4 - 7 Jan 2013
After 5days of partying and sleeping in all day we were getting bored and sick of our dark and dingy room with a horrible drain smell coming from the bathroom. We also didn't want to be spending $20 a night which was double the price of our budget. So off we went the day before we were due to check out walking around trying to find something cheaper. I think we spent an hr going in and our of guesthouse after guesthouse - not a single one was lower then 800 baht! They were all a 1000 baht or higher or fully booked out. Omg, I had no idea how expensive it was going to be for us in Thailand. We then decided to go back to our place and try and book in for longer, but sadly as it was the only cheap place around they had already booked out our room. Fuck. So we ended up finding this place called Cheap Charlies for 750 baht a night. The room was massive and really nice but there were no sheets and they charged extra for them.
Our diving course began on Friday 4th Jan and I was feeling extremely nervous for it. I had done diving when I was in primary school in the local swimming pool and I had hated it! Breathing through the regulator just felt so strange to me and I didn't think I would ever do it again. Yet here I was, enrolled in an open water divers course.
The first day was spend mainly all on theory. We did get in the pool after lunch to begin learning some skills but I freaked out instantly and couldn't get my breathing under control. It just felt so wrong to be breathing only from my mouth and I constantly felt out of breath sitting dead still. As I struggled with just the breathing I found the skills terrifying, then I started shaking from the cold and the instructor said we should get out, finish our theory and try for the pool again tomorrow. We did have two days for the pool stuff after all.
The second day was much better. I took a little longer to get the hang of breathing but once I did I was fine. I started to complete each skill one by one and we managed to finish everything required by 4pm! The scariest skills by far were always to do with the mask. Having to take that off your face then put it back on and empty the water all the while deep down below the surface is such a scary feeling. Still I managed to do it - as scared as I was to start with. By the end of the day I was feeling way confident and so ready to hit the open water!
Sunday was our first day and we did 3 open water dives at Raya Island. The visibility was great and we some amazing sea life. I was loving every minute under the water and always felt so disappointed when it was time to come up. That feeling of floating under the sea next to the sea life is indescribable. It is something everyone has to experience.
We had an American underwater photographer with us that day who was taking pictures of divers and sea life and would sell them for 1500 baht which I thought was crazy expensive so Sam and I just concentrated on learning to dive and ignored her when she swam past us. We also had Miss Germany 2008 on board with us who wore a mermaid suit then would swim underwater for photos. She didn't have any scuba gear on her so she'd just hold her breath while posing with scuba divers. It was quite amusing!
At the end of the day I had a conversation with the photographer about housing and underwater photography which has now sparked my interest in the field. I'm thinking of doing an underwater photography course when I get back to Sydney. I obviously need to do more diving as well to get better at my buoyancy but I totally think this is something I can really do. I saw her pics at the end of the day and they were spectacular! I mean we got up so close to the marine life and swam side by side with them and they weren't even afraid of us which would make it very easy to take photos.It's going to be an expensive hobby though, her underwater housing cost her a measly $5k.
Our second day open water diving was the best! We went to the Phi Phi Islands which was cool because Sam got to see them. I've been there done that back in 2011 when I was on a Thai holiday but Sam obviously never has. It was also a completely different way to experience Phi Phi deep down under the sea. You see a whole new side! The marine life was even more spectacular then Raya Island. We saw three massive sea turtles on our first dive! The first was swimming and we got to go right up next to him and practically swim with him - I was spewing so bad I couldn't have my camera with me. We saw so many different types of fish, coral, eels and even a sea snake! Our guide had us swimming through these crazy tunnels of coral and we did it brilliantly which makes me think we've got our buoyancy under control pretty good!
We did 6 open water dives in total, 3 at Raya and 3 at Phi Phi. Our last dive was at Shark Point which was our guides favourite dive site. You can see a spectacular amount of sea life there and so much fan coral. The current was too strong for us though and a french beginner diver ran our of air so we had to bail and swim back earlier. Sam and I both used more air then usual which we were told is normal when swimming against a current.
So now we're official open water divers! I cannot believe how amazing diving is, I want to do it every day! We can't afford to do anymore in Thailand as it's too expensive here but we're totally going for our advanced certificates in Vietnam!
