Out of my comfort zone and into the sea...

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Now...every traveller is supposed to have at least one nightmare journey story. I'm not sure if this counts as once I got past the incredibly strong conviction that I was going to meet my end in the seas off Koh Phangan, it was actually quite the adrenalin rush. But anyway...

As I think I mentioned last time we had been stranded on Koh Phangan for an extra night due to bad weather conditions. As it turns out there was good reason the boats weren't running that day. Choppy is not even an adequate enough description for the boat ride we endured to reach Koh Tao the following day. I had to continually remind myself that they had in fact cancelled the previous days boats in order to convince myself that they were in control of the situation and boat was not in fact going to be doing a very impressive impersontion of the Titanic at any given moment! Imagine being on one of those boat rides at Disney only without being safe in the knowledge that it's all for show and you are going to make it out alive with a big grin on your face! That was our boat ride. The first half of the journey saw Verity with her hand on my knee while I gripped the seat in sheer terror and tried not to burst into hysterical tears! Fortunately by the time everyone started throwing up (over the side, into carrier bags...you name it) I'd realised the boat could, in fact, bounce over massive waves and tip precariously from side to side without actually going under, and therefore started to get a small amount of a kick from it. Needless to say however, I was clapping along with the rest of them when the boat actually made it to shore!

We'd headed over to Koh Tao in the first place to complete our Open Water PADI diving certification. I had always known this would be a challenge for me, not being the worlds biggest water baby, and I was definately not wrong. The first afternoon we spent in the classroom filling out forms and going through the first section of the academics. No problems there for any of us. There were 3 in my group, myself, Verity and a guy called John. That is, there were 3 to begin with.

Day 2 saw us comlete another morning in the classroom followed by an afternoon in the swimming pool. All well and good except that it's the rainy season in Koh Tao and the pool, after several hours, was not particularly warm! This, coupled with the fact that Verity decided it wasn't for her (a long story best left to her blog especially as I'm a good couple of weeks out of date) and myself and John weren't exactly the worlds most natural divers made it a long and, I'll admit, tedious afternoon! Sairee beach however is beautiful so a relaxing glass of vino sat on a deck overlooking the ocean eased our troubled minds. Now I ought to mention that our instructor was one of those teachers that would have been better placed in the milatry! Don't get me wrong, towards the end, he proved far nicer and got me through the course but his tactic was to make you feel like you weren't really catching on too quick, to put it mildly. This is what provoked the bailing reaction in V but the f*** you! reaction in myself. What can I say, determination has always been my strong point and anger drives me forward!

So Day 3 saw me and John setting off on the boat with another group and heading out for our first 2 dives! Terrified! That is the only word adequate to describe my feelings during the first dive under the sea! I'm aware that this blog is so far sounding incredibly negative but, as I said, the boat ride was an adrenalin rush after the fact and the diving too has a happy ending, at least for me. So, anyway...bear in mind that you are expected to complete 'skills' whilst knelt on the ocean floor. You have to fill your mask with water and then blow the water out through your nose, you have to remove the mask completely and replace it, you have to remove your breathing equipment from your mouth and then replace that etc etc and all this at between 9 and 14 metres depth! I came up from that first 35 minute dive thinking that I'd had a go, I could say I'd dived and maybe that was enough and it wasn't my cup of tea. Unfortunately, or as it happens, fortunately, John also had the same idea and he got in first which meant that, with only me left in our group, I couldn't very well walk out too!

As it happens this worked out pretty well for me. I then had our instructor and his assistant all to myself and a much more amenable instructor at that. He reasured me before the second dive and, despite losing them in the poor visibility and surfacing alone, I did ok and it wasn't quite so scary second time around.

Day 4 consisted of the final exam ('piece of piss' as they say) and then 2 further dives including all the 'skills' again at deeper levels etc, plus a few more thrown in for good measure. After the first dive that day the instructor told me that I was doing great with everything except my buoyancy and that he wasn't going to be able to pass me if I couldn't get it right. Buoyancy is what keeps your position in the water and you control it with your breathing and inflation of your BCD (jacket thingy that everythings attached to. Basically a sort of lifejacket,...and V had laughed at me for asking if we'd get a life jacket to go diving!). Thankfully something just clicked for the final dive and suddenly I was happily swimming along behind him enjoying the surroundings as I went. Such a buzz! This was actually the only dive I really enjoyed and relaxed for but it was totally worth it and I left Koh Tao a smug and satisfied PADI certified Open Water Diver. And I have to say I'm more than a little proud of myself!

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