The Philippines- Day 4

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We got up early again to do scuba. Breakfast at the hostel was banana pancakes and oranges (yum). We headed out to go diving with one Discover Scuba diver (Matthieu, originally from Marseilles, used to live in Seoul, currently lives in Hong Kong, architect) and our boat broke down in the harbor. Apparently a bolt got cut. So one of the guys who works on the boat had to swim back to shore to get the spare part so that they could fix the boat. Once it was fixed, we took off for our next beach and about halfway there, the boat died in the water! So we were stuck out between the islands until another boat could come to our rescue. Which was a while because they only have 2 boats. One we were on, and the other was being repaired on the other side of El Nido. The other group of divers was on a rented boat, and were currently waiting for their boat as it was.



We waited for a while for the other boat to come get us and tow us to the beach. As soon as they connected the boats, though, the second boat starting having engine problems! Luckly they got it resolved and were able to tow us to the beach so we could do one skill dive and break for lunch while they towed our boat back to shore and came back to get us.



During our dive, I again had problems coming back up , so all through lunch and as we moved on to our next dive site, I felt like a puppy because I was teething on whatever was handy ( my towel, the rind of my watermelon, etc.) to ease the pain in my teeth. Maija told me I’m like a fish since I only have trouble coming OUT of the water, and most people have problems going down. Joel said I seemed really happy in the water, but when it was time to come out, I’d freak out.



We went down again after lunch and it was sort of a disaster. I couldn’t do some of the skills because they involved ascending rapidly (ascending = not my strong suit) and on ascension I ended up kind of freaking out because I couldn’t really go up, but I was running out of air and they had loosened my goggles to help the pressure in my head, so my goggles kept flooding. I felt like I was drowning and really wanted to go to the surface, but my instructor was really good and made me stay down to help my head. When I finally came up, I was explaining that the pain in my head wasn’t very bad and all of the air came out of my teeth! Which made me mad, because that means I have cavities and I’ve never had a cavity before. I blame Korea and its fluoride-less toothpaste. But it was nice to have the pressure released. At that point, I decided I’d have to discontinue the diving until I get my teeth fixed. It was a little disappointing, but with more friends coming in that night and Brittney and Lindsey’s plan to go kayaking the next day, I wasn’t too worried. I talked to my instructor and he gave me a form so I can pick up where I left off on my next vacation.



Since I didn’t have scuba the next day, I planned on staying out longer, but I ended up in bed at 9:30 from sheer exhaustion. Everyone else stayed up a while to drink with the people who work at the scuba shop (our hostel and scuba shop are connected, some of them live there, all of them hang out there) and then Brittney went with the ones who weren’t diving the next day to a dance club. I was surprised they had one because El Nido is tiny!

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