discovery diving

Monday, February 5, 2007

Scuba diving–CHECK!

Another item ticked off my "To Try Before I Die" list.   Thanks to the  oh-so-generous Sister Extraordinaire Slash Sponsor, I finally had my introduction to scuba diving last Saturday in San Luis, Batangas.  

Intro divers.  Me, Jen, and Nika.

It was quite an experience!  I always thought, why invest on a ridiculously expensive hobby when I can just go snorkling?  I got my answers while I was fish-feeding 31 feet underwater.  The sight was magnificent.  There's a huge  difference between seeing the corals and fishes from above and being surrounded by them.  I felt like Ariel, the Little Mermaid, except I had plastic fins!  I think I was thrilled the most when I saw baby Nemos.

Here we go! 

I was shivering all throughout and kept giving Rob, my dive instructor, the "not OK" sign because I thought I was having a hard time equalizing.  Then I realized the water was freezing!  

After we surfaced, Rob told me that what I saw was actually nothing compared to the sights they encounter when they do check-out dives in other dive sites.  There are more unusual fishes and there are larger arrays of rich corals.

But before I can do a check-out dive, I would have to be certified which means I'd have to take lessons first.  Nowadays, diving lessons costs about 11,000 pesos (and I think that's still minus the equipment).  Oh, how I wish I could take them… (Ehem…ehem…Ate Ains, are you reading this?  Heehee).

Oh well, one at a time.  I'll get a chance to take those lessons someday.  Right now, I still have more items to check off  that  list

 

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I never noticed how I'm always on guard until last Saturday when I was going through the experience like it was some kind of test or challenge.   When Rob was teaching us how to clear our regulators and masks, I was listening so intently that I was actually tense!  It's the same feeling I feel everytime I'm producing a segment–the pressure of always having to prove myself, to show people my worth.

Even during my check-up this morning, when the doctor asked me to read the letters on the wall, the thought running on my mind was, "Dapat pumasa ako dito kundi…"

My God, what has working for the media done to me?  On one hand, it's an advantage because it keeps me on my toes.  It makes a survivor out of me.   On the other hand, I couldn't even go through a freaking eye check-up without tensing up!  Geez.  I better get a hold of myself.  

 

Diving lessons.  Rob and Joe teaching us -three basic steps:  regulator clearing, mask clearing, and equalisation.

"silhouettes"

  
Taken last February 3, 2007 after my discovery dive in San Luis, Batangas.