Dive, eat, sleep

To learn how to dive have been a life-long dream of mine, and as I've always been very comfortable in the the water (sometimes more than on land), I thought that it would come easy to me. That was not really the case, as I found out when I started my PADI Open Water course at Similian Diving Safari in Khao Lak... After theory day 1, it was time for pool practice on day 2. I thought diving in a pool only a few meters deep would be easy, but I completely freaked out and probably swallowed half of the water in the pool. In the end I started to be OK with the concept of breathing under water, but I was a bit scared at the thought of doing it in the ocean the next day.

The PADI course I took was a live-aboard, so after the pool practice we got on the boat, M/S Dolphin Queen and headed towards the Similian islands. We were around 20 people + diving and boat staff on the boat. Only four of us were doing the open water, my diving buddy Danish Sofie, and Thai/Aussie Ploy and Saree (they were the sweetest couple, celebrating their 2 yr anniversary with taking their diving certificates). I shared a small room with bunk beds with Danish Charlotte and German Bridget and Tine on the floor with the dive platform, most of the cabins, the tiny tiny kitchen, and the 3 toilet/showers. On the next upper level was the dining space, and above that the sun deck.

The next day we got up around 6.30 am to do the first dive. And after some problems initially, I managed to go down and it was fantastic! Around noon it was time for our second dive, but this time the sea was quite rough, and I got quite scared in the water and decided to not go through with the dive but get back to the boat. Due to the waves I could hardly get on the boat again. After relaxing and lots of pep talks from basically everyone (especially our fantastic instructors Samia and Anthony), I managed to dive at the next much calmer dive site. It was such a relief to manage the dive because I really thought for a while that maybe I wouldn't be able to do it. The day after we did our last qualifying dives and our exam, and then we were certified divers!!!

Because most of the dive sites around Similan islands are deeper than the 18 m you're allowed to dive to with the open water certification, we then did deeper dives to be qualified down to 30 m. I'm still quite a nervous diver, but as soon as I get down in the water it's such an amazing experience. We saw lots of beautiful coral reefs and fishes, and also leopard sharks!

The days on the boat all followed the same schedule of dive, eat and sleep.
6.30 Dive briefing and first dive
Breakfast
Sleep/read
11.00 Dive number 2
Lunch
Sleep/read
15.00 Dive number 3
Snacks
Sleep/read
19.00 Night dive (I didn't do any night dive, way to scary for me)
Dinner
Sleep

Diving is quite exhaustive, don't think I was up later than 22 any night.... As you can see, we got quite a lot of food, all very nice tasting thai food, amazing considering that the two cooks had a kitchen the size of a large wardrobe...

The sea was at times quite rough, especially when we went up to Richeliue rock.I think I was lifted in the air about a third of the time that night. I was quite happy that I had the lower bunk bed! That night and the one before we had 6-8 m waves... Some of the dive sites had a lot of swell and strong currents. Not the easiest diving conditions, but in a way good because we got lots of experience very quickly. However, think my first next dive (probably when I'm in the Philippines) will have to be in calmer not to deep waters.

We got back to Khao Lak 2 days ago, and went out for bbq and drinks. First beers I had since I left London... That first night back on land, it felt like the ground was moving and we were still on the the boat. I still have some kind of air lock, or waters locked in my ears, so my hearing is a bit funny. It's like I hear everything at a distance. Hopefully my ears will clear up soon.

I spent most of yesterday sleeping. Today I've started to read my Vietnam guide book and done some planning, I fly out from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon on the 7th December. Hopefully the airports in Bangkok won't be occupied then... Otherwise I might have to go by land across Cambodia.

3 h left before I take the bus to Huay Yang to see my parents. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll get off at the right bus stop!