Advanced Diver Status!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Tuesday, 28 September 2010 00:59
So I have now successfully completed my Advanced Diver certification, which means I can now dive to 30m! I had to do two dives on Sunday morning, which was another early start, but they were great! The visibility on the first dive was 30 metres or more, it was beautiful! Had to do a couple of skills, but only bouyancy ones, which were all fine! Had a laid back afternoon, and then got ready for the night dive!
We got into the water as the sun was setting, so that it would get dark gradually, (although still quite fast, not like Britain!) which was nicer, as my eyes got accustomed to the light. We had our computers on our wrist to tell us the dive time, depth and our no decompression limits, and a torch in our hands. It was just me, Gaz and another guy called Jonas, and I must admit, the darker it got, the more I didn't like it! Jonas reminded me of Ben, totally loving it, getting his face down looking under rocks and all sorts, I on the other hand was happy to simply observe from where I was! It was getting darker and darker, until the point where if I looked behind me I couldn't see anything, horrible! I remember looking at my computer and thinking, "oh no, we've only been down here 12 minutes!" Most of our dives have been between 32 and 36 minutes, so I knew I had a while to go. Tried to relax and enjoy it, and not freak out!
We did see some cool stuff, three different sting rays, all moving about as it was night time! Saw a clown fish (Like nemo, but a different coloured one) in his anemone, which was bright blue, and I really enjoyed that! When we'd been down for 22 mins I remember thinking, "just last for ten more minutes then it'll all be over!" However, that was not to be, and this ended up being my longest dive yet at 48 minutes!!!! I was proud I had done it, and had not run out of air with the panic, or caused a fuss, but I didn't not really enjoy it! I think Gaz was a bit disappointed and amazed that I didn't enjoy it, as he and Jonas obviously did, but I couldn't tell a lie! Was glad to be back on land that night! Ben enjoyed a night of football which worked out pretty well!
The next day (Mon) Ben watched his videos for his deep and Nitrox course while I did my academics. We went for lunch, and then I headed out for my final two dives. It rained torrentially for the afternoon, so Ben did not get to sunbathe again, seems the afternoon rain has thwarted his plans on more than one occassion! We had no rain for our first week here, hope that it's not here to stay!
The first dive was great, I was diving with Alan who we did our Open Water course with, and we were given slates with all the fish and coral pictures on and had to try and identify the things we saw. I really enjoyed this and we saw some pretty cool stuff.
The final dive was our Perfect Bouyancy dive, where we learnt how to do sommersaults and go through hoops etc under the water. I seemed to be ok at this, and was able to do a sommersault whilst circling through a hoop! Enjoyed the final dive and felt like I was really gaining confidence (for daytime dives at least!) and hope to do a few fun dives in the next few days.
Ben and I went for dinner in a place that was showing 'The day after tomorrow', which I didn't remember very well, so was happy to watch. After over a week with no TV in our room it was amazing to me how gripped I was by the movie! Had a relatively early night, as Ben was starting his next course at 7.15am the next day (Tues / Today!).
He went out this morning, while I lazed around, the weather today has not been great, no rain yet, but overcast (still boiling though!), so no sunbathing! Finished the Posionwood Bible a few days ago, and traded that in for another book, Faceless by Martina Cole, very different, and harrowing, but a good read! I've almost finished that one, so will have to get another new one, although the bookshop here is not nearly as good as the one back in Chiang Mai!
Will let Ben tell you about his deep dive and what he saw (I am VERY jealous!) he has his last day tomorrow and we might finally be done, and be able to do some fun dives together! We are probably going to move onto a place called Krabbi next, and have looked at some accomodation, that has a big comfy bed, Air Con, a fridge, TV and a swimming pool, and it's still only 12 pounds a night, so REALLY looking forward to that!!!!!!! I must admit, the currunt accomdation is beginning to grate on me now, so cannot wait for Krabbi!
Off to finish my book on the beach now!
Sarah x
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