Keen on it

Training almost done

dkeen — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 23:19:00 GMT

04-10-2014
Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been rather busy. As of today I have now been on 36 dives. It is a little crazy to that two weeks ago I had no dive experience of any kind. Now I have completed my PADI open water, advanced, rescue diver certifications and I am getting started on some of my dive master training. Being in the water every day has been amazing. Every day I see so so many different kinds of marine life. I see many of the same fish and coral but with every dive I can definitively say, that is a red breasted wrasse, there is a school of chevron barracuda, but now I am tuning in to the smaller things or the less common. Like finding a small purple jelly fish floating along almost unnoticed or just watching the prawn Gobi and his prawn buddy hanging out working together. However, it sea life never ceases to amaze me. Every dive brings its own calm serenity as you relax your whole body and feel the ocean move around you. It is these moments as well as the moments where you come around a corner and instantly you are engulfed in a large school of barracuda swimming all around you. All you can do is look around in amazement as you float there with them. The school parts and a giant grooper sits idle at the top of a patch of coral only a meter or two away. You breath and take in the splendor as fish swim all around. I am excited to see how the picture came out that Anita took with the giant trooper resting quietly just above me. Chumpon pinnacle always amazes

Day 3 - 5

dkeen — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 20:21:00 GMT

Dive 5 22/9/2014 Adv training #1 Diving with Roede, at_________. PPB , fin pivot, hover for 60 seconds. Did buoyancy training, skimming the sand and had to knock over a weight in the sad with our respirator the invert over a belt. Neat swim through. Dive 6 22/9/2014 Adv training #2 with Roede. End Nav skills at 3 rocks. Bearing for one person, second person counts 10 fin kicks. My goggles kept filling and missed Roede's command to follow we were figuring kick distance. And then he had to come back. Then when we got down there my buddy had not followed with us. Ran square search pattern. Heading out for night for night dive, Dive #7, night dive with Robin. 22/09/2014 The night dive was amazing. Lets just start with that. I grouped up with Michael, Lilly, and Deadra. Michael used to be a dive instructor for Impian and he and lily are here on vacation. Also just got engaged, a nice underwater scuba proposal. Deadra just got here and will be doing her master diver and instructor for Impian. But back to the dive. Geared up torches in hand we jump in the water at White Rock pinical. The ocean is a very mysterious and power full entity. To be anxious about jumping into it multiple kg strapped to you even in the middle of the day is fine and good. When night falls and all you have are the lights of the boat and the starts draped across the sky give a bit of a shiver to everyone. But you just have to do it. Our torches light up the ocean like search lights sweeping the sky. Beneath us we see life darting in and out of our beams. We make our way to the drop line and make sure we have everyone. All here, ok signals around the group and we deflate our jackets and our heads dip bellow the water. We fall into this other world, drifting down along the line. Our lights beam down into the depths but the bottom hasn't revealed herself yet. Its like a haze of algae caught like dust in the air. Down and down we go. And the coral bed rises forth to greet us. As though a great curtain for a performance has just drawn open to a scene where most of the players drift back and forth in the gentile swaying current in a restless sleep. And now our journey or hunt begins. Because now we comb the reef for signs of things that don't show themselves during the day. Every where you look there it is rich and vibrant. The torches give a full light to that which in the normal rays of the sun through the water looks blue green. The reds come burst to our attention. And it is this red we are looking for. It is the color of shrimp and crab and other best seen at night creatures. Within only a few minutes of being down we see crabs; hard shell and hermit. The bright red little legs of the hermit popping out of his shell as he goes about cleaning the coral. There are fish tucked up inside sections of coral, fish floating ideally by, and fish on the hunt. It is amazing to see all the life. The feather coral swaying back and forth. The yellow margin triggers lounging in the coral beds. The the red shimmering bodies of the dancing shrimp light up the cracks and gaps. Our heads and bodies float through the water as we peak around corners and peer into holes looking for the elusive. There is so much to see and so many things we haven't seen yet. No barracuda, or other hunters for us. I did find a blue spotted ribbon tail ray, super cool. After a bit, we swam away from the pinnacle a bit and sat down for the disco light show. There are tiny algae that will produce a bioluminescence when agitated. So we sat, torches pressed to our chests and started waving our other hand about in the water in front of us. Sure enough, tiny spots of light spear in the wake of our motions. Its as though we are dipping our fingers in the pool of magic and its sparkling dust is swirling about in front if us. Now that we have had our fill of casting spells we spiral our way back around the pinnacle making our way back up. Another amazing dive in the book.

