The Nance and Ralphinator visit in June

It’s been a long month. Let’s start from the beginning.

My friend Kevin had been staying with me for about 3 weeks, starting in the beginning of June. He taught with me in Indonesia and Thailand, and needed a place to chill out a couple weeks before heading to Ireland. He came to my glorious hut only days after I had another friend (from Indo and Thailand), Ian visit for a couple days. We quickly convinced Kevin to dive, and within the time here he was practically working at the dive shop. It was great having a friend around, watching him learn to dive, and have someone to go out with.

Dive training is still going strong, and I’ve finished all of my theory tests, most of my water stamina, and started working on my skills and diving leadership.

I also had my parents come to visit me (finally!) it’s only been 2.5 years since I moved to asia, but I guess it’s better late than never! Since only 3 people read this, two of which are my parents, the other, Grandma, I assume Nancy has already told you everything about everything…

With Nancy and Ralph we went to Kuala Lumpur for a couple days, Borneo for a couple more days seeing orangutans, and river cruises in hunts for other monkeys, and then to the perhentian islands for some sun, scuba and milkshakes. It was nice to finally be able to show them where I live, how I live, and why I love it here…

But now the month is over, I’m closer to finishing my course, and ready to head off into the working world again. Well, head off means stay right here, and working means… diving J

Not a bad gig overall.

I’ll try to add more information as it comes, but now it’s

Wake up. Dive. Rest. Dive. Eat. Dive. Eat. Sleep.

Repeat.

Some Photos

Nemo

Pufferfish

Batfish

"Ok!"

Daily Life

Alarm: 7 am. Snooze. Kick out my feet from the blanket, it’s not as cold as it used to be.

Alarm: 7:10 am. Throw blanket off of me, it’s getting too warm in the room. Snooze.

Alarm: 7:20 am. Snooze. Roll on side to allow trapped heat under me to escape, cooling my back.

Alarm: 7:30 am. Look up through the hole in the roof to try to determine if it’s raining, so I can sleep in. Snooze.

Alarm: 7:40 am… The first of many morning rituals here on the island. It starts with the joyous feeling of being cold. Somewhere in the 5-6 am time frame, I turn over, cover my feet and use my little blanket to stay warm. Then, at about 7:00am, the power goes off, and the alarm turns on.

Once I have realized its too warm to continue sleeping, I drag myself out of bed and to the bathroom across the lawn for the morning release and brushing my teeth. Then I go up, find the least smelly shirt, throw it on and tie up my board shorts. I’m already sweating, too tired to face the direct sunlight and hungry. I cross the lawn, cross the little bridge over what used to be flooded, but now is a swamp and to the shop. Up the wooden steps and then I step in the cool buckets of water to wash your feet free of sand before entering the shop. I’m one of 2-3 people here, one of the first. The shop is still locked, which means no coffee. No biscuits… Task one: sweep the floor. It’s a slightly ridiculous task, sweeping off sand from the shop, since it’s on the beach so there is no way to control the sand. It simply falls beneath the cracks.

Once someone with the key comes, we open up, boil some water and get the biscuits and coffee out. It’s what fuels the early morning dives. Bring out some merchandise, and open the gear room. If you have a dive that day, you set up the equipment, if you’re assisting, you get it ready, but leave it for the students to set up. Then you set your equipment up, check the board to see who is going where and when, then make a coffee, grab some cookies, and zone out while everyone else slowly arrives.
We have an amazing view, yet always decide to shut the screen because the morning sun is too hot. Dripping with sweat by 8:30 am isn’t as fun as you might think. We lounge around until divers are here, dropping eyes and big smiles, excited to check out the waters. It’s not a bad place to work, since most customers know diving is all about the conditions, and luck. Most are just happy to be in the water.

We work through the day doing different tasks. Being a DMT (Dive Master Trainee) I am at the bottom, scrubbing bins, picking up trash, cleaning equipment, getting everything ready, grading tests, getting students set up, discussing different topics about diving and theory to the students, cleaning, sweeping, and studying.
As a DMT I am a third student, a third shop employee and a third servant. It’s part of the territory. Today some people are going to Temple. Sunrise dive, luckily I didn’t have to wake up for that. In the afternoon is T3, a nice boulder playground with lots of swim-throughs. The afternoon rounds off with D’Lagoon, a nice hard coral reef with sandy outskirts, home to some nice fish. Not a bad day…

Sunset from Long Beach

Student Divers

Open Water Scuba Divers. These people come into the shop with little to no experience in diving. They want to check it out, see what it’s all about. They’re the most exhausting students to teach, and the most rewarding. As a DMT all I can do is assist the course, helping out the trained and qualified instructors as they see fit.

