Open Water Diving Course

I wake up early today full of expectation; for the first time in a long while I have a goal I am working towards. Don’t get me wrong I have been loving my travels roaming the world, seeing the sights and meeting people, but I am actually looking forward to having something to work towards. Also I love Scuba diving so win win. I get up and get ready before heading to Blue Marlin where I meet Puja my instructor for my Open Water course which I will be doing for the next three days. We start with some orientation talks, some basic safety briefings and hand signals after which she teaches me about the kit used and how to assemble and dissemble it before and after a dive, as well as some basic tests like swimming 200 meters and floating for 5 minutes. Once I have got that all done it is time for a little break during which I finish section four of my e-learning. There is a lot of studying that goes into this scuba certificate I can tell you for free! After the break I meet Samuli who is join us for our next dive. Before we head out into the sea we do a pool session to learn some basic skills like how to clear our masks and the like. After our pool session we have a quick bite to eat during which I finish my final section of e-learning. Now it is time for our first sea dive! We head to Hawick Reef in the boat before flipping back into the crystal clear water. The visibility here is amazing and the reef is beautiful, during the dive we see so much including Green and Hawksbill Turtles, Puffer Fish, Trigger Fish, Parrot Fish and I even spot an octopus hiding in a hole in the sand but the others have swam off before I can signal them and when I look up to to see where they are I lose track of the octopus. It is a great first dive and I am very pleased with my choice to dive here, with everyone at Blue Marlin being so welcoming and the water being so clear.

and we're in!

Banded Coral Shrimp

Back flip
(click on the top right hand icon)

Various coral fish
(click on the top right hand icon)

The next day starts the same as yesterday I wake up excited, get ready and head for Blue Marlin From 8:30am until 10:30am I am in the pool learning more basic skills I need to learn before we head out into the sea today. Puja says at the start these will take four hours so we won’t make the 11:30am dive but because I am awesome and, more likely, because I am lucky enough to be getting taught one on one, I manage to get it done in two. So at 11:30am we join the boat heading to Shark Point. It is another cool dive. Shark Point unlike Halifax Reef is a place full of soft coral which tends to mean less colourful but none the less the dive is awesome. Unfortunately at the depths I am currently allowed to go to, 15 meters max, we don’t see any sharks but we do however see between 10 to 15 various turtles, I lost count by the end. As well as the turtles we saw plenty of other fish including some Nudis (Nudibranchs) little colourful sea slug type things that look a lot cooler than they sound! We head back out at 2:30pm to Turtle Heaven, I joke maybe we will see some sharks here having seen so many turtles at shark point but unfortunately not. We do see some other cool stuff though, including some Mantis Shrimp, Banded Coral Shrimp, Lobster, some more Turtles and some Moray Eels. Once back from the dive and having got my kit set up for tomorrow morning I head back to my accommodation via a dinner stop. Once back I do my final exam for my Open Water course as well as getting section one and two of my Open Water Advanced E-learning as tomorrow I should complete open water and start on Advanced! After which I fell asleep proud but still a little worried knowing that tomorrow morning was essentially a fun dive with no skill checks but still first time I have had final exam of sorts for god knows how long.

Again I wake up excited and nervous and head to Blue Marlin, today we are heading out on the early dive at 9am. It is at Shark Point again, on the boat I am introduced to Nia and Jack. Jack has just arrived and is gonna be here for four months working his way up to dive master, starting with doing his advanced with me, instructed by Nia. The dive is great I am able to see some baby Sharks cuddling under a rock as well as more Turtles, Moray Eels, Puffer Fish, Angel Fish, Parrot Fish, Batter Fish and more. After the dive I have done it: I am officially a qualified Open Water diver. At 2:30pm I am with Nia and Jack for my first Advanced dive. This one we are focusing on navigation using a mixture of our natural surroundings and a compass to orient ourselves underwater. Before we head out Nia sits us down and talks us through the skills before Jack and I head to the beach and try using the compass on land before we head out for our dive. As 2:30pm rolls around we are on the boat and ready to head out to Sunset Reef. It is my first dive here where I don’t see turtles but we see a mixture of other fish including Lion Fish, Eels, Puffer Fish, Nudis and more. Later we are doing my second Advanced dive a night dive. So after a quick brief on the use of torches to signal in the dark we are ready for our night dive when the sun sets. Joined by Puja, Jack, Nia and I walk from the shore into the sea and head to Bio Rock; it is a really cool dive. I find night diving very calming and we see a lot of cool stuff including Hermit Crabs, a Baby Cuttle Fish, Cleaner Fish, Moray Eels, Nudis, Lion Fish, sleeping parrot fish and then right at the end Bioluminescent plankton. A great day starting with passing my Open Water certification and ending with bioluminescent plankton, and only a day away from earning my Advanced certificate.

Heading to Bio Rock

Officially a qualified Open Water diver

Green Sea Turtle
(click on the top right hand icon)

Thanks to Nia and Puja