First time diving for our Scuba Cat marketing intern Quang
Few months ago, I decided to leave Europe for my internship at Scuba Cat. As I had been told that I would have many opportunities to do diving here, I had become over excited because I could never image how the undersea lives looked like. However, I had felt very nervous at the same time.
My first dives DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) took places at Paradise Reef, a beautiful shallow site in the Patong Bay.
My instructor is Sean Porter, an incredibly optimistic English man. I heard that Sean was a very experienced dive instructor but I was still unable to hide my nerves.
I received a thorough briefing about mask, fins, pressure, breathing, etc before I jumped into the water. After putting on me a BCD and air tank, Sean did one more check to make sure that everything was well-setup. For this first dive ever, Sean would only take me down till 6 meters depth. Then now I was ready to explore the ocean.
Once being in the sea, I must breathe through the regulator. Although the air in the tank is similar to the normal air, I felt like it was the weirdest air I had ever breathe in my life. Being told to face down slowly into the water, I had feeling that my heart beat ten times faster to make it. Gosh! I felt water everywhere. I didn’t feel comfortable at all! As struggling few times with breathing and descending, I was now undersea.
Sean guided through reefs, show me fishes. He kept asking whether everything was ok with my ear, my mask and so on. He and I still remember how I was excited as I tried to catch the fishes with my hands. OMG! Fishes are everywhere surrounding me. My eyes opened as big as they can. I saw Sergeant Majorfish, Clark’s Anemone Fish, Longfin Bannerfish, Moorish Idol, Lined Butterflyish, Powder Blue Surgeonfish, Corals, Blue Sea Star, and that “ugly” Sea Cucumber and “scary” Black Diadema Urchin and many that I don’t know their names. I didn’t notice that 20 minutes had gone until Sean gave sign to go up. When we came back to the boat, Sean teased me that I could catch the fishes well but I should stop doing it next time.
The second dives would be the most unforgettable dive in my life. This time I didn’t have problem descending but struggling with breathing and water (again!). As water came into my mouth and my mask, I started feeling unsafe and wanted to go back but few seconds after that, I couldn’t resist anymore. I was shaking, trying to blow water out and somehow the regulator was out. In a second, I thought that I would end my life there but thank to Sean, he put the regulator in my mouth again, pressed the air button, the air flew into my lung and immediately I felt “alive” again. He inflated my BCD and I was already on the surface few seconds after that.
I went diving again a few days later, the feeling of being scared had disappeared and I felt more relaxed, and I guess it will feel like that more and more each time I do it.
It’s hard to believe that I just returned from a scary-but-interesting journey. In dedication to Sean, who made my first dive experience absolutely amazing. He has been doing a brilliant job as an hero undersea. How challenging it is to get over myself to see a wonderful world undersea but since that moment, I knew that I truly loved diving again.
I must agree with Dave Barry- a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author- as he said
“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.”
Scubacat Community