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March 10th 2006

Published: March 15th 2006

I am officially cerfitied as a Open Water Diver!! Yay! I have spent the past four days with Rainbow Divers in Nha Trang. This city borders the South China Sea with a 6km strip of white sand. The water is bright blue and days are easily passed on the beach and in the clubs at night.

I opted for a bit more of an active approach though and signed up for scuba school. It was myself and three others: Aussie Matthew, Canadian Madeline and Dutch Stephanie (my diving "buddy"). We were lead and taught by the hilarious yet professional Sean (English) and Christian (French) divemasters and instructors. These guys know what they are doing it and are pros at teaching it. We spend the first two days splitting our time between the classroom in the morning with Christian and the pool in the afternoon with both of them. We learnt what to do in theory and put our skills to the test in the pool. Many laughs and our group was full of quick learners so we progressed at a good pace, but always at our own pace. We were given loads of individual instruction and the guys were always there to answer our questions and ease our worries. By the time the 3rd day rolled around we couldn't wait to jump in the ocean. We still had skills to practice though so it wasn't all fun and games, but nearly. They showed us some amazing soft and hard corals, poisonous fish and playful clown fish! A whole new world and I just couldn't get enough.

Thanks to Christian's amazing teaching we all passed our written tests with flying clours and were ready to go to our maximuim depth of 18metres on the 4th day. Wow. And I wasn't even scared! They made us so comfortable and we had heaps of laughs, even underwater! I didn't want to get out on the fourth day. I can't wait to get to Thailand and see some more. Definetly a new hobby for me.

Needless to say, I was exhausted at the end of my 4 days but still managed to go out with my crew and celebrate. Even the instructors from Rainbow were out so it was a good time! We spent the next day sleeping in and then we ventured off to the Mud Spa.

We soaked in mudbaths, got nice and muddy, sunbathed in it, showered off and hit the hottubs. My skin has never been so soft and I was ready for a huge nap by the time it was all over. I would have stayed all day if I could have. So relaxing and soothing, I'd go back in a second.

Lucky for us, rest and relaxation was in the cards. We caught a van up to a place called Jungle Beach Resort. Run by Sylvio, a french-canadian (now vietnamese resident), Jungle Beach is a sustianable paradise 60km north of Nha Trang. The South China Sea is turquoise here and the sand on the 3km of beach here is fine and soft. The isolated beach was ours for the taking. Sylvio took care of us for 2 days of amazing food, bottomless lemon juice, good company of other guests and great stories about his time here in Vietnam, starting a family and building his dream. Jungle Beach is all about environmental sustainability. Sylvio is active in the community lobbying for better protection of the jungle and its species. While we were there the neighbours caught a little monkey which is illegal and i went with him to help set it free. He later contacted park rangers to come and talk to the people about the dangers of keeping wild animals and disturbing the ecosystem there. Sylvio also grows a lot of his own fruit and veggies and the huts and largely made of plants that are plentiful and regenerate quickly. He has ideas about future develpments for his place (but has a max #) and always has his hand in with the government to ensure long term environmental care for his place and the surroundling land. We learned a lot and relaxed to the max!

We had out share of adventure as well on the way to the waterall nearby. A half hour climb over massive boulders next to the ocean, up the stream and to the waterfall. I fell once (maybe twice!) and mave a few bruises and scrapes but luckily nothing serious. WE decided to avoid the biggest rocks on the way back and had a nice long swim around them. I sure did work up my appetite but the girls were only too glad to fill my rice bowl an extra couple times at lunch!

A great time before hopping the night bus to Hoi An...

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