Tioman: Open Water Diving

Ever since we decided to move to Singapore, OD has been wanting me to get my scuba diving certification. He got his certification 20 years ago and claims it as one of his favorite things to do (though he hasn't had many chances to go). I was excited by the idea of it, but I've never even liked swimming in the ocean -- the water is cold and waves scare me. So we decided to first start me out on snorkeling, taking a trip to Bali last fall. Snorkeling was easy and fun, so much so that I could easily be satisfied without ever trying scuba diving. But I had been talking it up for a year, and so I finally decided to take the plunge.

Not without much hesitation though. Suddenly I was concerned about my ears. About 10 years ago I got a nasty ear infection and my left ear has rung ever since. Most of the time I don't notice it, but when I do, it is really aggravating. And sometimes I feel off-kilter and thought this might have something to do with an inner ear issue. Ear injuries are common in scuba diving and I didn't want to take any extra risks. Though the left ear did show very slight hearing loss, the ear specialist cleared me for scuba diving. Without any excuse to get out of it, I signed up for an Open Water scuba certification course.

The first session was simply review and a test. Having plowed through the book the day before, I aced the exam. Application, however, was another matter. The second day was a double pool session. The training went at a quick pace and soon we were taking our first breath underwater.  Breathing underwater wasn't so strange after snorkeling, but I wasn't expecting it to be so noisy and bubbly. And my mask was slowly filling with water. At one point we were supposed to do a skill in which you take the regulator out of your mouth and then put it back in. Of course, water flooded into my mouth when I did this. You are supposed to simply exhale to push the water out or push the regulator's built-in purge button. But feeling close as I ever have to drowning, I panicked and bolted to the surface. Now, this is safe enough to do in training, as you aren't very far down and at no risk for decompression sickness. But when you are scuba diving for real, this is a big no-no, as you have to go up slowly to allow time for the nitrogen to leave your system. After this incident, I almost quit, but I pulled it together and managed to get through the rest of the day. OD had expected me to come home confident and happy, but I arrived back at the apartment physically exhausted and emotionally dejected.  Of course OD said I didn't have to complete the training, but I was adamant as the trip to Tioman was already paid for...

After some practice in the pool with OD, I had gotten a handle on a couple key skills. I could go underwater without holding my breath and blow out bubbles. And I could take my mask off without water going up my nose. But I still was anxious about the open water dives. Rather than take the late-night trip to Tioman with the rest of the group, we decided to go up early on Friday. It is a 5-hour bus ride, plus a 2-hour ferry, so I'm glad we had some time to recoup before training. The weather was a bit overcast and rainy on our arrival, but we did some snorkeling off the beach. Disappointingly, there was nothing to see but rocks -- no coral or fish. Our room was very basic, but we were just glad it had air conditioning and hot water.  This painting, however, seemed very out of place for a tropical island resort:

In the morning my Open Water group set up on a training platform just off the shore, while OD's Advanced Diver group headed out to sea. Sadly, we would barely see each other the rest of the day! First things first -- putting equipment together.  I am very technically challenged and the task of putting together equipment that my life depends on I find very nerve-wracking.  Everyone else in my group seemed to remember how to put things together, but I was just drawing a blank and getting flustered. I fidgeted around with the gear until someone could lend me a hand -- I wish I could say that I got more adept with the equipment over the 2 days, but I just kind of muddled through and relied on others' help. At least I had the sense to ask my instructor when my air gauge seemed low -- I almost had jumped in the water with my tank valve only half open!

The first day's training sessions were pretty tedious. We made our way down from the training platform and one by one demonstrated our skills -- the same skills from the pool session.  The water was very silty and there was nothing interesting to see from the concrete training block at the bottom of the ocean floor. While I was waiting for my turn, my mask kept filling with water.  This didn't freak me out, but it was unpleasant -- at least I got extra practice clearing my mask. Later my instructor looked at me and announced that the mask was too big for my face! I had just bought the expensive mask from their store with the salesperson's help, so I was pretty irked (we later failed at returning it).

At the end of the first training dive, we were supposed to surface and inflate our BCD jacket by blowing into the tube (practice in case the automatic inflator doesn't work).  With the tank and the weights pulling you down, it's hard to get your head above water -- you are supposed to kick yourself up, but apparently I wasn't doing so.  My instructor kept yelling at me to inflate the BCD, but I kept floundering in the water and hoping my instructor wouldn't just let me drown. Eventually, I gave up and hit the automatic inflator button. However, I still had to pass the skill. Left alone on the surface while the instructor retrieved the rest of the group from below, I struggled to collect myself. I did redo the skill in the end and halfway inflated my BCD, getting the required checkmark for my certification.

At lunch break OD and I found each other back in the room. Despite the pool training fiasco, I guess he hoped that once I got into the ocean things would go better.  No such luck I informed him. I had trouble with the equipment, my mask kept filling with water, I almost failed a skill -- I was having a miserable time!! I might have been a little melodramatic. Concerned, OD again said it was okay if I wanted to quit, we could always go snorkeling instead. And though I did kind of just want to stay curled up in the hotel room the rest of the day, I am no quitter. So I went back out there and suffered through. At the end of our last training dive, it started to rain. The sea had become turbulent making the training platform rock; I soon started feeling queasy. And I was starting to shiver in the cold rain. Later when I complained about this to OD, he said for him it was a wonderful experience seeing from below the rain drops on the ocean surface. OD loves the rain, and because of him I've grown more fond of it, but this time his joy didn't carry over to me!

The second day I completed one more dive to get my certification and then I joined OD's group so we could dive together (finally!).  It was much better being by my husband's side and among beautiful coral. And just as I was thinking that it was nice, but weren't getting to see anything spectacular, I spotted a large turtle! We turned our attention to it and soon there were two turtles! They appeared to be fighting however. For some reason, I thought the turtles would be gentle and friendly to each other. But that didn't seem to be the case as one came up behind the other and bit his back fin. Territorial dispute perhaps. Unfortunately no underwater photos!

Despite my misery in training, I was glad I had done it. And for all my trouble, OD promised for the next trip we could go wherever I wanted (within reason of course).  Now that I had my certification, I wanted to make good use of it and I was afraid if we waited too long before scuba diving again, I would lose what little confidence I had gained. So I soon booked us a trip to Redang (see next post).