These days I've been thinking that it's just easier to get a sense of what the heck I'm talking about if you could just see or hear it for yourself... so, here's a video (or 2 if I can get the uploader to work!) from my afternoon visit to Namdaemun Market... enjoy!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Namdaemun
Saturday was lovely here. The sun was shining, a bit of a breeze was blowing, and I was is a happy mood. I decided to head out aroud lunchtime and go to the outdoor market in Seoul, Namdamun (which means South Gate). The market covers blocks and blocks outside, and is found near the city's old South Gate. I walked over there to take some pictures, but I guess sometime last year it was nearly burnt to the ground so it is covered for renovation and not near finished yet. It is a gorgeous gate, I'll snap a photo for you to see once it's all redone!
So as I said, the market covers blocks and blocks and blocks. It carries everything you can imagine, and I'm sure that despite the fact that I've been there 5 or 6 times, I still haven't been down all the streets. There are areas that sell traditionally Korean food items like ginseng (In-Sam) and seaweed (Kim), other ares with shops selling childrens shoes, womens purses, sports jerseys, belts, hair accessories... it's like a big garage sale as well, with some tables piled high with $1/$2 shirts or pants etc.
The sound of the place is also an experience of its own... some places sellers are yelling out like they're at an auction, motorobikes are slowly put-putting down the streets that are crowded with people, women are talking back and forth carring trays of dishes back to their restaurants on their heads, kids are screeching and grandpas are spitting... at the end of the post I'll try to put up a video and you can check it out for yourself!
I also managed to FINALLY take some pictures of handbags for mom, I've been wanting to figure out what kind of bag she wanted so I can bring it when we get together next month - now I just have to get the videos off to her! :) So mom, if you see a bag you like in the video you'll just have to tell me so I can go hunt for it again!! :)
I stopped for a bite to eat as well after all my wandering, and for the FIRST time since I've been to Korea, as in first time EVER, I finally bought myself a steamed bun... omg it was so good I almost went back for another one, lol...
In the background of the picture you can see the metal circles piled on top of one another... those circles are full, layer upon layer, of these lovely buns... I bought the 'meat' bun, but there was also kimchi or redbean available (but the meat is the best!).
As I was walking along I came across this woman sharing her crackers with the pigeons just outside the market... she didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that pigeons are such 'dirty' birds (most people here are afraid of them)...
After the bun I stopped at a little toast shop where they mi fresh fruit into blended fruit drinks... got myself a fresh strawberry juice, and wow was it good...
What a day wonderful for my senses... good food, beautiful sunshine, happy people, bustling market streets... Happy Saturday!
In the background of the picture you can see the metal circles piled on top of one another... those circles are full, layer upon layer, of these lovely buns... I bought the 'meat' bun, but there was also kimchi or redbean available (but the meat is the best!).
After the bun I stopped at a little toast shop where they mi fresh fruit into blended fruit drinks... got myself a fresh strawberry juice, and wow was it good...
When I got home I sat at the side of the fountain in the park near my apartment and read my book, listening to the sounds of the water, and feeling the spray in the breeze...
What a day wonderful for my senses... good food, beautiful sunshine, happy people, bustling market streets... Happy Saturday!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Diving... Underwater Photos!
One of my dives was a photography dive, so we got to take some digital cameras down with us... here are some of the things I saw... they aren't superb quality, but they're fun to look at!
Scuba Juction Dive Boat
incredible views...
Anemone and clownfish... remember Nemo?
Blue-spotted stingray's tail, with some spikey urchins!
Lovely bright butterfly and a wrasse
loved all the fish above the coral
being surrounded in a school of little fish is an unforgettable experience
they were incredible, darting everywhere, playing in my bubbles...
the camera took this shot so incredibly well that it looks like a dry coral, even though it is indeed underwater along with everything else... this was about 4m from the surface, incredible colours!
The sides of all of the underwater hills and mountains (pinnacles) looked like this, lots of things to look at and hunt out with the camera
sometimes when I close my eyes I can see the fish all swimming around me again, wrapped in blue
swimming along together into the deep blue...
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Wednesday through Friday on Koh Tao
The learning continues, lol... Wednesday was my first aid (Emergency First Responder) course... it was much like any other course I've taken, other than it was taught in a dive school and I was the only student so it was nicer. This course was actually much simpler than the Red Cross and St John's courses that I've done, and it had fewer acronyms to learn and steps to take.
I think I have more experience with first aid than my poor instructor, so we went through everything quite quickly and easily and I had most of the afternoon to myself. She had a lot of questions about different first aid scenarios when we were talking about the 'best' way to handle them, so we spent lots of time talking and problem solving, it was fun! Karin (the instructor) and I went on her bike up the road to a little mom n' pop lunch spot cann KenYa, and I had some amazing Panang Curry Shrimp, omg it was so good... I think I'll have to make the walk back there again before it's time to go home!!
I was fairly happy not to be diving during the day, and once the course was done for the day (yay! I'm now EFR certified!! "My name is Shauna, I'm an Emergency Responder. May I help you?") I went for my first massage of the trip, and then I had a lovely pedicure. The girl who was doing my pedicure has a boyfriend (from Vancouver) who is apparently living in Korea and teaching English at Poly School, so we had a bit of a chat while she did my nails. It's a small, small world when you get right down to it!
