The Great Blue Sea

My day started early at 7am. Falling asleep reading the diving manual last night, I woke up earlier than normal. I had chicken and ginger congee for breakfast, and headed over to the beach for my refresher course. During the course, we reviewed some of the basic scuba skills like fin pivoting, mask clearing, and buddy checks. I’m glad I spent the extra baht to attend the refresher course. Later in the afternoon, I dived in the ocean for the first time as part of the certification course that I didn’t finish in Vancouver. Once I got into the water, I was amazed by the scenery and forgot the about my nervousness. By the end of day, we did two ocean dives during which we performed several skills to test my scuba prowness. I had an eventful second dive though. During my mask clearing skill, I started to inhale and choke on water. I panicked and threw my regulator out of my mouth under 30 ft of water, and I started to bolt for the surface. Bolting for the surface is bad -- for you non-scuba people. The instructor saved me from choking and further injury. She forced my regulator back in my mouth purging the air in the regulator in such that I wouldn’t swallow any water. I eventually calmed down and cleared my mask. I laughed after the dive and said, “I’m going to be expert on coughing and choking water into my regulator after this course is over!” I’m kidding of course.

Sawatdee,
Arnie