WE DID IT! As of right now B-Rod and I are officially open water diving certified!! This is something we have been wanting to do for a very long time. We always tried to make plans to take the course at the YMCA in the Hat, but B-Rod’s schedule was always so erratic that we never got around to it. So, even though it took us about 10 years to finally do it, the fact that we got certified in Port Barton, to me is that much more special. Getting my yoga teacher certificate here was amazing. Now being able to come back here a year later with B-Rod to get our scuba diving certificates . . . . well I don’t even know what to say – so grateful to have been able to have had both experiences. Yep, I’m one incredibly lucky girl!
The dive course was technically 3 days long. We did the theory part at home as an online course, so the first day of our course here was basically a few hours in the evening going over stuff and then writing a test (B-Rod did better than me, but I found out later he cheated on me with some questions . . . jerk!!). The second day we went out and did some basic skill exercises and emergency procedures in shallow water. From there, we met up with a couple other people and joined them on a dive. Brian was totally into the whole thing. He aced the exercises and for the most part found the dive super relaxing. I, however, struggled a bit with a few things and started off having trouble equalizing my ears. It made me a little hesitant and nervous. It also wasn’t the best experience diving with these other people as they weren’t really mindful of the fact that it was our first dive. They seemed to be bumping into us and always in our way and even our dive instructor said that he was starting to get frustrated. I also had a moment during that dive, where I felt like I wasn’t breathing “real” air. I started to get freaked out that I couldn’t breathe through my nose (in yoga, most of the breathing is done through the nose in order to get the most prana or energy from the air). I had a mini panic attack where all I wanted to do was get out. Fortunately, like in yoga, when there is a problem, or something starts to go/feel wrong, the first thing you do is come back to the breath and focus on that. I was able to calm myself down and keep going, but it made me really nervous for the next day.
On the third and last day, we went into a deeper “pool” area to go over some of the exercises and learn some new ones. From there, we did a dive to a shipwreck. The exercises were feeling better for me and the shipwreck was super cool and from there I was hooked and got the feeling of quiet and relaxation that B-Rod was talking about. We got back on the boat, headed for a lunch spot and were told “congratulations . . . . you are now certified divers”. B-Rod equated it to one of his flight training rides, where the pressure was off and now we could have fun. We went for a last dive, came back into town and made it official by finishing off our paperwork and collecting our diving log books. AWESOME SAUCE!!
Getting suited up the first day – our first time in a wet suit
Getting ready to head out our final day . . . . we had the hang of wetsuits, so we can put them on in the boat now!
Do you like the look of the dive shop?
There was us, our instructor, a couple of boatmen and this lady that joined us on our boat. We just kind of assumed that the lady was the one that was going to do up lunch for us, but . . . . .
. . . . turns out she’s the dive master at that shop – she was pretty cool. Irene was the divemaster (she remembered me from last year even though we never met – yep, Port Barton is a pretty small town) and our instructor Martyn is from the UK. He’s based out of Puerto Princessa and has a shop there, but has a partnership with Keith (the owner of the shop in Port Barton), so he’s down in Port Barton occassionally with students.
Martyn was a super instructor and was all about safety and ensuring that his students acted in a safe manner. I don’t think we could have asked for a better instructor.
This is the type of scenery we were surrounded by all day!!
Our boatmen were also pretty cool.
They did some snorkelling and freediving (pretty impressive) while we were scuba diving, or when they were bored, they gave each other fake tatoos.
Heading to our lunch spot
On the way back it was raining, so all of “us” Filipinos were a bit cold. Even with the wetsuit, Irene was shivering!!
“Congratulations!! You’re now certified divers!!”
On a side note, if you’re interested in seeing what’s shaking with us/me on a specific day, I started a 365 gratitude project with instagram just before we came here. I have to acknowledge one thing I am grateful for everyday through a picture. Obviously the next few weeks will involve photos from the Philippines. So, feel free to have a look (my user name is “shine8out”) or join me and start your own 365 instagram gratitude project. I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.
Well done on the cert. You two must be well chuffed, I'm chuffed for you.