I had dinner with my diving pals (one was going home later the same night)... I had these amazing beef kebabs on the BBQ at a resort up the path, they were so nice - almost as good as AB beef!! :) We stayed at the resort under cover from the rain storm, hanging out and watching the storm blow in across the water. Many of the restaurants along the beach have tarps they pull down as walls to protect you from the ocean when it starts to come pelting you in the face sideways, so we were warm and dry. By 9:30 I was wiped again (all this sun and surf and studying wears me out!!), and I was passed out in bed by 10pm, lol... I am such a party animal!! :)
Thursday was a good day, tiring but good. It was the first day of my Diver Stress and Rescue course... we did theory in the morning in the classroom (watched videos, ran over possible panic/rescue scenarios, and the 'best' way to solve them), and then I was free from 1030-1230. I went down to swim at the beach for the first time since I arrived, and spent about an hour in the sun before I decided I should probably go hide in the shade before my upcoming stressful dives... I was really nervous about the in-the-water scenarios, I'm not sure what got into my head but I was nearly panicked myself about it, lol. In the end it was great. My silly instructor was falling off the boat every chance she got, splashing about and 'drowning' so I could rescue her, and before long other instructors were doing the same thing.
We practiced what to do with someone panicking on the surface with their scuba gear, or just out swimming; what to do if I find someone unconsious underwater, as well as a review of how to rescue myself in a variety of situations. Once we were back up on the boat I was afraid to be too far from my mask and fins because it seemed that every time I was about to sit down and drink my tea someone got busy drowning, lol. At the end of the day I got to log one of the dives, and I was Ex.Haus.Ted. The boat got back around 6, we cleaned our gear, logged our dive, talked about the scenarios and I went home to shower some of the sea outta my hair. I noticed that after just one day my pedicure was trashed and made a note that I'd have to go back again before heading home!
For dinner I went to a restaurant up the path that shows movies every night at 7:30. I had a coconut shake (in a coconut no less!) and some great curry, and watched the movie Ghost Writer, which I didn't have high hopes for but really enjoyed. I watched the movie while relaxing on the beachfront with my coconut shake, and by 9:30 I was soooo ready to crawl back into my rock-hard bed and turn on the fan.
Friday was the last day of my rescue course. We did the theory in the morning again, practiced using the compass in making search patterns on the beach (ones that I would actually do while swimming in the water if someone or something was lost), and then had about 45 minutes before the boat went out. The 'fun' started nearly as soon as we got on the goat, my instructor Karin and her assistant DiveMaster in Training (DMT) Jeremy made sure I got lots of practice saving people from death and drowning. The first dive we practiced the underwater search patterns, and I surprised myself by actually being able to do it (it's so easy to get turned around underwater and go east instead of west, or lose count of kicks/turns!).
In the second dive I was to take my 2 'worst divers in history' out on a fun dive around an area called Japanese Gardens... if this is any indication, my diving buddy Jeremy managed to put almost EVERY piece of equipment on wrong, so that I had to fix it all during our buddy check (more practice is good!), and after I was in the water Karin started her dive standing on the top rung of the ladder in her scuba gear with her mask on her head, her regulator hanging at her side, and a big piece of watermelon in her mouth, shouting down to me, "Can I jump in now?" When she jumped off the boat she hadn't inflated her BC (like a life jacket that you pump air into) so she sank like a rock and I had to go down and get her... the whole dive was like that once we got ourselves under water. One or the other was constantly losing a fin, or missing their mask (both of which I had to go find and put back on for them), dropping their regulators and trying to get at mine (which, at the time, I was actually using the BREATHE underwater, wouldn't you know!!)... at one point when I was sufficiently distracted by seeing a blue-spotted stingray float by, Karin did succeed in yanking my regulator out of my mouth (she had lost hers and couldn't breathe, panicked divers seem to go for the quickest solution when they lose their air, which often means they try to take YOURS!), but it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to grab her straps so she didn't float away, at the same time blowing my little bubbles and calmly reaching for my alternate air source to breathe out of that until I got her calmed down and back on her own air... it didn't even make my heartbeack quicken, I was so impressed with myself, and got many many kudos for it on the surface! :)
After that we actually got to do a fun dive (a real fun dive where I got to look at the coral and sealife rather than just the 2 crazies I was diving with!) for 30 minutes around Japanese Gardens, and it was so beautiful. I saw so many different fish, and lots of things I didn't notice last time I was there because we were doing training dives and not fun diving. I even got to do a couple of swim-throughs, where there are little holes/tunnels in parts of the rocks, and you can swim through them like an obstacle course, it was great for practicing my buoyancy, I loved it!! And I was very happy once I reached the surface, as after ONE more panicked diver scenario I actually got to take off and stow my kit, officially an Stress and Rescue Diver - woohoo!!
