I alwayyyysss wanted to scuba dive! Alwaysss.. I was soo envy with The Engineer (who now is a qualified diver.. *double envy*) that i made him politely ask if he could become an invited writer for my blog... Just to share some experience. And he agreed! So this what he has got to say:
It has been a life-long dream for me to scuba dive.
Alhamdulillah its not just a dream anymore, but a history! Optimistically, many
more diving history will be made in the future iA =D let the journey begins!!
the jetty
Day 1
Our journey started from the Mersing passenger’s jetty. We (my brother & I) booked a ferry ticket for 9:30am and we waited at the jetty since
9:00am. I can really feel that I’m back in Malaysia when we don’t board the
ferry until 10:30am. ‘Malay promise’ *sigh*
It took us almost complete 2 hours before we arrived at our destination,
Kg. Air Batang, the fourth stop from the Mersing jetty after Kg. Tekek,
Kg. Payar and Berjaya.
the Malay ferry
Once we arrived at Kg. Air Batang, straight away we searched for Eco Dive Center, the diving company which we have made the booking earlier. It’s so
shallow of me to think that this was the only diving company in the island and
operated by local people. Actually there were a lot more other diving centers in this
island, probably 5 or 6 of them
in this village alone. Again my expectation was wrong when each of them was instructed
and owned by the ‘white man’. After meeting our instructor, we put down our backpacks in Nazri’s Place chalet and went straight to start our first ever scuba diving lesson.
text books
The first 2 modules were "interesting" enough that the instructor warned advised us earlier at the beginning, ‘All you have to do is just stay awake!!!’. And at the end, the instructor was awed "whoaaa, u r awake!" *that was this keen learner she's referring to* ;p. The first
part of the course was just watching an introduction video on scuba diving n briefly went through on what to expect for the next level. Believe me, there were way too many to be crammed into my head
compared to what actually got into my head :D Nevertheless, I remembered
the most crucial thing to highlight in scuba diving was never ever to hold breath, breath continuously, slowly deeply n steady ;) Lastly, I need to
answer some questions for every module that I have learnt (5 modules
altogether x.x) to conclude the first day of my lesson.
island food
Never to worry about food in this island, there's number of restaurants that operate merrily everyday n every nite.. And for the record, I ate lotsa lotsa
foods for dinner.. Just remember to carry extra cash for food as they are pricier in the island than outside the
island.
scuba equipments
The day began with having breakfast like a king! My
accommodation includes breakfast for every morning, so yeah, I won't waste every
cents spent for this (although its my brother's treat!)
Scuba dive 1
1st n foremost we've been introduced to our equipments,
the BCD (buoyancy control device) with oxygen tank, the mask n snorkel, n the fins.The most interesting part was when we were taught on how to keep the mask unfogged underwater…It’s
ridiculously true by applying saliva to the mask n then rinse it with pure H2O, the mask will never
fogged underwater.. *I should have done this to my always fogged goggles* Then we were taught on how to remove water from our mask at 100 m
below sea level. *maybe 100 m below sea level was a bit exaggerated..? :p*
Scuba dive 2
This
time we were brought to a deeper part of the sea..for the first time in my life,
I had this impressed-awesome-grateful feelings.. Subhanallah, the view was sooo beautiful
under the sea.. But as its just around 10m depth, its not that colourful. I can't wait to dive deeper to explore more
of the underwater world.
the black spot, were the sea urchin spines!!
After we ascend to the surface, there’s still
another part of the course that we have to finish before calling it a day. It was the swim and float test, to eligible for the license you must swim for about 200m
n float for 10 mins. To be honest, I’m not a good swimmer nor a solid floater. Especially
after more than a year without swimming! After finished swimming, we were asked
to float for 10 min. While floating, Suddenly....something spiky poked me on my left foot! It automatically felt like an electric shock! It’s a
sea urchin!!!
Believe me you wouldn’t like it!! huhu The instructor cant get rid
of the spines that the urchin left beneath the skin. So he hammered the
spines on my foot by using a small stick and put some vinegar onto each of the
spine. To be exact there were 13 of them! He told me that the spines
will disintegrate itself later on. But still it took me a week before I can
walk properly. The price i had to pay to become a qualified diver. *sigh*
me trying to get remove the equipment before getting into the boat
Day 3
With my handicapped foot, I woke up early in the morning to continue my course.
Perjuangan harus diteruskan!! *lap air mata* After breakfast, we
proceed to our next dive.
Scuba dive 3
This part was like a refresh for part 1 but at a deeper
part of the sea. But its basically the same thing n I was already becoming a pro! *am i?* The depth was 12m below the water surface.
Scuba dive 4
This time the scenery was nothing like before, as we go
deeper, the scenery was even better n better. The scenery was really beautiful that cannot be explained at that moment (obviously I can't talk under water..?) *joking* Its
becoming more n more like those in the underwater documentary! I'm all
excited to see all these creatures for real (not on the tv anymore) for the first time! :D
I knew the course was nearly finish when it was the final-examination-time!! It’s nothing hard actually, but never take it easy!! N
Alhamdulillah, phewww! I passed the exam with ** correct out of 50 questions.
this sunset pic was taken from
the island
Day 4
Scuba dive 5
9.30 in the morning, we started off by getting our equipments ready
for our last dive b4 becoming a qualified diver!! :P
We dived to about 12.2m depth at Renggis Reef, which was kinda a small island, few nautica miles from Kg. Air Batang. The sea seemed calm from outside, but once we jumped into the water, a freaking strong current actually awaited us..! I thought the strong current was only on the surface, however at about 10m
depth, the current was still strong.. You can try to swim but you'll still be driven
by the strong current. Up until one point, I think its useless to try to swim, so
I just relaxed n let the current drove me while I watched the beautiful
scenery around me. This part of the sea contains bigger aquatic life; the fishes, corals n all the plant... which I dunno all their names..., but still, they were all magnificently beautiful!! :P While I was busy enjoying my underwater view, suddenly there's something huge apparently just besides me, it looked like a massive rock to me, but with something like corals on its surface. I swam like an expert fish *expert fish??* to avoid the rock! Its kinda funny when i came to think of it, but luckily I managed to avoid it. Cant bare another unwanted incident.
Its very
unlucky for us because on the last day, there were no underwater camera available
for us…. N this was why I must go diving again some other day at some other
places.
last, but not least…..this
concludes the 4 days open water diving course =D
