Under the Sea

I never imagined diving to be so wonderful and exciting - it always seemed so terrifying to me, like you might as well chum up the water around the boat, give me manila folder paper cuts all over my body and lower me into the water with a "SHARK BAIT" sign around my neck. But despite my morbid-disaster loving imagination, everything was smooth sai- scuba'ing!

Big Blue Diving in Koh Tao, Thailand was by far the best place to get certified. Perhaps there are others that are just as good on the island, but I highly doubt it. For a three and a half day Open Water Certification course it only cost me 9,000 baht, or roughly $290ish, icy air-con dorm room included (four nights, but I only stayed three so I could boogie on over to Koh Phangan for the Moon Madness). A good deal if you ask me! They offer both PADI and SSI certifications, and while both are great and offer the same certification in the end, SSI seemed to be more focused on the individual while PADI seemed very structured (and you had to buy a book). Obviously I went for the SSI.

Evening One
We watched videos and had homework(!!!) learning about all the equipment and general diving information. My group was comprised of a British instructor, Dan (incredibly knowledgeable, patient, kind and funny - really made the experience enjoyable), a German girl, Dutch lady, Indian man, and British guy. Very international, right? (I didn't meet one American during my time in the islands - weird!)

Day One
More videos in the morning. Trip to the equipment room to learn how to put everything together and then wear it. Always dive with a buddy (at least in the beginning - some people do solo dives, but I say "No, thanks!") and do a check of equipment before you go into the water. Buddy checklist:
Bangkok (Buoyancy Compensator - helps you float on the surface and keeps you hovering above the sand under water)
Women (Weight belts - to help you stay down)
Really (Releases - check all the clasps and clips on the BC)
Are (Air - make sure it's turned on and working properly. And Regulators - for breathing, and every time Dan said "Regulators in!" I couldn't help but think of this song.)
Fellas (Final OK - give everything one more check)

Funny acronym, but it's really true; there are a lot of lady boys in BKK.

We got in the water that afternoon (at the Japanese Gardens - very beautiful); practiced taking the regulator out and putting it back in underwater, and doing the same thing with the mask. Standard preparation stuff. Then we went a bit deeper and practiced hovering and swimming around.

Day Two
Last round of videos and then we took our SSI test. Everyone passed with 100% - woohoo!! Pretty cool. That afternoon was our first official dive, and we took it down to 12 meters. It was really awkward swimming through the water at first, getting used to only using the fins and not swimming with your arms, but we gave it a little time and we were basically pros. I felt like your regular Jacques Cousteau, and y'know, he died on my birthday, along with MJ and Farrah Fawcett, so if that says anything I'm going to be a bodacious babe singing and swimming my way through the seven seas. Dive sites for the day were: Twins and White Rock.

Day Three
Met at 6:30a. In the water by 8a, (at Pinnacle - basically in the middle of the sea, but only went to 18.5m) bubbles of divers below made it seem like volcanoes were erupting on the sea floor. I felt the pull from the great blue abyss that extended all around me, beckoning me to go deeper, further into the aquamarine unknown. How I wanted it! Safety and practice first; next time.

We saw a couple moray eels - a white-eyed one named "Cedric" and a blue-spotted one; stingrays, pufferfish, box fish, butterfly fish, angel fish, emperor fish, and so many others.

It was a trial getting used to the thumb-forefinger OK sign rather than a thumbs up (which means that you need to go to the surface, and if you do it accidently, you have to buy the instructor a beer!), but I really enjoyed the underwater language.

The sunshine scattering down from the surface made me feel like Arielle, and everything was perfect. Currents acted as underwater winds, the sea particles seemed like dust, and the schools of fish were wagon trains watching out for potential threats in the outward darkness... everything kind of felt like the Wild West... maybe it felt like that because my group was a solo traveler mash-up, and I dubbed us the "Lone Rangers" - also, we had horse races on the seafloor during the second dive (at Red Rock Drop-off), so that helped (I won, b-t-dub) the whole theme.

All in all everything was excellent, and while I wish I could've done the Advanced Course, I'm so happy to be in Siem Reap right now. I have a cooking class this afternoon, and then I'm possibly going to check out the floating villages just south of here, but I don't really want to pay for the $30 boat all by myself, so I'm hoping that I can talk some other folks to join me or perhaps just forget it... BAH! Then wandering around the Night Market and taking a night bus into Phnom Penh. Excellent.