Dive

The dates leading up to our first open water dive in Tioman are coming closer and closer. This weekend is gear fitting, study review and test. The weekend after that is the confined water dives. A couple of weeks after that is a refresher course in confined water and then another weekend and it's the actual open water dives and an extra day for leisure dives.

I am looking forward to it although I am a little afraid of it. It's something I've always, always wanted to do.

I grew up on Jacques Cousteau's adventures on TV. My dad has a book of his with many many colour illustrations. I used to pull the book out on lazy afternoons and look at the pictures over and over again. Then I'd get in trouble for not putting it back over and over again! My uncle is a marine biologist. I've pretty much always been in wonder and awe of the sea. The multitude of colour and life on reefs and the vastness of deep water has always fascinated me. Of course, watching Jaws 2 when I was 6 years old wasn't a good idea.

I would like to think that I'm not blindly going into recreational scuba diving. I would also like to think that I'm not going to be arrogant about it, thinking I already know a lot about it. I've not done it, how can I know? I might know the theory behind the diving and the names of many sea creatures and which ones are dangerous but when I jump in for the first time, I am going to assume I know nothing. It is a safe enough activity but naturally there are risks. The most obvious being human beings can't breathe underwater. Other obvious factors are that the sea can be a dangerous place. There're things that can bite, sting, cut, snag and generally fuck a person up. Then there are the not so obvious things. Underwater navigation, oxygen poisoning, nitrogen narcosis, decompression sickness, lung overexpansion, dive time and depth, currents and a whole heap of other things. If someone thinks he can just put on the gear, jump in and swim about like The Little Mermaid is going to be seriously injured or get killed.

I watched Water Horse a few days ago. I remember thinking that the little kid was going to have severe lung injuries and quite likely ruptured ear drums as well. But that's just bitching. It is a movie after all.

I hope I can open a new world not just for myself but for Nat as well. I hope she will love it but somehow I think she will once the pressure and stress of the tests are over.

Pictures next month.

P.S. 2008 is International Year of the Reef!