Day 1: Theory, Videos, Quizzes, Theory, Video Quizzes. Nothing to do but make sure they’re in the classroom and watching, and go over the questions with them.

Day 2: Confined skills 1-5. These are skills done, underwater and on the surface, in 2 meters of water. It’s to train them how to use scuba in a controlled environment, with no risk of danger.

Day 3: Open water dives 1 and 2. These take you deeper, 10-12 meters, continuing education on skills, problem solving and technique.

Day 4: Dives 3 and 4. These continue to develop skills, techniques and problems, go deeper to 18 meters, and also let you enjoy the fun of being underwater, checking out fish and looking for some interesting marine life.

Within 4 days you can be certified to dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters. Not a bad course, and it’s fun. For the students, many are thrilled just to be in the water. They don’t care about anything else. Breathing underwater is cool, no matter where you do it. For the instructors, you get to see people really grow and develop their skills. For a trainee, you get to spend hours sitting in sand, holding people down, babysitting, chasing after people who sink or float, grabbing lost equipment, helping people in and out of the boat, carrying anything needed, giving proper examples of how to do underwater and surface skills, and more sitting in the sand, holding people down, pushing them up, dragging them left and right, trying your best not to let them devastate the coral around them, as they try desperately to perfect their buoyancy…

My first course was three Danish guys, about 20 years old. The first challenge came in fitting gear to them. None of them were under 6’3’’. They had huge feet, and were too tall for our wetsuits. We did out best to give them gear that fit, and convinced them it’s much cooler to dive in shorts. We briefed them on all the videos, they took their quizzes and passed all tests. Then it was to the water. Keeping them in the confined area was hard enough, because on their knees they pretty much broke the surface of the water, yet we can’t take them any deeper. Learning how to hover and swim in water they can stand up in isn’t the easiest task, but it’s manageable.

During the open water dives it was easier, more room to swim around. Easier for them. As a DMT I am told to stay behind, watching for possible problems. And yes, there can be MANY problems. One starts to get too buoyant and is drifting up to the surface. This is dangerous if they ascend too fast, and can cause serious medical issues. Dart up, grab his BCD (vest to help you control buoyancy). Deflate and push him down, while telling him to equalize. Then you see on sinking fast. Dart down as fast as you can to grab his tank and pull him up, before he crushes the small table coral formations below him. Crisis averted… for now. One more goes up, one goes down, one tries doing a backflip and ends up sinking upside down, one gets too close to dangerous (mainly painful) corals and you have to grab and spin him out of the way, then one is missing. Where is he? At the surface, he shot up when no one was looking. It’s like babysitting a bunch of 5 year old giants.

But soon they get better. There is lest drifting up and down, more stability, better control of buoyancy and demonstration of skills. Then they can enjoy seeing the schools of snapper, or giant pufferfish. A blue-spotted stingray tries to hide from them, but they are learning to find signs of life. They even get to see huge bumphead parrotfish and a small turtle. They realize with control, confidence and staying relaxed they can enjoy the dive and natural life. You realize, that all the help you have been giving, and the instructor teaching them, that they are becoming capable divers. It’s rewarding to know that you helped them out, and when you surface from the final dive, they’re excited and ready to go out and celebrate. It’s a fun feeling, helping people control and perfect a new set of skills and knowledge new to them. Also, you get to live on the beach.

I have also helped during the Advanced Open Water course, where the divers are already certified and learning to fine-tune their skills. They can choose from deep dives, wreck dives, drift dives, night dives, multi-level dives, learning about underwater photography, or videography, and more. It’s a great way for a diver to start getting into a specialty that he or she really likes. And gives you much more variety on where you can dive, and what you can do. Helping on those is easy, because the divers are more confident and have already gone open water training and some even have had some extra fun diving experience. What’s great is now they can go deeper, see more things, and they are just as excited as the new open water students.

Soon I’ll get to help out on a refresher course (dad) and maybe even a discover scuba (mom) which is for people who have never been diving in their lives, and learn the theory and skill they need for one single dive, all in one day.

