Disclaimer: No underwater pics. (This saddens me too T^T)
It was an exciting day for me. Not a month has passed after getting back from my trip to Bangkok and now, I am set for another adventure: Scuba Diving.
Another first for me, I joined Extreme Outdoor Adventure this time (another travel group I found on Facebook). This is the same group I joined for my Calaguas Island trip last May of the same year, 2014. Yep, this is another uber late post. Hehehehe.
Today's destination--Anilao in Batangas. A place so famous for its diving sites because of its rich marine life. And yes, I witnessed and experienced just that. Let me share the story now. :)
We left Blue Wave Macapagal at around 4 in the morning on December 20, 2014. We had one stop over to taste one of the place's best lomi. It was good. :) We hit the road right after that and soon found ourselves staring at the sea with thoughts of the exciting activity we are all about to experience in a little while.
I've talked to some of my fellow aspiring scuba divers and learnt from them that I'm not the only first timer here. We shared and exchanged fears and laughed at ourselves while at it. It's fun. :)
Before we were allowed to go into the water, we signed waivers then listened intently to the orientation/crash course on the basics of scuba diving. We were to dive at a 20-feet depth and that we must be divided into groups ranked from our level of swimming ability.
I dare not join the first team (those who are confident with their swimming skills). I was tempted but I know I'm not that good at swimming and I am definitely sure doesn't want to endanger myself. So, I signed for the second group (the not-so good swimmers. Hehehehe)
The groupings was decided upon to help the pro divers gauge our abilities and the amount of "care" they have to give with each group. And since most of us are first timers, plus the fact that scuba diving also spells danger, ultimate care is needed.
During the orientation, I took a photo of these lovely gears. :)
After the orientation, the first group set out while the remaining groups remained at the resort. I will tell you this, we waited soooooooo long before our turns came. Apparently, setting the gear, carrying them to the diving dock, then equipping the divers with it could really take a looooooong time! If you know me, you know that I'm not very good with waiting. So, what I did was, I snorkel. Woot!
It's a shame that I don't have an underwater camera for the view underwater is sooooo soooo beautiful! I don't have to go far to see colorful fish swimming right beneath me and the pretty and much alive corals filling my eyes with colors! Words are not enough to describe them. You just have to take my word that it's pretty! Hehehe. Well, you can search Anilao diving site. For sure there will be shots of the corals and its inhabitants there. :)
It was almost 12 noon when I finally felt the chill of the December clime and decided to leave the water for awhile. It's time for lunch which was awesome, by the way. :)
I don't normally drink coffee. And especially not in the middle of the afternoon. But the wind is soo chilly my teeth are chattering. I had to have this. :)
The first group finally emerged from the water and was sharing their experience with us over lunch. My excitement is growing by the minute and I just couldn't contain it knowing that our group is next! Woot woot!
When it was finally our turn to dive, I had to stop myself from jumping up and down. I had to somehow try and become a mature adult even for once so, no jumping up and down for me. Heh!
Wearing the scuba gear, I realized just how heavy the oxygen tank is. Woah! Good thing though, the instructor told us to wear the tank while we were already in the water, so the weight was significantly reduced.
Here's a funny fact: Before wearing your goggles, it's a must that you spit on it then rub your saliva on the inner side of the goggles before rinsing it with saltwater. They said it's to be done to prevent fogging. Hahahaha! Some found it icky at first but that's not the first time that idea was introduced to me, so I quickly followed and did the deed. Hahahaha!
So what are we wearing now? Here's a rundown. Goggles, oxygen (tank and mouth piece), flippers, and weights. Yes, weights. To help us stay under the water since saltwater is naturally buoyant.
We were taught to pinch our nose then blow as though blowing out snot and allowing the air to go through your ears. Well, that was the general idea. The first time I submerged into the water, I immediately felt the pressure in my hears, so I kept on pressing my fingers in them. The instructors signaled for me to pinch my nose but the painful pressure is still there. I had keep to on surfacing and submerging until I can acclimate myself to the pressure under water. They said it's pretty normal. While there are those that can easily level the pressure, there are those like me that would always have a hard time. At first, this scares me. And, honestly, I thought I wouldn't go scuba diving again after this. The ringing in my ear remained until we were on our way back to Manila. And that was I think 6 - 8 hours after.
