It is a good thing that the advanced class doesn’t start until 9:30am because there are plenty of tired people after the exploits of last night. I was one of the first people to leave last night, although I should also say I was the first person in the bar. I am not feeling very special today.
In the morning we do some short discussions on the specialty dives we can do, e.g. underwater photography and multi-level dives. With the underwater photography costing 2,000B extra for camera rental, I decide that I won’t do this, although I would really like some photos while diving.
We meet up for the dives at 1pm. We are going to Chumpon to do our 30m dive and swim with bull sharks. I only spot one, although I am told that there were a lot around the other side of the reef. However, having watched Jaws about fifty times before I was even ten years old and thus having been terrified of being attacked by sharks even when I was growing up on the beach in Florida, I am surprised that I even did this dive. I think it has something to do with herd mentality. If I had known at the time that bull sharks have more testosterone than any other animal and are responsible for more attacks on humans than any other shark, perhaps I wouldn’t have.
With the deeper dives, you use a lot more air. My breathing is not helped by the fact that I am hung-over. I actually gag at one point. I signal to Becky when my air gets to 50 Bar and we start to go back toward the boat. However, we do not ascend very much, and by the time we get to the buoy line to do our 3 minute safety stop at 5 metres, I am having real trouble breathing with my air down to 20 bar. I signal that I have a problem, and Becky signals to take her alternate supply line. I reach out for it, but I accidentally release her personal pink weight belt, which sinks down to the bottom, although I didn’t realise it at the time. I start to breathe slowly and calm down, and do the 5m safety stop on her alternate.
When I find out I had released her weight belt, I am apologetic, although I feel less so when she tells me I might have to pay for it. I did feel she was a little bit responsible for not ascending quickly enough when I signaled I was low on air, although I was probably using more air than even I normally would. It is surprising how much more air you use when you go lower, although we had been warned about it. I was only down for 25 minutes, when on the first course each of our dives was 40 minutes. Becky also tells me that I am underweighted and that I was using more energy because I was using my arms to much. For the next dive I add another kg.
The next dive I do is with Tavis, one of the Canadians, as we are now going on our own in our ‘buddy’ groups. Before we split though, we do some exercises including navigating using the compass to go in a square. For some reason, after going toward 30 degrees, I insist to Tavis that the right angle turn is at 260, and not 330. I am obviously not thinking straight.
However, for this dive I feel more personally in control, and I am regularly checking my air. We are only diving to a max of 18m for this one, so we use less. Toward the end of the dive, there is a swim through tunnel in the coral which Tavis signals towards. I go to follow, but stop to equalize, and I bang my knee against the coral cutting it deeply. Blood seeps out as we ascend, although it is not too bad as there aren’t many blood vessels in the knee area I guess.
After a one hour break on shore, we go to a night dive. Armed only with torches, we descend into the darkness, cruelly spotlighting resting sea life. We stop for a moment at the bottom, turn off the torches, and wave our arms to create luminescent bubbles, which reflect any moonlight that reaches down there. It is quite spooky, but I am with Cookie at the back of the group and probably see less than the others. Also, I am not feeling very confident after my first dives of the day, so am probably concentrating on myself more.
No comments:
Post a Comment