"Say that I am mortal, as you are. It has been revealed to me that your Lord is one God. Let all those who hope to meet their Lord, do what is right, and worship only him."-Qu'ran, Al-Kahf, Chapter 18:110
It came to me how mortal I am on the recent trip to Tioman. Went there this Friday and just came back Sunday afternoon. I was supposed to do my open water certification there, but really while things on the first day were going on well, things got out of hand the second day. Before going on to the second day, let me just describe a bit on the first day.
We arrived at about 8 plus am and had to wait till the afternoon for the first dive. So, given that I hadn't had any sleep the past night, I had a rest first while the others went snorkling. Maybe I should have gone with them to build up my open water confidence but I don't think I was really worried about depth so much.
Anyway, we went for our first dive in Marine Park to explore the wrecks. Rigging up on a rocking boat is very different from the pool dive experience and similarly doing the jump from the boat. Given I hate heights, had to overcome my fear of jumping. However, once in the calm water, I was fine and we went down by line descent to about 60 feet. The visibility wasn't that great, maybe around 5 to 10 m and there were a lot of "dust" being kicked around as we learn to find our bouyancy control. We didn't see much of the sea creatures but there were schools of small fishes and some bigger (and more colourful) fishes around the wrecks. Besides I managed to go very close to the wrecks and see what were developing on wrecks.
Our second dive was a night dive. That was challenging...we were diving at Renggis and we were supposed to do a free descent. However, the current was strong and we were swept away. In fact, two of our party, Ivy and Chee Weng, got lost and it was quite scary since we had only the lights to guide us. But at last we got together and managed to descend. At night, visibility is poor and you can't see much of the colours on the corals as you would during the day. We did see lots of sea urchins and a few barracudas plus some other smaller fishes and sea cucumbers. Night diving is definitely more challenging as I keep mistaking someone else as my buddy and bouyancy control is not as easy (well for me anyway).
But overall both dives were fun and exciting. It was on the second day that things went awry. We went off in the morning to Magician Rock. The water was very choppy and current was really fast. I jumped out of the boat and immediately got swept away from the boat. The waves made me quite seasick and a little panicky. So I aborted my dive while the rest went down. Unluckily for me, the water was really very clear and there were lots to see down there.
Anyway, we moved on to Labas and after about 30 minutes surface time for the others, we went for another dive. This time, I managed to go down (again free descent) and it was worth it. Went to about 60 feet max and saw really lots of interesting stuff. Once, our dive instructor caught hold of one turtle who was curious enough to swim close to us and we got to touch it. I managed to spot a sting ray on the sea bed and pointed it to my buddy, Beverley. We also saw a couple of dogfishes, clown fishes and really a range of hard and soft corals. Saw a giant clam too with fishes swimming in and out of it. Then our instructor took us through the little "holes" of the rock formations and we spotted a blue spotted sting ray. Just as we emerged, we were confronted by a school of fishes (in Malay, they are called Kerisi...not sure the English name).
So I was enjoying the view while keeping an eye on my gauge. Saw that it was below 1000 and indicated to my buddy and diving instructor. The instructor told me that I had at least about 20 minutes of air and we were close to the surface since we were decompressing. But a few minutes later, I felt myself rising above the rest and tried to signal to Beverley. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach her or the others. When I tried to take a breather to swim to her, I found myself out of air. Since I was about two metres from the surface, I made a choice to go up to surface. Wrong choice coz I panicked on the surface since I couldn't see anyone and the boat was far away. I totally forgot my training to ditch the weightbelt and do bobbing. By the time Beverley, Ivy and Chee Weng arrived on the surface, I was in full blown panic mode. I was gasping for air as I can't seem to stay afloat and drank in quite a bit of sea water. I really thought I might die then.
Thank god for them as they managed to pull me to the lifebuoy that the boatmen casted out. This incident taught me a few things in diving:
1. Always check your gauge/equipment; make sure that it is not faulty.
2. Have your buddy nearby because you never know when such emergency cases can arise.
3. Don't panic; before diving in and even while diving, ensure you rehearse the safety procedure and follow it.
Can't emphasise more on safety...make sure your equipment is well maintained. My gauge was faulty as it didn't go below 500 when the tank was empty.
Anyway, once I got back on land, I went to pray; really God was merciful and saved my life through Chee Weng and Beverley. We had a good long rest and then went out for an afternoon dive. I was resolved to get back in the water to concur my fears but as fate would have it, the moment I was about to dive, I heard a leak in my bc. Told my instructor but he reassured me that the leak was little and I shouldn't have much problem with it. So, taking his word, I jumped down into the water. Upon my emergence, there was a loud bang and hissing behind me. The pressure gauge hose burst. I can't tell you the fear that drove into me. Already I had nearly drowned earlier because of the gauge and now with the burst hose and bc leak, it really overwhelmed me. So I stayed on board while the rest went down.
So all in all, I only did three dives in total. I still want to dive but this time, I think I'll make sure that the equipment is good and a good buddy is with me. Hopefully, my future sister-in-law might want to learn; if so, I wouldn't mind taking it with her.
That's it for now.
Peace,
Sid
No comments:
Post a Comment