Jan. 15: certifiable

Dragged my lazy butt out of bed at 6:30am and met Ian, Laura, Nicko, Sarah, and Kiwi Sarah at the top of the drive to be picked up for a boat trip!

We sailed out on the catamaran Illusions to Blue Pearl Bay for a day of diving & snorkling. It was really rainy on the 2 hour trip there. We didn't mind too much; we sat outside anyway, laughing at the weird Spanish music the skipper was playing & singing "I'm on a boat" and "puke in my mouth" (silly parody snl songs). There was a large hairy old guy in a budgie smuggler (speedo) & we called him puke in my mouth because no one wanted to see what he was smuggling, but no one could look away. It was like a hairy naked car crash.

we found a real-life Nemo!

Since I've been here, I've asked every boat I've dived on if they could get me officially certified - my instructor in CA wasn't able to take me on my final dive so I'm scuba certified but I have to dive with an instructor. I only need one of those instructors to agree to do the final skills test & sign off on the paperwork to give me my PADI open water certification; everyone had said no... until today. The instructor agreed to test me on my dive, which made me very happy - and very nervous.

We suited up (those uber-flattering stinger suits again) and hit the water. It was a big group of divers this time & tho I was paired with Kiwi, who's a dive master, we were right behind the instructor so she could keep an eye on me.

Right away, my mask was flooded. I tried clearing it, tightening it, pushing back my hair; no matter what I did, it immediately filled back up with water. Terrible way to begin! The instructor & Kiwi kept telling me to clear it but it did no good - finally I had to trade masks, underwater, with my instructor. It was embarrasing but I'm proud of myself for keeping my cool. Thanks, Buck, for the solid training in mask removal!

the instructor trading masks with me, surrounded by a school of fish

Even though I was much more comfortable with the new mask, I was really flustered & that combined with the fact that I was over-weighted & had to put some air in my bcd (I'm really paranoid about shooting up to the surface), made me swim erratically. I kept sinking & bumping into coral, and then that would freak me out so, like a complete doofus, I'd ball up to try to avoid killing the reef, and then I'd spin into an awkward position & look like an idiot trying to swim out of it. This happened more than once. Worst diving I've ever done; so embarrassing.

It didn't help that we were swimming in really narrow passageways & my tank knocked me on the back of the head every time I dove headfirst. I felt like the most uncoordinated person alive & was cussing into my regulator.

FINALLY, I calmed myself down & started to swim like a normal, sane person. And it started to get fun.

one of the coral shelves

We swam through underwater arches (I did the second one perfectly - apparently, most of the other more experienced divers didn't even try) and down between thick banks of coral. Saw clownfish (we found nemo!) guarding anenomes and little worms poking out of their holes. We swam through lots of schools of fish; they were just swimming past, surrounding us like we weren't even there. The visibility wasn't great but it was a beautiful dive.

Despite my improvements, I was still embarrassed & really worried that the instructor wouldn't approve me for my certification. Kiwi told me it really wasn't that bad but I just thought she was being nice. Tried to brush it off & hung out on the beach with the other 4 who snorkeled.  Later, back on the boat, the instructor did sign off on my paperwork; I am now officially PADI open water scuba certified!!!!  Yahoo!!

While hanging out under the grey sky on the beach, we all sat in the surf and on the rocks, relaxing. Sarah found a piece of coral that looked like... um... a male body part. Cracked us up. Ian & Laura borrowed my camera to take silly underwater pictures. We made friends with a little Australian boy, about 5 years old, who threw coral & lost shoes. It drizzled & we took the raft back to the boat.

Me and Aussie Sarah snorkeling

Had lunch as we motored to the next spot. Sitting on the bow, as soon as the boat started moving, our food flew off our plates! We giggled as we slid around the boat collecting lettuce & pasta. Oops.

The boat moored and we swam out to the reef, which was a lot further than it looked; Laura reckons she got a cramp & nearly drowned.  We all goofed off, snorkling, taking silly underwater pictures, diving under to scare clams into clamping closed their neon-colored "mouths."  The time passed very quickly & before we knew it, the dinghy was speeding by with the instructor yelling at us to start swimming back to the boat.  On our way back, still snorkeling & goofing off, we suddenly saw a turtle!!!  It was just hanging out in a little bed of coral, relaxing, coolly regarding us with big black heavy-lidded eyes.  We were soooo excited; it held us up for a good long while & then we really had to book it on the swim back to the boat.  Exhausting.

our turtle mate

The boat ride back was REALLY choppy; the stormy weather had created large swells & the boat was just plowing through them, jarring us with every wave & causing the empty dive tanks to clang against the metal bars around them and giving everyone on board a headache.  I was feeling really sick so I sat at the back of the boat staring at the horizon, but with the smell of petrol and the noise of the tanks, things were not improving.  I took a chance and moved to the bow, where although I was getting slammed by the massive waves, I immediately felt better and it was actually really fun to sit in the sea spray.

