My wife and I travelled with Tours (Vietnam and Asia) to Thailand this spring, and had been pleasantly surprised by the very reasonable price of our holiday, which was much less than we had anticipated for such a high quality, wholly private tour, part cultural sightseeing, and part beach holiday. Unbeknownst to me, however, my wife Julie, taking up the slack in our budget, had been in secret discussions with our very amiable tour designer to arrange a surprise birthday present of a scuba diving course, something I had long dreamed of trying, but never really expected to fulfil.
This amazing surprise was unveiled when we reached Koh Tao, a lovely laid back island off Thailand's eastern coast, with superbly warm tropical waters and extensive reefs. The Open Water Diving Course was taken as part of a group class, with a supremely gifted American NAUI-certified dive instructor, ably assisted by a wickedly humorous Australian dive master, both with a palpably genuine enthusiasm in imparting their considerable diving knowledge and sensitive depth of understanding of the ocean and the life within it.
With seven dives over four days, it was a busy schedule, but before even donning the supplied scuba gear there was much to learn in preparation, with detailed explanations of the various aspects of the scuba equipment, responsible diving etiquette, oceanographic environmental training, and thorough safety instruction, including the importance of depth tables, pressure equalisation and potential hazards such as rapid decompression and embolism, all of which I was scrupulously tested upon before entering the water.
Before diving we had a session in the shallow waters, just offshore of a lovely beach, in which we were taught the fundamental and absolutely essential skill of exhaling a flooded mask, vital if your mask fills with water during a dive. We were then each individually tested for our natural buoyancy and given appropriate counter weights. As a thin individual, my nominal 1 kilo weight eventually had to be entirely discarded as I proved to have negative buoyancy. (Unlike the other, more robust, members of the class, I naturally sank instead of floated!)
Our first dive was a shallow 3m affair, trawling along the sand during which we practiced underwater communication, orientation from shapes in the ocean floor, and familiarising ourselves with using our regulators and buoyancy control jackets. In the afternoon, we were taught several basic rescue techniques, such as sharing a regulator in an emergency, and towing an 'unconscious' volunteer to the shore using the correct method. After mastering these, we were then treated to a highly enjoyable recreational dive over the teeming corals to a depth of 6m.
At the end of the first day I was handed the dauntingly voluminous NAUI Work Book and informed that, in order to be certified as a diver, I would be questioned in considerable detail on the contents with 85 questions on undisclosed topics at the end of the course. At first I was rather taken aback by the depth of knowledge I would have to assimilate, but resolved myself to study hard, during which Julie commendably suffered my rather distracted companionship and gave me encouragement by picking random pages and playfully mock-testing me.
Over the following three days, diving ever deeper, I developed my initially haphazard fin technique and acquired more relaxed and efficient breathing. I began to really get the hang of things and my lingering initial lack of confidence finally disappeared during my 4th dive, during which, in a 'rush' of weightless freedom, I joyously began to somersault underwater, revolving slowly through my own laughter-bubbles. We also saw an enthralling variety of marine life.
Further dives involved practising a controlled ascent with decompression stops and, for me, the scariest part of the course: removing my mask, all of my breathing and buoyancy apparatus, leaving them on the sea floor at a depth of 10m, and ascending to the surface unaided. Before commencing this exercise, it was explained that a lungful of air taken from the tank at that depth was equivalent to an entire roomful at normal surface pressure, which if held, could explode the lungs, and that successfully executing this 'emergency' ascent depended on a relaxed and gradual release of breath during the carefully timed rise, whilst ensuring sufficient remaining supply to reach the surface.
Our final dive was supposed to take us to 18m, but on checking my depth gauge, it was closer to 21! I didn't make an issue of this with my instructor, though, as he knew what he was doing, and I was enjoying it immensely! Afterward, I filled out my exam questionnaire, and spent a troubled night worrying over it. I was thrilled next morning to learn that I had passed and was presented with my treasured certificate and Open Water Diver's Card.
My diving experience was undoubtedly the best present I have ever had, and I will be eternally grateful to Julie for her insight into my character. Credit is also due to Haivenu for their willingness to conspire with her, and their impeccable organisation of a fantastic holiday, of which my dive was the personal highlight of an altogether incredible journey.
