Life after PADI certification

After becoming certified it was time to go on a "fun dive" meaning I didn't have to pass off any skills, I could just enjoy swimming in the water looking for cool fish. So, I signed up to go on Wednesday. We had to meet at the equipment room at 6 AM to get suited up and catch the taxi to the pier. No sleeping in for me! We were on our way before most of the city had woken up. Our group consisted just of myself and the friend I'd gone with and our dive master who would be our guide. No other divers on our level had signed up which was terrific! I put all my skills into practice, sunk to 18 meters and had a look at some neat stuff but my darn mask kept fogging up! So, sadly I missed out on seeing other cool stuff...darn mask! Mostly it was just fun to swim around and look up to see that you're in the middle of a school of fish.

We did 2 dives and were back to the resort by noon. I logged in my diving log book that we had gone for one dive at 18 meters for 32 minutes and a 2nd dive at 17 meters for 47 minutes. I wrote that we saw trigger fish, the cutest little, yellow box fish, butterfly fish, glass fish, parrot fish, eel, banner fish and the list goes on!

We decided not to go diving Thursday to give my friend a break who had been experiencing seasickness on each dive from concentrating too hard setting up equipment while the boat was rocking up and down. I decided that throwing up each day of vacation is pretty harsh so we opted for a day of snorkeling to mix things up. It turned out to be a super decision! The morning was cloudy and rainy. We boarded a boat with about 50 or more other snorkelers and hit 5 different areas throughout the day were we were dropped off for about 40 minutes of exploration, loaded up again and moved on to the next spot. While I did feel like cattle to some degree the underwater exploration was beautiful! The coral was different in each location as were the fish. I even saw a shark at Shark Bay! After swimming in Shark Bay for about 15 minutes without seeing any shark I began to wonder why they called it Shark Bay. Just then a shark swam right in front of my nose! I began to panic and then realized that if it were dangerous they wouldn't have brought us to this area to see them! So, I calmed myself down and went looking for more! :-)

Unfortunately, with the sun hidden behind the dense clouds I didn't remember to reapply my sunscreen and am now suffering severely from sunburn. Let's just say my back side is a lovely shade of purple! Which has made sitting a little uncomfortable and sleeping a challenge.

The last stop of the day was a group of 3 islands connected by a sand bar that washes away in high tide. It's a beautiful location where the water is crystal clear! It really is paradise! By the time we got there I could feel the sun beating on my skin so I tried to stay hidden under a beach umbrella after a short snorkeling excursion.

Friday was the last day of diving. We had signed up for another 6 AM dive but I was so sunburnt I wondered if I would possibly be able to get into my wetsuit and put that superheavy tank on my super-burned back! I decided to give it a try and was successful...with minimal wincing and whining. It turned out to be a beautiful day for diving! The visibility was much better than in previous dives. Again, our group consisted of just my friend and I along with with out dive master. During our 2 dives we saw scorpion fish (I pointed that one out to the group...they are very well camouflaged!), more eels, big grouper, trevelley, a blue spotted ray, pipefish, a sawblade shrimp and the highlight was a mom, dad and little baby clownfish in their anemone home! It was breathtaking. I'm so glad I'd found a way to keep my mask from fogging up!

Saturday we left the island in the afternoon so we decided to spend the morning at the spa. I found a place that offered an aloe vera massage. I went inside and told them about my painful sunburn and they told me they could do this aloe vera massage. I told them I was not interested in the massage since I knew I was burned beyond the point of massage...that would have been torture! They kept assuring me that it would be soft and not painful. Finally I showed them my purple back and they agreed that a massage was not what I needed. Instead they covered me with a layer of cold aloe and then a layer of cucumbers. It felt so good! I just laid there and let the aloe and cucumber creep into my skin to remoisturize it. The sweet women offered to take a photo for me to post on facebook but I graciously declined such a photo! Unfortunately, when they removed the cucumber and had me wash off the aloe vera the pain returned. I was then coated in a layer of coconut milk and sent on my way. The reality that I was going to have a miserable 8 hour bus ride back to Bangkok set it. Luckily I survived.

So, I've now completed 8 dives and I'm already planning my next trip back to the island for more diving. Since we will be celebrating the queen's birthday next thursday, I've taken off Friday as well and will make it a nice 4 day weekend! I should be able to get about 6 more dives in! It's kind of addicting! I may need to rethink my budget! :-)