The school part for me is fun also. I have learned about the equipment, dive theory, recreational dive planning, advanced dives and specialty dives, programs through PADI and what I can and cannot do. One great thing I was able to be a part of was the Stress Dive for the DMT who is about to finish his course. This is a dive, like any other, but where anything, and everything go wrong. It’s a group of instructors, DM’s and experienced divers. They are briefed on what to do underwater, and the DMT has to handle all situations as best he can. Dave is the DMT about to finish, and the divers were Taz, his instructor, Brian and Kan, a DM and experienced diver from the US/Thailand, his girlfriend Sue (Advanced). From a lost diver, to panic, to losing equipment, getting stuck in rope, trying to pick up dangerous things, not listening, running out of air, running into each other, going too fast or too slow, staying too close or too far away… Dave had to deal with all the problems at once. It was stressful, but he did a great job controlling us, and tonight we celebrate his success as a DMT and his debut into the world of a diving professional. Should be fun!

My Office :)

Welcome to Spice Divers!

Island Life: Storms

I woke up with a jolt. I had no idea what had startled me... but I laid in bed, heart thumping, mind racing, eyes trying to make sense of the darkness around me. FLASH! BOOM! My room is lit up by a streak of lightning and the bed rattles with the thunderous boom that follows. Oh... no problem, it's just a storm. I tried to turn over and go back to sleep, knowing that the air was cool, a wind was blowing and the storm would pass. I even tried to ignore the hole in my room that lets water splash around and hit me in the face. As long as my computer is covered and dry, no worries. Soon, I slip back into a restful sleep.

Click. Click-tip-tap. Tap-tap-tick, click. Tick tick tick tick TICK TICK TICK TICK SHHHHWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA: Downpour. It has about a 5 second lead up, with a couple big drops hitting the tin roof, but within seconds, the full downpour is flooding my ears. No point in trying to sleep now. It's about 7 am, and it sounds like I'm sleeping under Niagra Falls. Thinking I could just ignore it, I roll over, and try to get some more sleep. I don't have to be at the shop till 8:00, and if the weather is still bad, maybe we won't even go out. CRACK! BOOM! More lightning and thunder? Guess so. But this time, much closer. Much louder. Much better than my alarm clock. I'm awake. It's 7:30, and I'm pretty sure the island is flooding. I get up, and run to the bathroom in my bathing suit, since I'm soaked before I get the bottom of the stairs, not much point in putting on clothes. Upon returning, I pack up my stuff, throw a sweatshirt on my computer, and wrap it in a plastic cover, and walk over to the shop in my board shorts, as they're the only thing I have that will dry fast.

The flooded area, which is now an electric green swamp...

I'm lucky, the bridge is still working (later it's submerged in water, and sinks when you stand on it). I get to the shop around 7:45, no one is there, it's all soaked, and so i take a chair and enjoy the rain. New rivers rush by the shop, dumping their particulate mess into the bay, swirling with the winds and waves, creating a dirty mixture of sandy water, horrible for diving near the shore... reducing visibility. The morning dive is canceled, too much wind and rain and lightning and thunder. Guess when out in the middle of the ocean, no one wants to be the one left in the boat during a lightning storm. We all go for breakfast: Roti Canai (Roe-tee cha-nai) with a delicious dipping sauce. It's like fried flatbread with a curry sauce. A movie comes on and most people fall into the "island rainy day" trance, which involves doing absolutely nothing, always being tired, and eating all day. I went back to the shop, grabbed my stuff, and went to the room to read. I had tests to take, papers to read, facts to memorize... fun fun fun.

I studied and took a test. FAIL. I restudied and retook the test. PASS. Then I studied for another test. FAIL. (I was misinformed on what to study). I got the right information, retook th test. PASS. Deciding to go off on a win, I stopped studying. At this point it was evening, mosquitoes were out and it was warming up (with that post-rain muggy feeling). Some of the Dive Masters and Instructors from out shop took out the volleyball and hit it around. I joined, and then so did a couple others, and soon we had a 4 v. 4 game going. Then some Kuala Lumpur people came, and we had a 6 v. 6 game of beach volley. We're all horrible, but it was fun. Had a German, Swiss, Aussie, French, American, Malay, and Dutch. Not too shabby for an international game.

We played until it was getting too dark, sore from hitting the ball, drenched in sweat, and tired. I went to the back of the shop to shower in the outdoor showers, since the ocean was dirty from the runoff, and was greeted by a small snake, trying to take over the shower space. I tried removing him with a broom, but he kept attacking it, so i finally just hit/swiped him away. Later, one of the locals told me it's poisonous... but who knows...

