six feet under
I remember the morning of our first pool session - it was a hectic one. We had started with our first stumble through with Grease from 8 to 12 in the morning, then a short rehearsal for the European show which I had to excuse myself from to catch the van to Nai Yang Beach. I had missed lunch, and there was a delay with the transportation, all factors contributing to the rumbles of my tummy. Despite this, there was an excitement in the air, but also a fear of the unknown of what was in store for us when we reach.
As we arrived at SeaBees at The Slade, Nai Yang Beach. We were greeted by Michael, who had previously delivered the theory lessons to us, as well as his wife Tiin. This pool session took place at the hotel pool just for us to get a feel of the equipment and get comfortable with the basic skills. The concept of breathing underwater so long was foreign to me, with the regulator feeling rather awkward sitting in my mouth, but after a while I got used to it. I faced slight difficulties with putting water in the mask and cleaning it as I never swim without goggles (so the chlorine getting to my eyes stung), but everything was fine otherwise. We left with a sense of satisfaction knowing we were in good hands, but also anticipation of what was to come.
Post pool session demanded a picture by the beach that couldn't possibly capture how tired we were
The second pool session went down quite differently for me in contrast to the first. For starters, I hadn’t gotten enough sleep over the week and hadn’t been eating properly. This in turn affected my breathing underwater as I was more anxious than expected. When going through the exercise on removing our mask and swimming without it before putting it back on, my first instinct was panic (Never swimming without goggles in my life became something really annoying). That topped with the ongoing anxiety underwater created a general uncomfortable feeling on my end, which led to me unconsciously shooting up to the surface. When I got to the surface, I remember Tiin asking me if I knew what I did wrong. Me, not knowing, shook my head. I had, unconsciously, removed my regulator before shooting up to the surface. She explained that this was fine in the pool, but I had to make a conscious effort not to do it in the sea or I would risk decompression sickness.
After a few tries, which I felt bad for because Zhi Zhong and Phoebe waited patiently underwater for me to complete, I was finally successful. You couldn’t see my facial expression from all the equipment, but I was over the moon. I felt so accomplished to have completed something I found so difficult. I left the second pool session feeling slightly anxious for what would happen in the open water, but also definitely proud that I had overcome what had been somewhat challenging.
The following week, it was time for our skills in the pool to be put the test at sea. I was less anxious than the pool, but still a bit anxious. I knew I couldn’t afford to shoot up to the surface here because of risk of expansion and bursting of lungs, but I also knew Michael would be there the whole time so I’d be fine. I made sure to hydrate myself before the dive, and continuously reminded myself to breathe once I got in the water.
As we deflated our BCDs and began our descent, all the anxiety went away. My feelings of fear turned into feelings of fascination. Everything looked so beautiful, so surreal. All those difficult exercises and practice for improbable situations in the pool were all worth it, it was like Finding Nemo underwater! I became more comfortable underwater, and we got to see a lot of marine life. However, it was also rather saddening to see all the dead coral and the increased deterioration of the coral. This only made me look forward to the coral monitoring we get to do with MANTA next term.
We did 3 more dives over the span of two weekends, after which I got my Open Water license. But I didn’t just walk away from this with a license, I walked away with a valuable learning experience. I learnt that there will be experiences similar to this where I’m stepping way out of my comfort zone, which means I’m not going to be comfortable or happy with what’s going on at the moment. But looking at the end goal, being resilient and pushing myself just a bit more pays off in the long run.
Setting up our equipment
Because of my back I have to put my tank on in the water. I was concentrating hard on putting it on to make sure I did everything right when Kru Jalal shouted from the boat to take this picture, hence my confused expression
Me on my third dive, again on my back putting my equipment on
After our last dive - finally certified divers