On the final day of the open water course I wake up at 5:45 in time to get a big breakfast before the boat leaves at 6:30. Today we will do our final two dives which will qualify us, after only 2 and a half hours of diving and a very easy test, to dive anywhere in the world to 18 meters deep. There is no other test, the only way we can fail is if we drop out ourselves. If there is a skill we can't master, the instructor has to keep trying to teach it for as long as we want. I don't find this very discerning or reassuring, thinking of the hundreds of 'qualified' people there must be who have no idea what they're doing. One of them could end up being my dive buddy, or I could be one of them!
The first dive site is a place called 'Chumpohn Pinnacle', which is effectively an underwater mountian. Because we can only dive to 18 meters, there are 12 meters of sea life below us which we can't explore. I find this very frustrating and, with the knowledge that I can't really 'fail' the course, i'm very tempted to sink lower to get a better look. However because we are swimming around a mountain there is still a lot to look at on our level - corals, crabs, sea urchins, anemones and hundreds of fish - some of whom enjoy nibbling my legs.
On the surface there are four other dive boats, each with at least twenty divers, so the surrounding water is almost as full of people as fish. It is very surreal seeing so many people underwater in the middle of the ocean, and there are huge columns of bubbles rising up all around me.
The second dive is closer to shore, meaning we can dive to the sea bed. We see puffer fish, a sea snake (!), a moray eel, clown fish and trigger fish, who have very sharp teeth and a fin that pops up from its head when provoked (as Nick demonstrates by poking it with his foot). The sea snake is apparently poisonous, but it's teeth are too small to penetrate our skin - Nick tells us all this through a number of confusing hand gestures, but I think this is what he is trying to say.
On the sand I frequently see long, bug eyed, yellow fish who are waiting patiently beside a hole which is being dug by what looks like some sort of crab. I assume they are waiting to steal the hole from the crab, but when I get to the surface and ask Nick about them, he tells me that it is a goby fish, and has a symbiotic relationship wih shrimp. The goby fish lives in holes, but can't dig. The shrimp also lives in holes, but is blind. So, whilst the prawn digs them a hole each, the goby acts as a look out. The prawn always keeps one antene on the goby's tail and, when a predator swims past, the goby flicks his tail and the prawn hides in the sand. I wonder if one ever screws the other over - digging only one hole (the prawn) or taking the first hole without watching for predators during the second dig (the goby). I assume not, or there would be none left - that's nature for you: amazing!
By the end of the dive we are, scarily, qualified open water divers. Instead of celebrating, we all have another early night. We start the advanced course in the morning - six dives (including a night dive and wreck dive), no tests, no theory and going down to 30 meters!
*Photos from the internet - my camera only goes to 5 meteres (and is therefore useless)
The first dive site is a place called 'Chumpohn Pinnacle', which is effectively an underwater mountian. Because we can only dive to 18 meters, there are 12 meters of sea life below us which we can't explore. I find this very frustrating and, with the knowledge that I can't really 'fail' the course, i'm very tempted to sink lower to get a better look. However because we are swimming around a mountain there is still a lot to look at on our level - corals, crabs, sea urchins, anemones and hundreds of fish - some of whom enjoy nibbling my legs.
On the surface there are four other dive boats, each with at least twenty divers, so the surrounding water is almost as full of people as fish. It is very surreal seeing so many people underwater in the middle of the ocean, and there are huge columns of bubbles rising up all around me.
The second dive is closer to shore, meaning we can dive to the sea bed. We see puffer fish, a sea snake (!), a moray eel, clown fish and trigger fish, who have very sharp teeth and a fin that pops up from its head when provoked (as Nick demonstrates by poking it with his foot). The sea snake is apparently poisonous, but it's teeth are too small to penetrate our skin - Nick tells us all this through a number of confusing hand gestures, but I think this is what he is trying to say.
Above: Sea Snake *
Above: Trigger fish*
Above: Goby fish & prawn*
By the end of the dive we are, scarily, qualified open water divers. Instead of celebrating, we all have another early night. We start the advanced course in the morning - six dives (including a night dive and wreck dive), no tests, no theory and going down to 30 meters!
*Photos from the internet - my camera only goes to 5 meteres (and is therefore useless)
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