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Published: June 14th 2009
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Yin and Yang. Balance. Leaving the hustle and bustle, the pollution, the chaos of Ho Chi Minh City for the crystal blue waters of Nha Trang. 5 day spent on the water, diving the South China Seas, the perfect antidote to my landlocked blues. Nha Trang is a built up beach town, a strip of hotels and restaurants that paralell a white sandy beach. Beyond that beach is what I was interested in though, the ocean with its Karsts and Caves and Coral reefs. Arguably the best diving in Vietnam. I had been diving back home in Hawaii a couple of times, most recently with my friends Nikki and Robby. I had never gotten any kind of certification so most of the times we had to mildly bend the rules so that I could come along. I decided that Vietnam was the place to correct this, seeing as how it is one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified. I planned on getting the most basic level of diver certification, Open Water, but due to my previous experiance the Dive Instructor suggested that we double time our lessons and shoot for the Advanced Diver Rating. He said that
whoever taught me knew what they were doing. So Robby if your reading this good job bro.
My dive instructor was a really friendly guy named Jens. I got a kick outta meeting him because of the common story line you hear from all the Expats in Vietnam. His story is like many of the others out here: Came for vacation, fell for a local girl, married, and ended up a Dive Master. You hear that same story countless times in this part of the world.
Because of how well I was doing Jens felt comfortable showing me all the best that Nha Trang had to offer. Deep dives down to a hundred feet. Where the water gets so cold you start to shiver in your full wet suit. Where very few things live. Where the light from the surface is filtered out by the ocean water, leaving the barren seascape in front of you looking like the surface of another planet. We dived rock walls that started near the surface and fell away down into the dark ocean. The South China Sea is dotted with thousands of Karsts, rock formations where only the tip sticks above the
Floating in the big blue
Just about to head on down. water. Below is a whole world only available to the diver. You can explore pitch black caves or swim through twisting tunnels. Some of the swimthroughs we did were so small that you have to litteraly suck in your stomach so that your tank could make it through. Some were some large enough that hundreds of fish would hide inside. And if you were quiet and smooth you could float right through a school of fish before they even knew you were there. Rolling onto your back you can watch your exhaled bubbles rising to the roof of the cave, collecting on the ceiling creating a lake of air in sea of water. Coral reefs like oasis in the desert, small patches where sea life can thrive. A jungle really, with plants and fish all swaying together in the sea current. As you silently glide over the reef you can watch these miniature worlds unfold before your eyes. The hidden eel, the stealthy octopus. Reef fish awash in colors of blood red, or neon green, and some that simply defy discription. Water makes up more than 70 percent of our planets surface, yet we know more about the universe than
Step into liquid
I can't express how sweet this was. we do about our ocean floors. It is an undiscovered world, it is the final frontier, it is quite simply, stunning.
Diving is a medley of climbing, floating, exploring and flying. The better you get at diving the less inputs you have to make. The best divers use only their breathing and a small kick of the legs to move around. That is something that I really got the hang of in Nha Trang, using my breath to expand or deflate my lungs. This would cause me to rise or fall, and in conjunction with a little kick of my fins I would glide effortlessly through the water. The feeling is addictive.
The town of Nha Trang was really fun in itself. I did not have any late nights out as my van to the boat left at 730AM. But, I did have one really great dinner. At this point of my trip I had been eating tons of asian food. Basically nonstop for the last 2 months. Then one evening as I am walking down the street I see a huge neon sign proclaiming "TEXAS STEAKS AND BBQ". Like a moth to flame I was pulled through
the doors. One thing you realize very quickly is not to get your hopes up when it comes to western food in Asia. Sure the menu will tell you everything you want to hear but when your food comes, well, lets just say that somethings are lost in translation. BBQ sauce becomes ketchup. Pizzas with no tomato sauce. Hamburgers on baguette rolls with no ketchup or mustard. You get the idea. So walk into the restaurant I did but with tripidation. The owner immediatly walks up and I can tell this guy has lived somewhere in the south, "oh your actually from Texas?" So far so good. Then the million dollar question: "How do you guys do your ribs?" He laughs because he know exactly what I mean. "Don't worry we smoke um for around 5 hours." Sold. I sat down for what would be the best western meal of my trip. Ribs like you can only get at home, fall off the bone tender with, whats that real BBQ sauce?! My taste buds shocked, my western palate reawaken. Its amazing how you can be in a stange country, who's customs, people and beliefs are so different from your own.
Just floating around
Who needs space when you got this? Where the closest person who knows you is six thousand miles away, and something as simple as BBQ Ribs can bring it all back. Comfort Food. Powerful stuff.
At the end of my time in Nha Trang I walk away with an Advanced Diver Rating, another expensive hobby and a feeling of relaxation that only five days at the bottom of the ocean can provide. Diving and Flying are more akin to one another then I ever realized, you always seem to find your eyes being pulled to the sky or the sea.
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