Again, I tried to acclimate myself with the pressure and was soon swimming really close to the corals and the fish. I enjoyed it a lot that there was a time when the pro diver had to pull me on my flippers because I was swimming a little far from the group. I had to swim back to the others and try to remain where I can see them. Hehe.
Now here are the thoughts that are running in my head during the whole experience.
1. What if there is suddenly a shark and attack us?
2. If not a shark, a sword fish then? I watched a news before of a sword fish finding itself stuck in the neck of a girl who went out snorkeling. The girl lived. The same didn't happen for the fish since they had to bring the girl to the hospital with the fish still in her neck.
3. What if I suddenly run out of oxygen?
4. What if my oxygen is enough but one of the other divers run out of oxygen and decided to snatch mine from my mouth?
5. What if.. what if..
Well, none of those happened. Thankfully. But there is one thing I hadn't anticipated that happened and it was scary.
But before that, I would like to share just how awesome scuba diving is. Well for one, I was able to touch and corals and try to reach the fish. These I couldn't do while snorkeling because I have to stay afloat to keep breathing. With scuba diving, since I have an oxygen tank on my back, I can do these things and truly enjoy the rich marine life right out of my grasp. It's awesome!
It's soooo awesome that I want everyone, every person in this planet to experience it. Soo good soo good! :D
As much as I want to delve on the good things alone, here's the inevitable bad news.
I was still swimming and exploring the world down under when one of the pro divers motioned for us to surface with his index finger pointing up. I forgot to mention that we were taught the hand signals we need to use in order to communicate while we were submerged. They're all fairly easy to remember, so we didn't have a hard time with that.
And so, we surfaced. And that's when I saw one of our fellow first time divers. Unconscious. White foam coming out of his mouth. And he's being carried by the pro divers.
Did I panic? I can't remember. All I know is that we swam back to the shore with the sight of an unconscious man plain in our views. Swimming back to the shore is not easy. Corals are really sharp and the flippers are making it all the more difficult for us when the water level only rises up to a little above my ankles. Also, now out of the water, the oxygen tank is weighing full blown on my back. And did I mention we were wearing 20-pound (I think) weights on our waists too? And the flippers! As much as they made swimming a lot easier, they make walking on corals (as uneven and as sharp as they are) equally difficult! And I can't take it off because the corals are sharp and would definitely slice my feet if I did.
All of that plus the heavy feeling of being recently out of the water plus the thought that one of us just drowned and was being rushed to the hospital. The good new is, he's alive. Bad news, he can't go back to Manila with us. We left him at the hospital after his sister went to attend to him. Yup. His sister traveled all the way from Manila to Batangas because of that grave news.
I would never want that to happen to me nor do I want my family to go through those kinds of ordeals.
After much struggle, I finally pulled myself out of the water with all of my gears intact. By this time, everybody else was in the beach waiting for us. Some of them attending to the drowned guy and some tried to help us get out of the water. As I approach, some of the girls, who I get to talk to during lunch, congratulated me for surviving. I smiled and thanked them. Well, I am congratulating myself too. But of course, not without some scratches. (I scratched my knee on the corals while trying to swim since that proved to be easier than trying to walk above the corals. At a certain depth of water of course. When it got too shallow, I had to walk with the flippers and all the weights on.) Yep, I did great indeed. *beaming*
But only now did I realize that we could've swam back to the diving dock and made all our lives easier. But since we unexpectedly surfaced a little far from the diving dock, the first thoughts in our heads is getting to the shore as fast as possible because the pro divers who are with us are moving fast and away too since they have to rush the man to the hospital. So yeah.
Here are my signature scratches. I can't seem to travel and not have at least one or two scratches here and there. :P
Despite the accident, the third group still went and took their turn. I thought of snorkeling again but the water temperature is getting higher and the wind is getting chillier. I washed up and changed clothes.
The day was generally gloomy, hence the low temperature. Because of that, this is the closest to a sunset we ever got.
Despite the would've, should've, could've been a traumatic experience, I would still love to go scuba diving again. Although I wouldn't aspire to be a professional diver, (mainly because training to have the license is such a hassle and I'm sooooo lazy to do all those) diving is one of the most fun adventures I've had so far.
And so, I am capping this story up with a smile. ^_____^
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