October 9th-14th
We were up at 4.30am on the 9th to get the bus from Bangkok to Chumpung and then a high speed catamaran to Ko Tao, an island off the east coast of southern Thailand. I should have known myself better than to think I was allowing myself a few days to relax in the sun after the temple onslaught in Siem Reap and two long bus journeys. We'd hardly set foot on the island when I'd signed myself up for a three and a half day diving course which would get me my "Open Waters" certificate. This was quite a commitment on my part given that I'm a little afraid of the whole breathing-under-water-from-a-tank concept and was spending the equivalent of about 50 nights' accommodation on an acitivity I have never tried before. Then again, Ko Tao is meant to be one of the cheapest places in the world for doing the Open Waters certificate. I also reminded myself that I was now standing in the future that I dreamed of as a child when I would close my eyes and imagine travelling the world to explore all it has to offer - from the depths of its oceans to the peaks of its mountains. It was time to acknowledge the dream and face the fear.
The course comprised of videos, interactive theory lessons, a theory exam, a swimming pool session and 4 dives with incorporated "skill tasks". The theoretical parts (which reminded me of sitting in physics lessons in school) all went well and it was comforting to understand the sport and the equipment more. The actual diving itself, however, was to be more challenging.
The first tests in the swimming pool were easy - to swim 8 lengths and float for 10 minutes. After some repetition, I also started to get the hang of setting up and dismantling the diving equipment (although the names of the valves and tubes left my head a lot quicker than the water was to later.) The real fun started when I had to step off the edge of the pool in my flippers. My first pool task was to breathe under the water using the regulator and without my face mask on. I didn't like this at all as I have never learnt to stop water from going up my nose if I don't hold it and I had to make a real conscious effort to breathe in and out through my mouth. What's more, when you don't wear your mask, bubbles rush up pass your face and I feared my eyes, which I had lasered just before leaving on this trip, would be forced open. I closed my eyes as tight as possible and just focused on breathing slowly. Next I had to learn how to clear water from my mask by allowing water to enter it, tilting my head back, pressing on the top of the mask and blowing through my nose to allow air to escape from the bottom. Again, I felt very uncomfortable with the sensation and began to wonder whether diving was for me.
Other skills which my instructor, Jon, taught me at the pool - relieving cramp, towing a tired diver, fin pivots, removing and replacing weights and the BCD under water and on the surface - were less daunting because there was little chance of getting water in my eyes or up my nose. The skills which involved me having to remove my air supply - regulator recovery and using alternative air supplies - made me count the seconds until we could surface. Still, I saw the pool session through, completed all the tasks and felt quite exhilarated about having started to learn to dive - even if we had only dived to an unimperssive 3m in a swimming pool!
After an evening of studying topics like decompression sickness and all that can go wrong when nitrogen levels in your blood get too high, I was quite nervous the next morning when I stood in flippers on the edge of our dive boat. My left hand was firmly on my weight belt buckle, my right hand clasped my regulator and I could hear Jon beneath me instructing me to "take a big stride forward and look into the distance." When I hit the water, the waves pushed me around but I did what we had practised and inflated my BCD to get buoyant, feeling immediately more comfortable. "Blue button to let air in, black button to deflate. Must remember when under the water," I consciously told myself.
The first dive, in all honesty, wasn't a very pleasant experience for me. My ears hurt more or less the whole time and my inability to get rid of the discomfort by "equalising" (holding your nose and blowing whilst wiggling your jaw and swallowing in the most attractive of fashions) distracted me from the beautiful coral and fish. For some reason, I also completely forgot about using my legs to move, somehow thinking I would just drift along by breathing and inflating or deflating my BCD (which you shouldn't actually do). Jon kept giving me the sign to kick my legs but then when I did, I found myself plummeting to the sea floor. He soon realised I probably had too many weights on my belt (we had only made a guess at the number) so removed one which sent me zooming upwards. The fact that we, or better said I (buoyancy is largely controlled by breathing in and out at the right times) failed to get myself buoyant meant that I spent most of the dive yo-yo-ing uncontrollably through the water. This only aggravated the discomfort in my ears so that, all in all, it was a relief to return to the surface. There seemed to be no time for the coffee and pineapple slices on offer on board as Jon instructed me to prepare my tank for the next dive and then join him on deck for a debrief on the first dive and a prep talk for the second one.
The briefing for Ellie Returns Reluctantly To The Depths consisted of telling me I would have to do my two most feared skills - filling and clearing my mask of water and removing my regulator in order to share my buddy's air supply. To my surpirse, however, my second dive went very well. I had less discomfort in my ears and discovered that using my legs really helped (!). I managed to control my buoyancy a lot better and complete all the skills on the first go. I consequently had time to enjoy looking at the fish and coral and to be amazed by the vast space around me. When I surfaced, Jon said, "What the hell happened down there?" I look at him, puzzled, and he shouted across the water, "Now that time we were scuba diving!" I felt a small sense of achievement at last.
The course turned out to be a roller coaster of emotions, as if reflecting the yo-yo-ing of my first dive. On my third dive, THE FEAR returned. I had to perform a mask removal and replacement 12m under water. I took off my mask, put it back on and attempted to get the water out of it like we had practised but when I opened my eyes, the mask was still full so water entered my eyes and nose causing me to panic. I forgot that I could just close my eyes and take deep breaths through my regulator. I signalled to Jon that I wanted to go up. He shook his head, later telling me that it is important to calm a person down before returning to the surface. He must have cleared my mask for me because I could suddenly see again but I was still a little bit in shock about the fact that I was 12m under and felt like I had swallowed a large amount of sea water (on reflection, it was probably a teaspoon's worth). I grabbed onto his arm, fixated my eyes on his and did what I normally do when I am unsure of myself - just watched and followed instructions from the person who knew more than me. Jon indicated with gestures that I should just keep breathing deeply and slowly though my mouth. After a few minutes he asked me if I wanted to ascend and this time it was me who shook my head. We signalled the "OK" sign to each other and went on to do fin pivots, hovering and navigation skills which all went fine. I knew, however, that I would have to do the mask clearance skill on my fourth and final dive to pass the course.
Jon and Regina, a trainee instructor who had joined us, did a good job at building my confidence up for the final dive. I managed to do the mask removal on the first go and could immediately relax and start to enjoy my surroundings. As all tasks had now been completed, we spent the remaining time seeking out interesting fish. I tried to guess the names of them from Jon's hand signals as we swam through colourful and active scenes. Unfortunately we never found the turtles we were looking for but were kept amused, amongst other fish, by a number of "Nimos", trigger fish, barracudas and angel fish. After 45 minutes under water, we ascended and I had passed my Open Waters.
That afternoon I rewarded myself by walking to a beach restaurant overlooking "Freedom Beach" in the south of Ko Tao where I ordered a grilled chicken baguette and a coconut shake. I then collapsed on the warm sand, the last three days of lessons, early starts, exams and adrenalin dives finally taking their toll on my energy levels. It was a stunning spot and a lovely way to spend my last afternoon on the island.
Before leaving the island, I felt an urge to check my e-mails and succumbed to the $4 an hour internet charges. Dad updated me on the world economic crisis and Mum told me about a dramatic police car chase she had witnessed in Morrison's car park. It was good to see, before we moved on to our next island, that the world was still turning ... even if things did appear a little more chaotic than within the hedonistic shores of Ko Tao.
