulator is blocking it...

Check out her site at http://spaces.msn.com/members/jisjay/
I can't read Thai, but I assume some of her dive stories are there. (Clues like "Kaleebso", food, etc... aha!) But even if you can't understand Thai, there are some really great pictures there!

Food Sneak Peek

Especially to tease Adrian:From bottom: Turkey stew, kangkung, (I forget), roast duck, spicy prawns, crabs, fried sushi rice.
On the left: Rice; steamboat with fishballs, veggie, and lots of mushrooms; sashimi (further up), mangoes.
On the upper right corner: BIG SMILE that tells it all!

Sea Cucumber Monster

J just reminded me (and I think its important to note) that on EVERY dive we had, we encountered a sea cucumber monster.

Fortunately, on the final dive, I had my camera with me, and I managed to get a shot of the infamous sea cucumber monster so that the whole world will be forewarned.

Here goes...
So world, watch out when you see the sea cucumber monster. Sometimes it goes by the name "Alex". But ALL times, you'll find that sea cucumbers will jump at your face, or sneak up from behind to investigate your mask. Rumors have it that there might even be "sea cucumber rain" sometimes...

Beware of the sea cucumber monster.

[4] Open Water Dive 4

Location: Batu Malang (Unlucky Rock)

Time in: 11:10am
Depth: 17.3m
Bottom time: 00:48

Let's see, for the 4th dive we went into a super-calm, no-current reef at Batu Malang. I buddied with Sam. We went down fine, and I had a great spot at the edge right beside a giant coral.

Plus, I had my camera with me, so there's more uw (underwater) photos this time.

Anyways, we did some skills. Mask flooding, uw compass navigation, etc. But all the time I was much more distracted by the going ons around the corals :)

Hint: Plastic bags help you slip into a wetsuit

Simple hint I got from Aunty Mary. Put your hand or feet into a plastic bag first, and you'll slip right into your wetsuit. It made an amazing difference for me, because my rented wetsuit was a bit tight.

That's Aunty Mary and I on the right. She's the best part of Kaleebso :)

I need to find some time to write about the food... oh wow the food!

[4alpha] The "I Lost My Buddy" Dive

Location: Unknown (Anyone knows?)

Time in: um.. morning.
Depth: about 15m
Bottom time: 4 minutes or so

Dive 4 "alpha" (software development term for unsteady, unfinished testing product) was a good bad experience.

We went in after the usual dives, and there was a "bit" of a current. We were supposed to descend without references, but to stay close to the mooring line and meet at the bottom. Ricky and I did our SORTD check, and we started going down. Ricky had some trouble descending, and I was going a bit faster than he was. As I went down, I tried to keep the mooring line in sight, but I lost it. Viz was bad, and the only reference I had was Johnson. And he was going down faster than I was.

I tried to keep both Johnson and Ricky in sight, turning in circles to look up at Ricky and look down at Johnson. I turned again and Ricky was further away... I turned again and Johnson was further away. I couldn't see anything else. One more turn, Ricky was out of sight. And instead of going up to him, I kinda panicked and swam down to tell Johnson I lost my buddy :( Gave him the signals, and we looked around for about a minute and surfaced. We surfaced about 200m aways from where we started! The chaser boat had to come over to pick us up. Ricky had aborted his descent and was already at the boat when we got back.

I think I may have been one of the big causes for the dive being cancelled :( They say the current was strong too, but I don't really know what happened with the other 6.

Anyway, I learnt:
1. Never leave your buddy.
2. If either have trouble descending, both go back up and try again; or just wait.
3. Since I couldn't see the line, I should have gone up earlier, grabbed my buddy, go back to the line, and start over.
4. That divers have big hearts, and they are quick to forgive newbie mistakes and remind me that "these things happen" and to teach me the right things to do next time.

So well, that was the "I Lost My Buddy" dive. Sorry guys.

The fun part was, everyone quickly got over it when MK declared that we must all jump into the sea from the diving platform! So here's some fun photos to remember, divers have all the fun! :)

[3] Open Water Dive 3

Location: Pulau Ringgis (Little islet off Berjaya Tioman)

Surface interval: 04:29
Time in: 4.54pm
Depth: 12m
Bottom time: 00:29


The third dive was a really nice one. I buddied up with Ricky, who's a big guy who's big fun (high five Ricky!). We did our pre-dive BWRAFs (hehe), and went in.

Descend was a little bit tougher. We had the rope, but were were to use it only as a reference. The trick is to stay close enough to see the line, and to optionally grab on to it. But more importantly, don't struggle to descend. Moving around a lot just makes it more difficult to get down.

Once down, we knelt on a sandy area, with some corals around us.

The one thing I remember clearly underwater was the sea urchins. I noticed a pair of black sea urchins, one bigger than the other, both having long menacing thorns all over. They were a safe distance away, stuck to the bottom of some corals.

Or so I thought.

This dive, I discovered that the little buggers can walk! And they walk fast! :S AND they were kinda walking in my direction. Well anyway they were nice enough to take a detour away from me. But it was really cute seeing the bundles of thorns moving on the sea floor. And as they move, their thorns kinda move about too. Really cute stuff.

We did a CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent). I went up 2nd, after Ricky. So I spent some time on the surface waiting. Here, I discovered how beautiful bubbles can be. And you get to poke the big bubbles as the rise. Oh, and Alex (and Aaron too) can make bubble rings underwater. That's a cool skill I must learn!

