Water extremist

It was just amazing. I must have been crazy to have done it without prior experience. Perhaps it was more to do with the fact that I was turning twentysix, coupled with the occassional whackiness during this time of the year. There had been some shark sightings near the bay and a friend's mate getting swiped under the foot by a stingray in shallow waters just days before I embarked on this underwater adventure. I had been warned, yet I went.

As I drove down to Jervis Bay by myself, I was rather disappointed with the heavy downpour. Not that it would matter since I would be underwater anyway, but it was depressing to have this kind of weather leading up to the all important day of my life. The rain had subsided by the time I reached my destination, yet I was not all that happy. After some theory in the morning, we headed to the swimming pool to do some practical work. Before I even got to do anything in the water, I was already exhausted from carrying the gear and the oxygen tank from the ute to the poolside! I was suddenly caught in a funny limbo of excitement and tiredness. Imagine my horror when the instructor told us to do five laps in the pool! I seriously cannot recall when I last did a pool lap. In we jumped, all seven of us in the class, and it was freaking cold. Almost immediately, we were swimming our butts off to warm up. Occasionally I cheated, walking on the shallow part of the pool when the instructor wasn't looking. I did not initiate the cheat, that fourteen-year-old boy did.

Soon after we completed our laps, we were told to put on our wetsuits. I struggled big time as I just could not pull the suit past my big hips. Jumping back into the pool didn't aid my getting into the bloody suit. With the help of my American classmate, I tried jumping up and down while he held my suit so that I could slide in. After the whole ordeal, my fingers were already bleeding from all that friction work. Not too long after, I had cramps in my left calf. And I was very cold. The four day course suddenly didn't look all that attractive anymore. I blame it on the summer intern in the dive shop who insisted that the size I had for my wetsuit was perfect. It was obviously a size too small.

Day One finally ended, but I had much to catch up because I enrolled very late into the course and materials could not be sent out to me on time. So there I was, burning midnight candles, reading my pre work, doing Q&A, and watching a video. What a way to celebrate my birthday at the first stroke of midnight. But that's okay. It's something different I chose to do, by myself.

Day Two started off with shore dives and skills practice, and the weather was perfect. I must say I had a lot of trouble with one of the basic skills - flooding and clearing of the mask. A partial flood-and-clear was no trouble at all, but a full flood-and-clear was nowhere achievable, causing me to panic and swallow plenty of salt water to the point where I felt so blotted I could puke. Which I did, on my special day, and that felt good. There were of course no special treatments for me, even on a birthday, that if I could not fully flood-and-clear my mask, I cannot pass the test. I have one more day to prove I can do it.

Later that night, I bought myself a chocolate mud cake. No, that sounded sad. I bought a chocolate mud cake to share with others whom I was staying in the house with. They were all extremely friendly, most of whom are very experienced divers who offered to take me on shipwreck explorations on my next dive. Sick!

Day Three finally arrived and we went out on boat dives. I cannot begin to explain the wonders down under. Like wow. Here are some pictures, even tried to pick (or rather "steal") those similar in colour and size to the ones I saw.

L-R: Wobbegong shark;Nudibranch; Moray eel

I am now officially a Level 1 diver.

The next day, I gave surfing a go. It was on my to-do list for last summer, but a torn ligament in my ankle prevented me from doing so. Mum was protesting, but I just had to cross it off my list. And no, I haven't told her I went scuba diving. She would freak, seriously. But I doubt I'll do surfing again. There's just too much energy involved, paddling, waiting, rolling over, push&jump etc. And when I finally catch a wave, I bodyboard instead of standing up. To get back into the water is too troublesome, especially when the waves are big, and being a beginner you keep getting pushed back to shore or just getting whacked in the face. But it was fun while it lasted.

So there! In my short two weeks holiday over Chrissy and New Years (I know, this entry is so way overdue), I jam packed shopping, Christmas post parties, scuba diving, surfing, and body boarding. I have gone pretty tanned, unintentionally. I'm not quite sure if I like the new me.