I ended up sitting next to puke in my mouth man, who, I'm embarrassed to say, was actually a very nice Italian & we had a very nice conversation.  I think he tried to ask me out though; I had to drop the "boyfriend" bomb a couple times.  I did feel a little bad about us making fun of him, but his friendliness did not detract from the fact that there was just waaaay too much on display.  Yikes.

We got back to the hostel & discovered that Nick had had a terrible day.  He couldn't come with us on the boat because he'd committed to playing golf, even though he'd told them the day before that rain was forecasted.  Well, golf got rained out, like he thought it would, but they called it off too late for him to make the boat, so to vent his frustrations, he & Chris played basketball.  All was going well until CRACK! he threw his back out & had to go to the emergency room.  Dang.

I came back to a very grumpy, bed-ridden, in pain boy.  Poor guy.

The girls and I had already made plans to go out for a girls night that night; I felt bad leaving him but he told me he wanted me to go.  I think he wanted to sulk alone - I know I would've.

Sarah, Sarah, Nikki, Nikki, Kate, Kate at Airlie Beach Waterfront

Girls night in Airlie Beach!  Six of us went out & it was pretty hilarious: two Nikkis, two Kates, two Sarahs.  Not kidding.  We had dinner in the food court & then went to a couple nice restaurants for drinks.  We had total girl bonding time, talking about things we can't talk about with the boys around.  It was great.  At the end of the night, we were playing shakeyface (!) and walking home singing "I would walk 500 miles..." and clucking like chickens.  Don't ask me why.  It was hilarious at the time.  Great night.

I am so happy and grateful for:

~ being an official scuba diver, finally!

~ new fun girl friends

~ seeing a turtle

~ Nick didn't hurt himself too badly & just needs to rest

~ fun adventures

xo! n.

The Great Barrier Reef

These are some of my favorite pictures from snorkling & scuba diving the reef.  Yes, they're all mine - either I took them or my friend T did.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Sea Lions and Dolphins and Kelp, oh my!

Dava and me after our first day of ocean diving!

i have now dived 3 ocean dives - and survived! got up at 4:45am yesterday morning to catch a sunfish full of fabulous gay men (and a few women) at the Channel Islands marina in Ventura County, CA at 6:30am. i was so nervous, i couldn't eat my luna bar, and i was so scared of being late that i didn't have any coffee. i wasn't late, and seeing my scuba buddy Dava and our instructor Buck made me a little calmer so i could choke down a few sips of coffee. unfortunately, the waves were crazy on the way out to Anacapa Island, and weeeell... i got a bit seasick. i didn't expect it at all! Dava loaned me her accupressure wristbands, i sat outside & stared at the horizon, and i felt better. got my wetsuit on, we dropped anchor, and whoops - i threw up. the divemaster gave me some ginger & that helped settle my stomach; i know it was mostly nerves and only partially angry waves, but still, i'll keep ginger & accupressure in mind for future...

ready or not, it was time for our first dive. we descended along the anchor line & i had some trouble with my buoyancy; i couldn't get myself to descend & kept hitting my head on the boat. Buck had to help pull me down, but once i got to the bottom, i was surprised that i had successfully equalized my ears & felt ok. overwhelmed but ok. we were on a sandy bottom, with small sections of reef and a few tall kelp strands around us, and to the side, we could see a big group of sea lions diving down & playing with some of the other divers. there was so much to see and to remember to do! even though i'd been fine in the pool, my brain suddenly realized i was breathing underwater & kind of freaked out like, this isn't supposed to be happening! but i stayed calm and did my skills tests and then we started swimming over the reefs and through the kelp. i kept bumping the bottom so i thought my buoyancy wasn't quite right - i saw d. put some air in her BCD (the vest you wear) and i thought oh - good idea! bad idea. apparently my buoyancy was fine, and the little bit of air i added took me high enough that it started to expand & then expand more, and before i knew it i was shooting up to the surface. shit! thank God we were only in 30ft of water! once i surfaced, my ears were hurting from not taking the time to equalize, and i couldn't get myself back down; again, buck had to pull me down. as we were descending, my left ear refused to equalize and we had to cut the dive short & swim back to the boat.