Dive #8 adventure dive training with Roede. 23/09/2014 Morning Deep dive training at white rock. We are going deep today, down to 30 meters. Down here you use your air 4 times faster, will pass through a thermo cline and need to stay aware of your nitrogen levels. The further down the more nitrogen we absorb. Which means we need to take more time between dives and make sure a proper safety stop is done at 5m for 3min to let that nitrogen back out of your system slowly. Is down we go along the mooring line defending quickly to maximize our bottom time. Once at the bottom of the mooring line we make our way out from the pinnacle to deeper water. At about 25 meters we hit the thermo cline and the water drops about 8 degrees. Brrrrrr. We keep heading out checking our air gages periodically. Ok. We are at 29.4 meters. We are at our depth limit. Time to check out a few things. Roede has brought along with him a nice bright red bag of crisps. We all had a good look at it on the surface. Now down here at 30 meters he pulls it out from his pocket and the bag is the size of a large tennis ball. You can see the foil pressed in around the crisps within. The bright red is now a dark green. We all pass it around and feel the compressed bag. Quite a unique experience. Now its time for the 11 test. He will put up a number and we are to put up the number to make 11. Simple right....? It is, unless you experience nitrogen narcosis. Then simple thinking tasks can be sluggish and you might act like you are a bit intoxicated. And for me ....that was the case. I knew what we were supposed to do, what number was being held up. But I couldn't get to the number out to my fingers to complete the set. It was quite weird and as soon as he went on to check every one else I realized I had just mirrored the same number back. Time to go up a bit so we can relieve my narcosis. We head back to the boat and ascend to our drop tank for our safety stop after we make a deep stop for 1 minute at half our max depth.

Dive # 9 23/09/2014. Wreck dive with Roede We head to the wreck dive site after a good 40 minute surface break. Its an old gun ship the US gave to the Thai army when they were done with it and then the about 4 years ago the Thai army dunk it here. There is a big gunners chair on the bow and a small swim through in the capt. Chamber. The ocean is starting to reclaim the vessel as plant and animal life start to make this ship its home. Un a few more years corals will start to bloom and it will become quite the site of life in the sea. Its a short dive, we only have so much time on our interval and we need to stay within it. Back up for a deep stop and a safety stop at 3m for 5 minutes. Dive complete advanced dive training complete.

In the water, day 1 & 2

dkeen — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 09:45:00 GMT

Dive 1 19, 09, 2014

First dive today. Hopes into the office to so a bit of reading just to give myself a head start. I didn't think I would be diving today. I wasn't in the dive block yesterday. Dave, he is one of the instructors, came over and ask if I wanted to jump in on knowledge section with another couple from Italy. Of course I want to. This is what I came to do. So we ran though the first sections, 1-3, then went for lunch.

40 mins till we head out to the boat. Excited to jump in the water and see what happens. Grabbed some phad Tai. It was delicious......however it might not have been a good choice. But I did have the chance to sit down and enjoy some tasty food and chat with chennel. So many people from so many places. She is from Sydney Australia and as per most everyone coming out to scuba, specifically her advanced cert. She is doing her dives with Asia. Apparently they don't have many people diving with them right now, but she chose them because they do not have a single bad review. Also the dive instructors are a veritable box of knowledge on the area. I might have to go hang out over there and get some regional info. Back to the diving bit. We head out to the boat. Skys are blue and water is flat like glass. A few light misty clouds hang out and it is beautiful. We, Andre, Nikki and I run through the gear setup and pre-dive checks and within 10 mins we are wrapping around into a very serine bay. Gear check and we strap to tanks on, head to the back of the boat, slap our fins on and we are jumping in backwards into the crystal blue waters.

First part is a confined dive where you run through important action in the water. Simple things but all very important to know and be comfortable doing like clearing your mask, removing and replacing your mask, weight belt and BCD, knowing what it feels like when you are out of air and being able to signal this, use of someone's alternate air, and of course surfacing procedures. I had such a great time that a one point during the demonstration of mask removal and swim that I forgot to wait for David to loop back and as soon as he was turning and doing a quick out and back loop I was already removing my mask and swimming right behind him. .... Oops.... :) Apparently this was the first time he had someone do that and we got a bit of a laugh out of it. I guess on the majority first time divers are a little timid about removing their mask.

After the confined session it was time for the real open dive. So we were back on the boat and swapping out tanks. Back in the water. They have a cool underwater statue park here. So you can work on body position and perception. So we took a spin through the park .

Now remember that I said the phad tai turned out to be a bad choice....well about half way through the dive my stomach decided it didn't want to hold onto it any more. Urrrggghh. So I inadvertently ended up feeding Neemo a bit of carrot and some phad tai at 12 meters. Stayed calm and after I purged out the respirator we continued the rest of the dive. Way to start your first dive off. Great day in the water ...minus that one bit. Hahaha. On to tomorrow

Dive 2 Open water training #2 20,09,2014 Headed around to the east side of the island to lien thian. I ran through a couple of skills with David including CESA sim and mask removal and clearing. After this I joined Becky's group for a fish identification. We saw so many beautiful creatures. Long fin angel, multiple types of butterfly fish, spotted sea cucumber, grouper, and many more. The marine pool is amazing here. After this dive I went for a snorkel run in the shallows. So majestic.

