Dive trip:1
Location: Pulau Dayang
Date: 12 - 15 June 2009
Number of dives: 5
Dive 1
Dive 1
Depth: 8.5m
R.T.: N.A
B.T.: 40 mins
The first dive ever underwater. We went through the drills of rigging up the equipment. 1 week after the pool session where we only did a minimal run-through of rigging up, I had almost forgotten everything.
Luckily the instructors were on hand to help with some reminders. After we were all ready, we stepped into the water one by one. As this was our first dive, we weren't allowed to do a free descent. Instead, the instructors had the trainees hold on to a descent line.
The max depth was only 8.5 metres. As we needed a place to test our drills underwater, we were brought to a shallow site with a seabed that resembled a desert. There were some corals left, but mostly, there were only debris, remains of corals trampled by repeated batches of open water learner divers.
All in all, this first dive took around 40 minutes. Much of the time was spent on demonstrating what we had learned in the pool out here one by one. As was the case during the pool session, the seven drills of exhaling without regulator, purging regulator, half-mask clearing, full mask clearing, mask retrieval, two methods of regulator retrieval were easily performed.
With some time left, Freddie the instructor told us to experience pivoting. It's basically lying face down on the seabed and try moving the upper body using just inhalation and exhalation. This was sort of a prelude to achieving neutral buoyancy.
Dive 2
Depth: 15.1m
R.T.: 11 mins
B.T.: 23 mins
Dive 2 was half leisure half practice since most of the drills were done during the first dive. Sadly things didn't go so well.
Firstly I had some trouble with mask clearing. As I was clearing my mask, I closed my eyes and finned continuously so as to not step on the corals below me. As I open my eyes after clearing, I noticed that I had ascended several metres. Fortunately we were still at a shallow depth and this did not cause any problems with regards to DCS or lung-expansion injuries.
Then I got split up with the group. I saw my dive buddy ascend and wasn't sure what to do. As the instructor signalled for me to level off, I misunderstood it as staying put. After a while I realised that I was alone. At this moment I noticed another group of trainees not far away and decided to join them. My unexpected gatecrashing led to some surprises as the instructor Noel asked me to stay with his group after surfacing to discuss with Freddie.
After I surfaced, I was told that my group had surfaced because two divers felt sick and were unable to continue. I felt bad because in a sense I did not take care of my buddy and had lost her. If this was a leisure dive with no instructor, the result might have been fatal. Dive buddies must always stay with and take care of each other. It was an important lesson.
Dive 3
Depth: 10m
R.T.: 37 mins
B.T.: 22 mins
The third and last dive of the day started off well. Having switched back to my original buddy, we basically swam around taking in the sights. After all the drama from the previous dive, we finally got some time to relax and just enjoy. Visibility was quite bad, though we still managed to managed to see some big fishes, particularly one that looked like a gigantic "Luo Han."
However, half way through the dive, my buddy felt sick again. He started ascending very quickly and I had to pull him back. Even in his discomfort it was potentially dangerous to surface quickly. Before I knew it, he vomited in my face. Luckily we were in the water and the stuff dispersed before it hit me. I quickly turned around hoping to inform the instructor of this predicament. But as we were lagging behind due to his discomfort, the instructor was too far in front for me to be able to inform him while Boon kept ascending. At that split second, I was at a loss. Should I leave him just for a while to inform the instructor or should I stay with him and go up.
Remembering the previous dive, I decided to stay with him. As we surfaced I tried to get him to do a safety stop of staying at 5 metres for 3 minutes, but he was too sick to do it. In the end we went straight up to the surface. After we surfaced I accompanied him and we swam to the boat waiting for us. Making sure that he was fine, I tried to descend to search for the instructor and the other two other trainees. Yet visibility was too poor and I had no choice but to surface and wait.
Soon after Freddie, Lydia and William surfaced. Freddie was glad that we were fine and told us that we gave him a serious fright when he turned around and found two divers missing. In the end, we were just glad that everyone was O.K and Freddie made sure he'd inform us of the lost buddy drill.
Dive 4
Depth: 15m
R.T.: N.A
B.T. 33 mins
After an eventful first day, we were all hoping that the second day would be better with the much needed rest. As we were in a little rush for time, the second day started out early as we were on the jetty ready to go as dawn was just breaking.
With all the problems of the previous day, we were left with one last drill yet to be completed; the Emergency Buoyant Ascent. This drill was left to the end of the dive as we began our leisure dives.
It was uneventful in the positive sense as we basically swam around just looking at fishes and corals. The most interesting part would have to be the encounter with a Trigger Fish. It's a fish that is highly territorial and is well-known to attack the odd diver that trespasses into its area. It took a bite of Lydia's fins as we tried to remove ourselves from its home.
As we moved around, Freddie tried to look for a suitable spot for the EBA drill. When we finally found a bald patch of the seabed, we carried out the drill one by one, surfacing and staying up since this was near the end of the dive. I was the last one to go up. As I waited for my turn, I used the opportunity to try out the "Seating Buddha." It's a maneuver whereby we sit cross-legged while floating in the water. Using breathing techniques as well as a perfectly inflated BC, this maneuver can only be achieved when neutral buoyancy is attained. That is to say you basically hover at a level, moving up and down only slightly, in tune with your breathing.
