Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Open Water Dive (Pulau Dayang 6th-8th March 09)
My very first OW dive to Dayang! I rushed off after work to Parkway for photo-taking and manage to reach Eugene's place on time. Packed the equipment and was lamenting on my hunger. Fridays are always busy, but that day I ate nothing (literally nothing but some candies) throughout the day. I am glad my gastric didn't act up :) Finally ate something on the bus kindly offered and served by girlfriend. Dawn was jealous :P Oh, meet Dawn, my dive buddy. The prettiest diver in the OW group, and I'm serious. We know why lah huh...
I was still hungry after that otah sandwich, when you're hungry you're sleepy too. The bus ride seems long, I was falling asleep when we had a stop over at Kota Tinggi for supper (my breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper). The Nasi Goreng Ayam tasted good at first, but I knew the chicken's texture was weird. Well, when you're hungry everything is nice (at least that's what I told Glor when she ask how was the food). Journeyed some more till we reach Mersing jetty.
I tell you, the moment I stepped inside the boat it just reminded me soooooo much of Logos II! The exact smell, sound and feeling! The sitting area was freaking cold like a chiller! Gave girlfriend my fisherman's, poor her, the shorts so short and she didn't bring any longs. I wore back my jeans. Still it was freaking cold even with a jacket, jeans and blanket on me. Literally shivered my way out of the boat.
Felt that I have slept a long time, for a moment I thought the sun was out. When we arrive, it was about 5-ish. Went to our room and slept till the sun came out. Then it was the safety briefing and then first dive!
I notice my head was the biggest in this picture..
The first dive was a little scary, we didn't know what to expect and for the first time we are going down 18m deep. I had some difficulty equalizing, breathing through my nose didn't help. I was at the bottom when the ears got really painful. Eugene then signal to swallow. Eureka! It worked!
It was pouring when we went for the first dive and there were current underneath. The boat journey to the first dive site and that current underwater made me sea sicked. We did mask clearing, removing, fin privet and some other skills again. It was really different doing it in pool and in the open sea.
Head back to land for tea break. Through out the dive trip it was dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat.. No wonder.. HAHAHA! We re-did some of the skills in the second dive, slightly more things to see. We were doing well, the instructor then allow us to have a leisure dive for the third at Pulau Lang. Saw fishes like the bump head parrot, trigger, clown, bat and school of barracudas. Oh, we saw cuttlefishes, christmas trees, sea anemone and a lot of table corals too.
By the end of third dive, the sun was setting. We lost Eugene's group and had to sail around the island to find them. Current was strong during the last dive. I remembered being swapped away towards the front of the boat when Dawn's o-ring exploded. No one saw me, I struggled back. By the time Chris notice I was out of sight, I was in sight again. Phew.. thank goodness I still have strength to swim against that current.
Had theory session at night, half way we set off fireworks to celebrate 2009's first session dive. Ahhh.. reminds me so much of the time when I was younger. We used to set off fireworks back in Malaysia during CNY.. The dive table was a headache, Dawn and I almost gave up. By the time the whole theory session ended, it was midnight.
We woke up at 6.30a.m the next day, the sunrise was pretty! Set off to our first dive and did CESA. Didn't get to practice during pool session, so was naturally nervous about doing it in water. But all went well, wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.
That's Eugene with his fish friends. I say he's a very good instructor, although he wasn't mine. Very good with his words and he has this charisma in him. With him and Chris around, you know nothing will go wrong.
No idea what it was, but look at the bright colors! Welcome to underwater world!
Lots and lots of corals. That explains the scratches on our legs. We are still not very good at controlling our buoyancy, so we either float up or crash down. Poor legs, arms and hands.
Check out that giant clam. We saw a lot of them and I have the urge to put my finger (OK, at least something into their mouth and see what happen) Nope, didn't see any pearl.
We saw nemo too and I didn't know the sea anemone sucks ( I mean they sucked when you touch them)
I always see this fellow while I was still in Underwater World Singapore, seeing it in the wild is a different experience. Kind of cute I should say..
Finally we saw turtle! It was swimming so close to us, less than 1m away! If I'm not wrong, it's a hawksbill and female.
The dive buddies. Diving is really cool, the tranquility was all that you could ask for in the open sea.
We were all checking out the clown fishes and anemone. Dawn was especially drawn to them and that christmas trees.
Finally, spot that angmo guy? He's Chris, our instructor. I like my thighs, looks smaller in water and in that wet suit :D
And all good things must end. Didn't had time for lunch and we had to depart Dayang. The leisure divers and the OW divers. The weather was too good to sleep away, so I hung out at the deck. First it was talking to Hong, he shared so much about diving. At the same time, I was practising my talking skills. Then saw gf sun tanning and when to join her. For the second time in my life, I fell asleep in the sun again. Not that burnt this time though :D Went around talking and simply just enjoying the sea breeze.
Meet Bob, Jun's invisible friend. Actually there's another friend, Sponge, he came to join Bob after Jun went to sit behind.
The whole trip was really nice. A short getaway, close to nature, picked up new skills, got to know new friends.. what a weekend! But it was tiring though, was shagged at the end of the trip. I wanted to sleep, but with my contacts on.. very difficult.