After 5days of partying and sleeping in all day we were getting bored and sick of our dark and dingy room with a horrible drain smell coming from the bathroom. We also didn't want to be spending $20 a night which was double the price of our budget. So off we went the day before we were due to check out walking around trying to find something cheaper. I think we spent an hr going in and our of guesthouse after guesthouse - not a single one was lower then 800 baht! They were all a 1000 baht or higher or fully booked out. Omg, I had no idea how expensive it was going to be for us in Thailand. We then decided to go back to our place and try and book in for longer, but sadly as it was the only cheap place around they had already booked out our room. Fuck. So we ended up finding this place called Cheap Charlies for 750 baht a night. The room was massive and really nice but there were no sheets and they charged extra for them.
Our diving course began on Friday 4th Jan and I was feeling extremely nervous for it. I had done diving when I was in primary school in the local swimming pool and I had hated it! Breathing through the regulator just felt so strange to me and I didn't think I would ever do it again. Yet here I was, enrolled in an open water divers course.
The first day was spend mainly all on theory. We did get in the pool after lunch to begin learning some skills but I freaked out instantly and couldn't get my breathing under control. It just felt so wrong to be breathing only from my mouth and I constantly felt out of breath sitting dead still. As I struggled with just the breathing I found the skills terrifying, then I started shaking from the cold and the instructor said we should get out, finish our theory and try for the pool again tomorrow. We did have two days for the pool stuff after all.
The second day was much better. I took a little longer to get the hang of breathing but once I did I was fine. I started to complete each skill one by one and we managed to finish everything required by 4pm! The scariest skills by far were always to do with the mask. Having to take that off your face then put it back on and empty the water all the while deep down below the surface is such a scary feeling. Still I managed to do it - as scared as I was to start with. By the end of the day I was feeling way confident and so ready to hit the open water!
Sunday was our first day and we did 3 open water dives at Raya Island. The visibility was great and we some amazing sea life. I was loving every minute under the water and always felt so disappointed when it was time to come up. That feeling of floating under the sea next to the sea life is indescribable. It is something everyone has to experience.
We had an American underwater photographer with us that day who was taking pictures of divers and sea life and would sell them for 1500 baht which I thought was crazy expensive so Sam and I just concentrated on learning to dive and ignored her when she swam past us. We also had Miss Germany 2008 on board with us who wore a mermaid suit then would swim underwater for photos. She didn't have any scuba gear on her so she'd just hold her breath while posing with scuba divers. It was quite amusing!
At the end of the day I had a conversation with the photographer about housing and underwater photography which has now sparked my interest in the field. I'm thinking of doing an underwater photography course when I get back to Sydney. I obviously need to do more diving as well to get better at my buoyancy but I totally think this is something I can really do. I saw her pics at the end of the day and they were spectacular! I mean we got up so close to the marine life and swam side by side with them and they weren't even afraid of us which would make it very easy to take photos.It's going to be an expensive hobby though, her underwater housing cost her a measly $5k.
Our second day open water diving was the best! We went to the Phi Phi Islands which was cool because Sam got to see them. I've been there done that back in 2011 when I was on a Thai holiday but Sam obviously never has. It was also a completely different way to experience Phi Phi deep down under the sea. You see a whole new side! The marine life was even more spectacular then Raya Island. We saw three massive sea turtles on our first dive! The first was swimming and we got to go right up next to him and practically swim with him - I was spewing so bad I couldn't have my camera with me. We saw so many different types of fish, coral, eels and even a sea snake! Our guide had us swimming through these crazy tunnels of coral and we did it brilliantly which makes me think we've got our buoyancy under control pretty good!
We did 6 open water dives in total, 3 at Raya and 3 at Phi Phi. Our last dive was at Shark Point which was our guides favourite dive site. You can see a spectacular amount of sea life there and so much fan coral. The current was too strong for us though and a french beginner diver ran our of air so we had to bail and swim back earlier. Sam and I both used more air then usual which we were told is normal when swimming against a current.
So now we're official open water divers! I cannot believe how amazing diving is, I want to do it every day! We can't afford to do anymore in Thailand as it's too expensive here but we're totally going for our advanced certificates in Vietnam!
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