Take away dinner from the "blue" beach restaurant and then to my room for an early night, some studying and reading, and watching Scrubs. The island is still flooded, but we're hoping the rain won't come back again tonight... If it does, I might be needing my SCUBA in the hut!

DMT: Mapping

Today was my first official act as a DMT. The other DMT, Dave (who has been doing it for about 5 weeks now, and almost finished) and I were dropped at a sight alone, and told to map the dive site. This means we have to take a dive site and map it onto a piece of paper, or draw what the dive site looks like, both physically and geographically. For this, we can take measurements however we see fit. We decided to first check out the site from above via snorkeling, but once we arrived at the site, the visibility wasn’t great, so we snorkeled to the end of the point, deflated out BCD’s (vests in which we can add air to become buoyant at the surface) and dropped down to the ocean floor.

We spent some time checking out the area, and I did some depth measurements and also sketched some of what we saw. However, after checking out the whole area, we decided we didn’t like the site very well, so we are going to do another location instead. It’s nearby, a little deeper, and our shop doesn’t have too much information on it, so it will benefit the shop as well.
This past week, I have also mapped out my plan for DMT, over the next 6 weeks (2 of which will be vacation when the elderly folks come out). I hope to have finished everything by the end of June. The first week of DMT consists of reading 4 chapters from my Dive Master Manuel, completing one chapter in my workbook, reading two chapters of the diving encyclopedia, taking 4 tests, doing a skill circuit (set of 20 skills), watching videos, observing the other DMT do his training skills, observing the other DM’s and instructors on fun dives, courses and general knowledge around the shop. It’s a hectic week, but the more I learn, the more I can do.
I have also settled into the island life a little more. We’re still waiting for wifi at the shop (we are all getting desperate) but they say it should be coming tomorrow (that’s what they say everyday)… I am getting to know the instructors, dive masters, boat captains and shop owners a little better, and learning where the best pizza is, the cheapest beer, the cheapest food, the best deal for food, to find free water (even if it tastes funny), and good places for a night out. Everyone in the shop (and the island) is really great and friendly. For one of the Rescue Diver objectives, I had to go to all the dive shops on this side of the island, ask them about their emergency response plan, number of boats and oxygen capabilities in the event of an emergency, so I got to see the other shops, and meet the people. Everyone is really chilled out, laid back, and extremely outgoing, so its pretty fun.

What comes next will be the second Mapping quest (or first, as we chose a new site). We have a general dive plan, objectives set out, and the proper equipment ready. We took out the boat, now looking for Black Coral Pinnacle, a deeper sight located off the northwest tip of the big island. We dropped in and went down to about 35 meters, but the current was unbelievably strong, and I also started feeling a little weird (which happens with deeper dives). Fighting the current and feeling weird, I just stayed behind in the back, trying to conserve my energy, but soon we all realized it was a losing battle, and we head back up to the surface to regroup. We were only down for about 20 minutes, and at the surface realized the current took us WAY off course, and spent the next 20 minutes trying to get our boat’s attention. With that failing, we kept swimming towards the island, so we wouldn’t get pulled out into the open sea, but soon another boat came by, saw us, and went to inform our boat captain, who came to pick us up soon after. It was a complete fail of a dive, and we have now decided to scrap the idea of mapping a relatively new site, and will be mapping the local site at the end of our beach, because it’s the easiest and closest to get to.

The afternoon was spent watching videos of skill circuit. This is a set of 20 skills both on land, on the surface of the water, and underwater, that you have to master before you can become a dive master. They range from buddy checks, ascents, descents, and practicing buoyancy, air depletion and other skills. They are what most people will practice when they do a refresher course, or need a scuba tune up. I only practiced a couple skills (mask clearing, hovering, back roll into the water) and got some scores to see where I stand. Out of the 20 skills, you need to score a certain total amount, with scores ranging from 1-5. I’m hoping to score at least 75 or 80. You only need 65 to pass. The instructor brought her camera, so we were able to record a couple skills and see what we looked like, and will do some more practice tomorrow.

As of now it’s all about reading, taking tests, reading, reading some more, taking other tests, and
getting into the water once or twice a day for skills. It’s really tiring, and sometimes I’m at the shop for over 13 hours, and then spend the evenings studying or having a late dinner and relaxing. It’s great fun still, and tomorrow I plan to go to Temple of the Sea, one of the two top dive sites in the area. I’m very excited about it, and will post once I get the chance!