[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"... :)