Logged our dives into the log book during dinner and finally get the long awaited temporary OW dive card. Grace is now a certified OW diver!
I can't wait for the next dive. Advanced Open Water Diver Course, here I come!!
I was still hungry after that otah sandwich, when you're hungry you're sleepy too. The bus ride seems long, I was falling asleep when we had a stop over at Kota Tinggi for supper (my breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper). The Nasi Goreng Ayam tasted good at first, but I knew the chicken's texture was weird. Well, when you're hungry everything is nice (at least that's what I told Glor when she ask how was the food). Journeyed some more till we reach Mersing jetty.I tell you, the moment I stepped inside the boat it just reminded me soooooo much of Logos II! The exact smell, sound and feeling! The sitting area was freaking cold like a chiller! Gave girlfriend my fisherman's, poor her, the shorts so short and she didn't bring any longs. I wore back my jeans. Still it was freaking cold even with a jacket, jeans and blanket on me. Literally shivered my way out of the boat.
Felt that I have slept a long time, for a moment I thought the sun was out. When we arrive, it was about 5-ish. Went to our room and slept till the sun came out. Then it was the safety briefing and then first dive!
I notice my head was the biggest in this picture..The first dive was a little scary, we didn't know what to expect and for the first time we are going down 18m deep. I had some difficulty equalizing, breathing through my nose didn't help. I was at the bottom when the ears got really painful. Eugene then signal to swallow. Eureka! It worked!
It was pouring when we went for the first dive and there were current underneath. The boat journey to the first dive site and that current underwater made me sea sicked. We did mask clearing, removing, fin privet and some other skills again. It was really different doing it in pool and in the open sea.
Head back to land for tea break. Through out the dive trip it was dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat.. No wonder.. HAHAHA! We re-did some of the skills in the second dive, slightly more things to see. We were doing well, the instructor then allow us to have a leisure dive for the third at Pulau Lang. Saw fishes like the bump head parrot, trigger, clown, bat and school of barracudas. Oh, we saw cuttlefishes, christmas trees, sea anemone and a lot of table corals too.
By the end of third dive, the sun was setting. We lost Eugene's group and had to sail around the island to find them. Current was strong during the last dive. I remembered being swapped away towards the front of the boat when Dawn's o-ring exploded. No one saw me, I struggled back. By the time Chris notice I was out of sight, I was in sight again. Phew.. thank goodness I still have strength to swim against that current.Had theory session at night, half way we set off fireworks to celebrate 2009's first session dive. Ahhh.. reminds me so much of the time when I was younger. We used to set off fireworks back in Malaysia during CNY.. The dive table was a headache, Dawn and I almost gave up. By the time the whole theory session ended, it was midnight.
We woke up at 6.30a.m the next day, the sunrise was pretty! Set off to our first dive and did CESA. Didn't get to practice during pool session, so was naturally nervous about doing it in water. But all went well, wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.
That's Eugene with his fish friends. I say he's a very good instructor, although he wasn't mine. Very good with his words and he has this charisma in him. With him and Chris around, you know nothing will go wrong.
No idea what it was, but look at the bright colors! Welcome to underwater world!
Lots and lots of corals. That explains the scratches on our legs. We are still not very good at controlling our buoyancy, so we either float up or crash down. Poor legs, arms and hands.
Check out that giant clam. We saw a lot of them and I have the urge to put my finger (OK, at least something into their mouth and see what happen) Nope, didn't see any pearl.
We saw nemo too and I didn't know the sea anemone sucks ( I mean they sucked when you touch them)
I always see this fellow while I was still in Underwater World Singapore, seeing it in the wild is a different experience. Kind of cute I should say..
Finally we saw turtle! It was swimming so close to us, less than 1m away! If I'm not wrong, it's a hawksbill and female.
The dive buddies. Diving is really cool, the tranquility was all that you could ask for in the open sea.
We were all checking out the clown fishes and anemone. Dawn was especially drawn to them and that christmas trees.
Finally, spot that angmo guy? He's Chris, our instructor. I like my thighs, looks smaller in water and in that wet suit :D
And all good things must end. Didn't had time for lunch and we had to depart Dayang. The leisure divers and the OW divers. The weather was too good to sleep away, so I hung out at the deck. First it was talking to Hong, he shared so much about diving. At the same time, I was practising my talking skills. Then saw gf sun tanning and when to join her. For the second time in my life, I fell asleep in the sun again. Not that burnt this time though :D Went around talking and simply just enjoying the sea breeze.
Meet Bob, Jun's invisible friend. Actually there's another friend, Sponge, he came to join Bob after Jun went to sit behind.The whole trip was really nice. A short getaway, close to nature, picked up new skills, got to know new friends.. what a weekend! But it was tiring though, was shagged at the end of the trip. I wanted to sleep, but with my contacts on.. very difficult.
Logged our dives into the log book during dinner and finally get the long awaited temporary OW dive card. Grace is now a certified OW diver!
I can't wait for the next dive. Advanced Open Water Diver Course, here I come!!
# . Grace Eleora Loo : 3/10/2009 12:30:00 PM
