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Published: August 3rd 2005
Yesssiirrrr
Steve(Thais call him SA-TEEV) and I. My instructor from Easy Divers, a English man that left everything back home to dive full time in the Gulf of ThailandToday marks the beginning of my dive adventure as I board the MV WaveRunner to my very first dive site, Sail Rock. When Steve told me that the WaveRunner had 3 decks, I mentally pictured a high tech advanced catamaran that could cut through waves like butter, but when I finally laid eyes on it after a 1 hour bus ride to the pier, it was nothing more than a 3-tiered big fishing boat.
Always having to combat motion sickness problems, I put all sorts of pre-admonitions aside and looked forward to my dive. I had completely no idea that the boat ride to the Sail Rock would take a whopping 2.5 hours! The sea around the gulf of Thailand was very choppy. By the time I reached the site, I no longer entertained romantic notions about diving, rather I was just content to keep my composure and not embarrass myself by puking all over myself.
One thing I realized was that all the divemasters and instructors on the boat were exceptionally surly, but the moment the boat had reached the dive site, they suddenly burst into merriment and were laughing, joking and jesting like school children. Many of
Welcome to the Dive Crew
Bogdan, his wife, and us at the back of the boat, trying to the last few km of calm and peaceful waters before we leave the protective bay of Bo Phut them were Europeans where they have left their life and jobs back in Europe to be diving instructors drawing thai pay. After my first dive, I finally understood why they behaved the way they did.
I did my final dive preparations and took my first dive. The cool rushing water greeted me as I dove deep into the clear blue water. Taking comfort in the air supply in pumping in consistently into my mouth, I swam back to the surface and inflated my BCD (something like a life-vest, only I can control the input/output of the air). I immediately switched to my snorkel to save air in my oxygen tank, and when my team mates were ready, we swam to our dive point.
Following clear instructions, we had a final ok and proceeded with our descent to 12m underwater, and the gates to underwater marine life were suddenly open to me….
Sail Rock is beautiful to say the least, the feeling of almost weightlessness is truly intoxicating. To swim among the corals, the fishes, and to commune with nature right at her doorstep is a feeling that words do no proper justice. Bright colours, shoals of bright
Gee, i cant wait to get in there!
packing up my stuff before i head down to prep my gear coloured fishes swimming in concerto, moving to some silent rhythm as the many corals flow in unision. Anemone fishes hide bashfully amongst corals, taking shy peeks at me as I swim around in wonderment. Clown fishes of various breeds swim in and out the coral bed peeking into seemingly random beds of coral in search of food.
Now and then I pass 2-3 big Emperor angel fishes which swim in idyllic circles around their underwater fauna. They seemed so non-chalant to my presence and only swim away at the last minute when I draw near. Testing the angel fishes’ patience to the max, there was once when I was able to TOUCH and angel fish from the back! It twitched in sudden surprise to face me and did some resemblance of aggressive motions towards me. I swam away gleefully, happy that I did manage to touch a fish, which is really harder than it sounds.
After my first dive, I was on a high, and addiction on diving. I completed my Open Water Course to depths of 18ms in 4 days, and after a day’s rest, proceeded to do my Advanced Open Water Course. All in all, I
BCD
short form for buoyancy control device, its just a inflatable life vest which i can pump with air or deflate. it helps me control my depth completed both courses in a week, did 11 dives in 4 days, and went back a very happy man.
I saw many types of aquatic life, and had varied and funny experiences underwater, but to the non-divers, this would be so boring, so I shall rest here. To anyone who hasn’t tried diving, my advice is, please do, you don’t know what your missing 😊
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