I'm afraid of fishes. More like, I'm afraid of anything slimy. So yes, before I met Tex, I have never ever, ever considered taking up diving. What's there to see when one dives? (What a mistake, oooohhh what a mistake.)
But baby steps I took to what I did today. I went with Tex to dive shops to look for stuffs. I went with him to Outram Pool to try out his new equipment. I went with him to Bali to accompany him when he dived (more like he went out to sea while I slacked in the resort). We came back and he bought me a snorkelling set so we went back to Outram Pool more often to use the mask. Then we started renting tanks and before I knew it, I had already put on (numerous times) a BCD (Buoyancy Compensator-something), learned how to recognise and breath through a regulator, wore fins, rash guards, my snorkelling mask and started finning around in the pool. All before any intentions of learning diving started to form.
This April, I went to the ADEX with him and took the plunge into signing up for Open Water course. As I paid, it felt surreal. What am I doing?! I'm afraid of fishes yet I'm signing up for it?! To help boost my confidence, I roped in Soo Hui and Cassie and they were sporting enough to join me. Thankful for them, they made my learning path so much more easier, braver and enjoyable.
After several months of planning, scheduling and re-scheduling, we finally settled on a date to go on a dive trip to complete our Open Water training. Before that, we have to go to Outram Pool (yes, again) for training sessions.
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| It starts with a theory lesson. |
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| Soo Hui and I comparing the sizes of our fins. |
Soo Hui's fins were ridiculously small. We were joking that we might have to wait for her in the sea since they were so small and looked like they could hardly propel her forward.
That same Sunday, we went for our pool session!
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| Soo Hui working the rash guard that Tex lent her |
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| Cassie trying to 理三千烦恼丝 |
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| Fighting dehydration!!! |
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| Nom nom nom |
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| :D |
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| Having fun! |
We embarked on our virgin dive trip right after work on the following Friday!!! The three of us went to the dive shop located at Geylang East and we were instructed to check our gear and try on our wetsuits. Oh man they were tight! No, it's not that we're fat, they are meant to be tight, idiots!
I felt like I enrolled into an adventure camp all over again. Like those that we forced to go when we were in Secondary Three. So we also tried on our BCD, fins and mask and placed them all into the dive bags provided. We also fiddled with the regulator until we realised a faulty regulator can only be detected underwater, no? Hahahahaha!
Got on the mini-van and started our journey into Mersing. Long bumpy ride on the mini-van but I did enjoy it a little. Hee, guess I really love road trips to a big extent.
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| Just look at my eyes. Will you just look at my eyes! |
We reached Mersing at about 12am and boarded the dive boat straightaway. Man, I was hoping that we could sleep over at Mersing for a night at least! No such luck! =(
Reached Tioman at about 3.30am in the morning but our bad luck got WORSE. The resort owner forgot to place the room keys into the key-box for our retrieval and we were stranded outside. 4am.. 5am.. 6am.. 7am.. Telephoning, calling out loud etc ceased to work. What a long excruciating night. Zzzz to the max.
But finally they opened their doors at 8am! We were too tired to reason it out with them, or at least, I was. So after a quick shower, I headed straight into bed. I think I vaguely remember Cassie or Soo Hui tickling me when I was sleeping..
But wtf, had to wake up at 9am.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Let the photos do the talking! Yeehaw!
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| Cassie (didn't sleep), me (acting like I'm not sleepy), Soo Hui (didn't sleep) |
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| Nice view during breakfast to compensate for the lack of sleep |
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| Yawns.. |
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| Someone enlighten me why I was laughing so disgustingly?! |
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| Eeew, again. |
Diving brings out the ugliest in people. Literally.
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| Finally in water! Are we ready!!!! |
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| Here we go.. |
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| Mask-clearing aka clear your mucus out as hard as you can |
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| Tadah! Done! |
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| 'Always remember to breathe'. Funny how we always take breathing for granted. |
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| Passed all! Show a sign of victory! |
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| More drills |
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| Gerard leading the drills |
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| That's my (Indian) buddy on the left of the photo. As for me, I was constantly checking.. I don't know what. |
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| A little scenic photo for you lest you are bored. |
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| Soo Hui and Cassie doing buddy-sharing! |
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| Bloop bloop! |
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| Sounds just like a 'good job!' to me |
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| C'mon buddy, let's go |
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| Up, up and away! |
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| =D |
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| Foreground: -___- ; Background: Struggling |
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| I have standing hair. |
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| Who can haz a mohawk underwater?! ME!!!! |
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| Check out my toned calves. Hmmmm.. |
<>
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| Yummy grilled garlic buns!!!! |
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| Super yummy grilled vegetables! ♥ the mushrooms max! |
With that, we clocked four open sea dives and we were certified leisure divers by the fifth dive! So proud of Cassie and Soo Hui! And so thankful to Tex who quietly shadowed us for all the dives and eventually becoming my dive buddy for the rest of the dives after my Indian buddy got an eye infection and was told to stay onboard. A blessing in disguise because he was quite a klutz and initially I was quite sian-ed to buddy him. =P
But can you imagine him wandering off when we were only training in the pool?! Like omgwtfbbq.
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| On the way back to Mersing |
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| HAPPY! |
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| Thank you, oh my darling. Without you, it wouldn't have been half as enjoyable and educational. ♥♥♥ |
And... I am finally a certified diver. =DDDDDDDDD