starfish on the reef (pic by one of the other divers)

i felt so bad for making such a stupid mistake - i know better than that! i kept apologizing to buck & d. but they both said it was ok; d. even said she'd been getting kind of freaked out so was ok with ending the dive. buck said it's a common mistake & it's no big deal. he gave me a sudafed for my left ear & as the boat pulled around for our next dive, d. & i both sat in silence, feeling sicker than before (if that's even possible), both secretly wondering if maybe we're not cut out to be divers after all...

but i'm no quitter, and when we anchored at the second dive site, i told myself you're doing this. stepped off the boat into the cold water. this time, i managed to control my breathing enough to descend without help, and i paused every minute to equalize and my ears were fine. yay! we did our skills tests & weirdly enough, i had trouble with the mask clear - i kept trying to breathe through my nose & then i kept burping - note to self: maybe diet coke isn't the best beverage choice before a dive. but i cleared my mask successfully & buck said from that point on i didn't stop smiling. i don't know how he could tell, but he was right...

the second dive was INCREDIBLE. i felt comfortable, kept an eye on my buoyancy, and there was so much to see that at every turn someone was pointing out something amazing. we saw all kinds of foliage on the reef - purple spiny things & pink flowery things - and big rectangular half grey & half pink sheephead fish, and little schools of colored fish, and little translucent fish with big black eyes peeking out of the rocks. we saw so many starfish - bright orange/red starfish on the rocks and light yellow starfish hiding & moving in the sand. it was beautiful. then the sea lions joined us! a few of them loop-de-looped down around us playfully, and one of them got so close to me i could've touched it. she was swimming right next to me; she wanted to play. it was amazing. we watched one go down to the bottom & it looked like he was performing for us - rolling in the sand and swirling back up to the surface - i felt like i was watching a disney movie, but it was real & i was really there, breathing underwater. beautiful.

my sea lion friend (pic by one of the other divers)

after that dive, d. & i were in high spirits. our fear & worry from before had vanished and we were both practically giddy from what we'd just experienced. we ate - finally - and couldn't stop talking about what we'd seen as the boat pulled into place for our third dive. the more experienced divers said they were impressed with us; there was a bit of a current during our second dive & apparently we handled it well.

time for dive number three - i was tired but still feeling good. i descended like a pro - i'm actually proud of myself because the anchor line cut right through a "tree" of kelp so as we descended we got a little tangled in the kelp, but i stayed calm & made it to the bottom (49 ft - our deepest dive!) with no problem. this terrain was different, and it scared me a little - the ocean floor was rocky with large purple leaves waving from every crevice, and we were in the middle of a kelp forest with stalks reaching 50 ft to the surface & "branches" entwined. also, there was more of a current than on the last dive, and visibility wasn't very good, so i struggled a little to navigate over the rocks & around the kelp. and for some reason, my mask decided it was going to start leaking suddenly, and despite buck trying to tighten it for me, i just kept having to expend air & energy clearing it. thank God we practiced that so i wasn't freaked out by it. i'm also proud of myself for controlling my buoyancy - we kept swimming over rocks (shallower) and then into valleys (deeper) and as we went shallower, the air in my bcd would expand & i would feel myself floating so i'd sit still & exhale deflate my bcd & sink back down into the valley - i did that over and over. i'm sure as i get more experienced, i'll be able to control that more with my breath & less with my bcd, but i'm proud that i got the hang of it enough to keep myself in the dive. with all of that going on, i missed out on a bit of the scenery, but i did notice some BIG bright yellow/orange fish, one big scary grey fish with super sharp-looking teeth, and some fat green slug-looking things on the bottom. the kelp forest really was beautiful; i'd like to go back and dive it again when i'm more experienced so i can appreciate it more.

L to R: Buck, Dava & I, practicing "kelp crawl"

i was exhausted after that last dive, and i had a calf cramp, but luckily it was our last dive of the day. rinsed off, dried off, took our gear apart, and relaxed with a beer to chat with our new diver friends. as we were cruising back to the marina, there were three schools of dolphins swimming toward the side of the boat - they were jumping out of the water & doing flips! they followed our wake for a little while; it was so amazing. i looked at d. and said, "i love my life," and we cheers'd.

we did it. i survived & i loved it. just one more dive and i'm a PADI certified diver! more pictures to come soon...