Funny thing happened on the surface.

We were being pushed by the current, and were drifting away. Anyway, one of the skills was weight and BC removals. This was fun stuff (Kenny taught me how to jump on the floating BC... not too tough once you get the trick).

Anyways, J was one of the first to remove/replace her BC. Guess it didn't take her long! Then MK asked her to swim to a nearby platform and wait for the rest of us there. We did our turns, and I started swimming slowly to the platform with Alex, chatting as we went.

Then suddenly we were like "where's J?" She was no where to be seen! We both swam to the platform, wondering what could have happened! We kept our heads high up to observe the platform, hoping that it would turn around so that we can see if she's on the other side. Then as my face went underwater in the waves, I saw the outline of a happy diver among the corals... The heroine decided to take a small dive on her own, right under the platform! :) Alex went to get her up to the surface.. and I heard something about the corals down there being very nice, and it was hard to see them just by snorkeling... hehehe

Anyway, J had more leisure dive time than the rest of us open water learners I guess :)
Maybe she'll leave some comments on what she saw down there. I know Ricky saw a small barracuda while swimming from the BC removal area to the platform. I didn't see much (other than a platform. hehe), but I did notice there were really nice big corals in the area. And its shallow enough for snorkellers too. Definitely a place to checkout, plus it's really near to Berjaya Tioman.

So well, dive 3 will go down as the "J disappeared under platform" dive. Sorry J! hehe ;)

[2] Open Water Dive 2

Location: Pulau Labas

Surface interval: 02:11
Time in: 11:45am
Depth: 12m
Bottom time: 00:40

(I think that's the photo of Pulau Labas. *I think*. Oh man, I should have logged these earlier.)

So after the first dive, we had some snacks. And when it comes to Kaleebso and Aunty Mary... "snack" is an understatement. But this is a diver's blog :$ let me get back to diving.

Before the dive, I learnt from Johnson about "equipment preparation". The simply idea is this: Put your stuff together after each dive, then you save HEAPS of time when you gear up for the next. It's really true, it helps. And it's odd that most divers don't do it. Just pick out your fins from the pile, put them with your BC. Clip your mask to the BC. Take your weight belt put them on the floor next to the BC. Now when you gear up next. everything is right there!

Actually, I can't remember this dive much...

We did some service skills on the surface too. Tired diver tow, cramp removals and such. Which, being in the water, is a lot different from on land. But it's all good.

(Memory coming back...) I buddied Ricky! We did the AAS (Alternate Air Source) breathing exercise. We went first, and spent a long time sharing 1 tank (mine). After a while, I felt breathing become harder. The gauge was showing 70psi. While on the ascend (still on AAS), I noticed my gauge hit 40psi -- caution zone. I signaled Alex, and Alex made us switch to Ricky's tank. All while ascending! Oh boy, that was exciting!

[1] Open Water Dive 1

Location: Air Tawar Reef, Pulau Tulai (off Pulau Tioman)

Time in: 9:02am
Depth: 12.5m
Bottom time: 00:32

This was the first, first open water dive in my entire life.
I buddied with Johnson si-fu (guru, teacher) who's a mafia boss who also happens to be a divemaster assisting on the dive. Being the odd one out (last to sign up, 7th person in the team), I naturally got the most experienced buddy :) haha!

Gearing up, I learnt a new way to remember BWRAF thanks to Johnson. It's got something to do with... oh well, I know I'll remember it. Plus its for men only, so its not too nice to publish it? But hey, the important thing is that that pre-dive safety checks are important. Don't jump in without it.

So we geared up, took a GIANT STRIDE, and went into the deep blue. It felt great!

We had a controlled descent, holding on to the anchor rope (what's the correct term?) as we descended slowly.

Equalizing is more fun than I expected (haha new divers alert!). I like the way the ears go "pheeep" when I equalize. I literally visualize the compressed air shooting into my ears, to balance the pressure (non-divers, you just GOT to try it to get it).

Along the way down, the rope had the most interesting life forms. There were all sorts of soft corals and shellfish growing on it. Going down was entertaining! Regret not having my underwater camera with me.

Oh, learnt something about controlled descent AFTER descending: Do NOT grab the rope. Just lightly hold it with 2 fingers if you must. Grabbing the rope will harm the corals on it, and it'll harm your hands too if you're unlucky. I was. I had something sting me (or scratch me?) and there was a red mark between my thumb and index finger. Man, that stung! And it looked black underwater too.

Once we were down, MK (dive instructor) brought out a writing board and was swimming around. When he got to me, I found that it read "Ms Wong"... which turned out to be not as funny as I initially thought, because we lost a member on the descent! Well, that first descent didn't last long. 1 minute of searching, then we all surfaced to find her floating on the top. (Good thing, that mean she's safe).

So we went down again, (without grabbing the rope this time) and performed some basic skills.

That's how my first ever dive went. I'll remember it as "Missing Ms Wong"... :)

Pre-Log. Why a Diver's Blog Online?

Well, scuba diving is a social sport. Underwater, your buddy's your life line; above water, the people you meet is just as fun as the life you see underwater.

Hence, the reason I finally open up this part of my life to the whole wide world to see. Come on in, join in the fun. Who knows, I might meet a few new dive buddies here!