Thaland, Bangkok day 1

dkeen — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 10:36:00 GMT

From the airport, empty at these late hrs to the streets of the city. My journey starts in Thailand. I know only how to say thank you, hop kom pra.
After trying to sleep for just a bit in the airport terminal to rest a bit and to burn a little time before I head down to central Bangkok; I grab a taxi. Every one has been very helpful and I remember that I must keep my speech simple, the idea only. Where can I find a plug to charge my phone is the action of pointing to the low battery symbol on my phone. Asking where a bathroom that isn't currently closed for clearing a mix of hand gestures pointing to the closed facility and receiving an arm gesture back the other way. Communication reduced to the simplest of principals.   all very willing to assist how they can even if it is to point to someone else. I switch my shoes to my athletic shoes, not realizing yet that my sandals are really what I am going to want later. I make my way out to where I the taxis would be just as a very large tour group is rushing down the stairs. I had noticed a few Thai girls dressed in some traditional garb earlier. It is now obvious that they were here to meet this group.
The cabi is very nice and as we are driving down the express way I start to see the differences. I am glad at this point that it is 3:30am and the roads are empty. It seems everything is more of just a recommendation. This includes the use of turn signals. They have their system and to them it is as good as anything.   The roads twist and whined between the narrow corridors of buildings that are purposed for everything. They stand shadowing each other in various states and conditions. It breathes this is all I need.
The taxi drive lets me out at my destination giving the names of the streets and pointing out area of town and I am loose, alone on the streets an hour still before the ferry company opens its doors. The air is damp and feels heavy. Like the air is literally gently working its way into you. It is barely 4am and people are hanging out, lounging in the open street side cafes. No one is sleeping here. They are out to enjoy a little relaxation. It is not busy by any means there are empty seats every where. It us just laid back and totally relaxed.
Two gentlemen of a European background recognize my wandering state of 'I am here and waiting, now what do I do.'.   Martin and Michael, both residing in Germany are back again to this little cafe/bar on the start of another adventure. They are on their way to Miramar. Michaels brother had been some years ago before the borders were open and now they are preparing themselves by beating in the life of Bangkok. As I can attest, right as you step off the plane and out of the airport you can taste the city and feel its life. You can taste the restless city and something delicious being cooked everywhere. And it is true. There are street vendors are everywhere stirring up a pan of taste bud excitement. But life here isn't all quaint. It is like its buildings holding darker things. We hear a girls voice upset about something, a bottle smash on the ground, and turn to see a thai girl angered and slapping at some European guy right next to the motor bike here and her girl friend were riding on the back of. The situation obviously escalates and although not really fighting back has obviously enraged this woman and isn't making it any better. He might have been retreating from the situation, but he made quite an error in what looked like throwing the girl to the ground. An inappropriate action in most any case. This is not an action taken lightly and the Thai are a very proud people and mire then willing to stand up for each other even if they have no idea who the person is. No sooner had the situation changed from the the girl displaying her strong disapproval to an action against her that four other Thai guys, all less then half the size of this guy, jump into action. You do not disrespect and you especially do not assault a lady. This should be a universal given and here in Thailand I expect, as it should, that this extends out to any Thai foreign exchange.   After the tussle was over I asked one of the Thai gentlemen sitting down at the street side what had happened. Apparently he had made a number of comments on what it would cost to buy them for the night. Regardless of the fact that solicitation of this kind is viewed differently here they are not statement that should be tossed around and I applaud her prowess to stand up for her dignity and voice her disapproval.
Now that the night air had settled back into its mellow state the three of us continued to talk of the things that brought us here and all the good things shared over a beer between random travelers out enjoying the world. There is a picture of the 3 of us that I will try to get some day in the future. But we parted ways here. Me, to go get my ticket for the next 9 hrs of my day, them, to go find their room and maybe sleep a bit before the head off to meet up another fellow traveler they crossed paths with before and now resides in the south of Bangkok. I board the bus and start to recount the last hrs activity as I watch the city come to life as the light of a new day greets all the motor bikes, trucks of produce, and food stands on each corner as the country side passes my window. My adventure has definitely starred and I am excited for every day.

NRT Air port update

dkeen — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 19:34:00 GMT

Met some great people who work for Sony and Konami and some contacts for Guam on the SFO>NRT flight and no complications getting to Japan. The BKK on the other hand is delayed by an hr so far. Free snacks!!! But I am getting a chance to update a few things and make a few contacts there in Thailand.

Getting Started

dkeen — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 21:14:00 GMT

It is now 4:15am PST and I have made it to the airport in Medford OR. Making it out of the hotel room was enough work; wondering if I had got everything I need taken care of and packed. Now my stomach is tight with anxiousness. I am about to head half way around the world to a country where English is only a secondary language(thankfully it is spoken often) and that I know essentially very little about. It is quite exciting to be heading out all by myself to experience a small portion of the world tucked safely away from many of the plights that even effect the rest of this region. This I am thankful for. I do not believe there are many who want to find themselves in the middle of a conflict. Either way now that I am in the airport my next task beyond making sure I

get of the right flight is to find a hotel in Bangkok for the night and then get down to he bus that will take me to a ferry that leads me to my destination.

oh yes, I am on my way to koh Tao Thailand to go from zero to dive master in less hen 54 days(my time until I return)

Love to all. Go out, explore, adventure, and live your life to he fullest

.Derek