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- Nov 17, 2021, 3:00pm
- 🌧 79 °F
- Altitude: Sea level
- ThailandChangwat KrabiAo Pi Le7°40’60” N 98°46’0” E
Scuba Diving
November 17, 2021 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 79 °F
My final activity day in Thailand… SCUBA. I did scuba diving in the Bahamas 8 years ago so I’m thinking this is going to be same same. Similar, but definitely different. I remembered it being so much easier back then, but maybe we were much shallower. Had to watch a 20 minute PADI training video, took a quiz, then we took a massive dive boat out to Phi Phi Ley (where I did the speedboat tour). We practiced in a pool for an hour before we went out in the Bahamas but the practicing was done in the open water here, and was about 15 minutes long. Pretty much all the “what happens if shit goes wrong” techniques. Since I dove before, as long as I wasn’t panicking I would be let off my “leash” to do my own thing. Quick fact, I am actually scared of the open ocean. Humans should not be in there, that’s not our element. Important thing for me is visibility, or not knowing if there isn’t visibility.
There was a very nice Pakistani family from Islamabad joining us and only the wife was diving. The husband is terrified of the ocean. Our instructor was awesome, a young dude from Brazil, Marcel. He told me the other diver would need a lot more attention and I said ok, no worries I’ll figure it out in typical confident fashion, knowing damn well if I see a sea snake I’ll pass out (they are among the most venomous of snakes, Google it). The schedule is 2 dives, 2 locations, about 45 minutes each with lunch in between. We aren’t allowed to dive more than 12 meters (I’m sorry, it’s here to stay. Almost 40ft) unless certified. That’s pretty fucking deep so two things become difficult: 1) equalizing the pressure in your ears and 2) regulating your breathing.
1) Everyone has experienced pressure in their ears, either in the water, or due to altitude change. Except in the water it happens way faster and is way more intense. You need to equalize that pressure every meter or so. In other words, plug your nose, then blow air out through your nose. The air has nowhere to go except… you guessed it. That needs to happen all the fucking time, or else your head explodes. No not literally, but it’s very painful. I had trouble with this because it’s a simple and subtle process but I was blowing too hard and made myself dizzy for a few seconds…then my right ear hurt…10 meters deep, then the panic breathing starts and you have to calm yourself down. On to breathing.
2) Regulating your breathing simply means smooth deep relaxing breathes. Under water, you tend to breathe much harder, or at least I did at first. When your lungs fill up with air, you float to the surface, when you breathe out, you sink, simple right? Not so much. So when Marcel let me go off on my own, I have to stabilize on my own, meaning I have to know the right amount of air I’m taking in vs. breathing out or else I float or sink. This is called buoyancy. You are equipped with a buoyancy control device (BCD) but I’m not experienced enough to know how to use it. It’s basically an inflatable tube you wear with a control switch on inflating/deflating to stabilize you under water. Because I don’t know how to use it/don’t want to, Marcel said I have to use my breathing to control buoyancy. At first, the constant thought process is, “Shit, too deep of a breath, I’m going up. Quick, blow it all out. Shit, I’m sinking too fast I need to de-pressurize my ears I blew out too much too fast. Shit, I’m sinking too fast because I’m not breathing due to me focusing on my ears. Quick, take a deep breath.” You get it? This takes a little while to get right. Oh ya, and don’t look now but there’s a shark.
First dive about 5 minutes in, black tip reef shark pops up to say hello and takes off. He/she was about 5 ft long and honestly, not scary at all. Far more afraid of us than we were of him/her. Next up on the underwater zoo of fright, the Giant Moray Eel. This fucker was scarier than the shark by far, looking at me dead in the eyes as he popped out from the coral. He wasn’t so scary at first just seeing his face but then more of his dad bod popped out and he was a big boy. I made sure to take a deep breath to give the guy some space. The coral is every color you can think of, fish everywhere (I kept thinking of Finding Nemo). Schools of yellow snapper all tightly formed together, hundreds of them. Crazy looking starfish and sea urchins, sea cucumber looking things, and some fish that are not shy at all swimming right up to your face.
2nd dive was much easier since I was way more comfortable in the water. There were times where the instructor was busy with the other diver and I would just go off and hang out with the camera man (he knew how to spot all the cool stuff). Checked out a lion fish but not too close since their poisonous, a bed of sea anemone with little Nemos playing in it (my favorite part of the trip), and a giant sea turtle. The camera man kept telling me to get close but this dude was large and we were interrupting his delicious coral dinner. So I take some shallow breaths in and some deep exhales and get real close, then the turtle turns around and looks at me like he wants all the smoke. I tell the turtle I understand this is his domain and I apologize for interrupting his din din (in sign language of course) and we have a legit Mexican standoff until I swim the fuck away. I understand he’s harmless, but maybe he’s smart and goes for my air tube, who knows. I have a furry son at home.
Definitely the best way to wrap up my trip and I’m definitely getting PADI certified on my next trip.Read more