Day 57

Day 57

Sunday

Today was the big day. Scuba Diving!!

All three of us were absolutely buzzing!

To start off the experience.. we had to get kitted out and watch a short video, before making our way to the beach, which explained more about scuba diving, the hand signals, the risks, procedures and so and so on.

Upon arrival at the beach and on the boat.. we slipped into our wet suits, got our tanks on and headed into the water for a lesson in shallow water. Scuba diving is quite complicated and risky if you don't do it correctly. But soon enough, we had the hang of it.

We set sail towards a shipwreck to do our first dive. You get off the boat by, rolling backwards off of the side of the boat, knees tucked into your chest and hands on your mask. Afterwards, as a group, you make your way towards a rope that is tied to an anchor on the sea floor and the boat, which you slowly descend down into the water. Every few 'steps' you takedown this rope, you have to pinch your nose and blow out to equalise your ears, because of the pressure in the water. (Just like in a plane when your ears pop.) Everyone's ears take different amounts of time to equalise and get use to the pressure, so it was no surprise to me that I had to go down the rope slightly slower than people. It's all linked to congestion and how your nasal and sinus conditions are. Believe it or not.. You can't do scuba diving if you have a cold. Fun fact right there. After breaking my nose a couple years back, I don't think it helped my ears to equalise, my sinuses and congestion are atrocious.

But once we were down there, it was AMAZING! One of the most beautiful sights you will ever see, honestly. It's like a scene out of finding nemo, all kinds of fishes everywhere, beautifully coloured coral, rocks, shells and even lost items that were on the shipwreck. For example, the telephone that they used on the shipwreck was still there! Our snorkel that we lost a few days back wasn't though. Typical! We saw a stingray (a type of fish that killed Steve Irwin) a small squid and thousands of fishes, but no turtles! Gutting.

We came back to the boat, all with lots to say and just big smiling faces! What an experience.

Our second dive wasn't as good though, if I'm honest. It was still awesome but the current was crazy under water and it was quite difficult to swim in. I think the fish could sense that too, because there was not as much as the first dive, very few in comparison! The dive had to be ended slightly earlier because of the current as it got quite dangerous.

What an amazing experience though, during my gap year I've done Paddel Boarding,Canoeing,Surfing,Shark Cage diving,Jet Ski'ing and now Scuba Diving! Only thing to tick off now is Water Ski'ing! Hopefully one of the boys will do that with me.

We arrived back to shore to a big welcome of horrible weather, a huge storm of rain had hit! Just our luck! We stayed in the water though and made the most of the remainder of the day.

This will definitely be a day I'll remember for a long, long time!

All the best

Luke