I was incredibly happy when I succeeded in attaining nirvana. Neutral buoyancy is an important skill in diving as it allows us to dive without having the need to fin continuously, saving energy, effort and most importantly the corals because one wouldn't run the danger of sinking and damaging the corals in a moment of concentration loss.
Then it was my turn to perform the EBA. It all went well until the last part when I forgot to manually inflate the BC at the surface. But other than this minor glitch, it was the best dive up to this point.
Dive 5
After an eventful first day, we were all hoping that the second day would be better with the much needed rest. As we were in a little rush for time, the second day started out early as we were on the jetty ready to go as dawn was just breaking.
With all the problems of the previous day, we were left with one last drill yet to be completed; the Emergency Buoyant Ascent. This drill was left to the end of the dive as we began our leisure dives.
It was uneventful in the positive sense as we basically swam around just looking at fishes and corals. The most interesting part would have to be the encounter with a Trigger Fish. It's a fish that is highly territorial and is well-known to attack the odd diver that trespasses into its area. It took a bite of Lydia's fins as we tried to remove ourselves from its home.
As we moved around, Freddie tried to look for a suitable spot for the EBA drill. When we finally found a bald patch of the seabed, we carried out the drill one by one, surfacing and staying up since this was near the end of the dive. I was the last one to go up. As I waited for my turn, I used the opportunity to try out the "Seating Buddha." It's a maneuver whereby we sit cross-legged while floating in the water. Using breathing techniques as well as a perfectly inflated BC, this maneuver can only be achieved when neutral buoyancy is attained. That is to say you basically hover at a level, moving up and down only slightly, in tune with your breathing.
I was incredibly happy when I succeeded in attaining nirvana. Neutral buoyancy is an important skill in diving as it allows us to dive without having the need to fin continuously, saving energy, effort and most importantly the corals because one wouldn't run the danger of sinking and damaging the corals in a moment of concentration loss.
Then it was my turn to perform the EBA. It all went well until the last part when I forgot to manually inflate the BC at the surface. But other than this minor glitch, it was the best dive up to this point.
Dive 5
Depth: 18m
R.T.: 24 mins
B.T.: 36 mins
A check of on the dive table would reveal that our final dive of the trip and course surpassed the allowed no-decompression limits. Fortunately, using a dive computer allowed us to maximise our diving time.
The dive started out with one of the biggest bloopers of this trip; we left my dive buddy on land as we took the boat out to the dive site. I felt horrible. Though I didn't lose a buddy in the waters, somehow I managed to leave him out of the dive altogether. So much for lesson learnt. Luckily we only just moved off when we realised that he was missing so we went back for him.
With all drills truly finished, and most of the dives in shallower depth, Freddie told us that he would bring us to the maximum depth possible for open water divers. As we entered the water, we realised that the last dive was going to be slightly more difficult as we were experiencing strong currents both on the surface and, likely, under the water as well.
Still, other the hiccup at the beginning, the experience of the previous dive was still fresh as we looked forward to another great dive. By now we had been doing free descents and this dive was the same. After we descended to the bottom we started swimming around. We followed the gradient of the seabed and gradually descended deeper into the waters.
All the while, I was trying to attained neutral buoyancy but to no avail. Most attention was spent on trying not to hit the corals and following the instructor. I didn't lose out on much as it turned out, at a depth of 18 metres, the seabed was like desert, with some corals spread out sporadically, but mainly just sand and nothing else.
Then we realised what Freddie had meant when he said that he preferred diving at a shallower depth. Even so, the experience was worthwhile as we stay as long as the amount of air allowed us to, including having a safety stop. When we surfaced, I only had 30 bars of air left. That was almost an empty tank.
With that we concluded our first dive trip and open water course.
A check of on the dive table would reveal that our final dive of the trip and course surpassed the allowed no-decompression limits. Fortunately, using a dive computer allowed us to maximise our diving time.
The dive started out with one of the biggest bloopers of this trip; we left my dive buddy on land as we took the boat out to the dive site. I felt horrible. Though I didn't lose a buddy in the waters, somehow I managed to leave him out of the dive altogether. So much for lesson learnt. Luckily we only just moved off when we realised that he was missing so we went back for him.
With all drills truly finished, and most of the dives in shallower depth, Freddie told us that he would bring us to the maximum depth possible for open water divers. As we entered the water, we realised that the last dive was going to be slightly more difficult as we were experiencing strong currents both on the surface and, likely, under the water as well.
Still, other the hiccup at the beginning, the experience of the previous dive was still fresh as we looked forward to another great dive. By now we had been doing free descents and this dive was the same. After we descended to the bottom we started swimming around. We followed the gradient of the seabed and gradually descended deeper into the waters.
All the while, I was trying to attained neutral buoyancy but to no avail. Most attention was spent on trying not to hit the corals and following the instructor. I didn't lose out on much as it turned out, at a depth of 18 metres, the seabed was like desert, with some corals spread out sporadically, but mainly just sand and nothing else.
Then we realised what Freddie had meant when he said that he preferred diving at a shallower depth. Even so, the experience was worthwhile as we stay as long as the amount of air allowed us to, including having a safety stop. When we surfaced, I only had 30 bars of air left. That was almost an empty tank.
With that we concluded our first dive trip and open water course.
1 comment:
wow, your dive trip was so eventful. the pictures couldn't show all the drama. :) glad that everyone was alright.
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