I laid out on the sundeck for the hour of time we had left (the sky was gray but no more rain fell), visiting with the rest of the divers and my buddies. Once everyone was back on board, we headed home... we couldn't actually come in by longtail like we usually did since the waters were so choppy, so we took the boat back to Mae Head, the nearest big port, and unloaded gear, across the decks of 4 diving boats, oxygen tanks and gear bags from boat to boat, to boat, to boat, and finally to shore and into trucks to take everything back to the shop. My fancy new red diving card was reading and waiting for me when we got back to log our dives, and I have now hit 20 logged dives with rescue certification, woohoo!!! :)
When the day was done and the gear was packed away I went out for a few drinks with the instructors/DMTs (the first time I've even had a real drink since being on the island because I've been diving every morning!) at one of the local bars, and laughably I was exhausted and back in my bed with my book before 10pm. I went to bed still feeling the world rocking beneath me, uncertain a few times whether I still might be on a boat, and hoping the feeling will go away soon... what a week, what a week, what week it's been!! :)
I think I have more experience with first aid than my poor instructor, so we went through everything quite quickly and easily and I had most of the afternoon to myself. She had a lot of questions about different first aid scenarios when we were talking about the 'best' way to handle them, so we spent lots of time talking and problem solving, it was fun! Karin (the instructor) and I went on her bike up the road to a little mom n' pop lunch spot cann KenYa, and I had some amazing Panang Curry Shrimp, omg it was so good... I think I'll have to make the walk back there again before it's time to go home!!
I was fairly happy not to be diving during the day, and once the course was done for the day (yay! I'm now EFR certified!! "My name is Shauna, I'm an Emergency Responder. May I help you?") I went for my first massage of the trip, and then I had a lovely pedicure. The girl who was doing my pedicure has a boyfriend (from Vancouver) who is apparently living in Korea and teaching English at Poly School, so we had a bit of a chat while she did my nails. It's a small, small world when you get right down to it!
I had dinner with my diving pals (one was going home later the same night)... I had these amazing beef kebabs on the BBQ at a resort up the path, they were so nice - almost as good as AB beef!! :) We stayed at the resort under cover from the rain storm, hanging out and watching the storm blow in across the water. Many of the restaurants along the beach have tarps they pull down as walls to protect you from the ocean when it starts to come pelting you in the face sideways, so we were warm and dry. By 9:30 I was wiped again (all this sun and surf and studying wears me out!!), and I was passed out in bed by 10pm, lol... I am such a party animal!! :)
Thursday was a good day, tiring but good. It was the first day of my Diver Stress and Rescue course... we did theory in the morning in the classroom (watched videos, ran over possible panic/rescue scenarios, and the 'best' way to solve them), and then I was free from 1030-1230. I went down to swim at the beach for the first time since I arrived, and spent about an hour in the sun before I decided I should probably go hide in the shade before my upcoming stressful dives... I was really nervous about the in-the-water scenarios, I'm not sure what got into my head but I was nearly panicked myself about it, lol. In the end it was great. My silly instructor was falling off the boat every chance she got, splashing about and 'drowning' so I could rescue her, and before long other instructors were doing the same thing.
We practiced what to do with someone panicking on the surface with their scuba gear, or just out swimming; what to do if I find someone unconsious underwater, as well as a review of how to rescue myself in a variety of situations. Once we were back up on the boat I was afraid to be too far from my mask and fins because it seemed that every time I was about to sit down and drink my tea someone got busy drowning, lol. At the end of the day I got to log one of the dives, and I was Ex.Haus.Ted. The boat got back around 6, we cleaned our gear, logged our dive, talked about the scenarios and I went home to shower some of the sea outta my hair. I noticed that after just one day my pedicure was trashed and made a note that I'd have to go back again before heading home!
For dinner I went to a restaurant up the path that shows movies every night at 7:30. I had a coconut shake (in a coconut no less!) and some great curry, and watched the movie Ghost Writer, which I didn't have high hopes for but really enjoyed. I watched the movie while relaxing on the beachfront with my coconut shake, and by 9:30 I was soooo ready to crawl back into my rock-hard bed and turn on the fan.
Friday was the last day of my rescue course. We did the theory in the morning again, practiced using the compass in making search patterns on the beach (ones that I would actually do while swimming in the water if someone or something was lost), and then had about 45 minutes before the boat went out. The 'fun' started nearly as soon as we got on the goat, my instructor Karin and her assistant DiveMaster in Training (DMT) Jeremy made sure I got lots of practice saving people from death and drowning. The first dive we practiced the underwater search patterns, and I surprised myself by actually being able to do it (it's so easy to get turned around underwater and go east instead of west, or lose count of kicks/turns!).
In the second dive I was to take my 2 'worst divers in history' out on a fun dive around an area called Japanese Gardens... if this is any indication, my diving buddy Jeremy managed to put almost EVERY piece of equipment on wrong, so that I had to fix it all during our buddy check (more practice is good!), and after I was in the water Karin started her dive standing on the top rung of the ladder in her scuba gear with her mask on her head, her regulator hanging at her side, and a big piece of watermelon in her mouth, shouting down to me, "Can I jump in now?" When she jumped off the boat she hadn't inflated her BC (like a life jacket that you pump air into) so she sank like a rock and I had to go down and get her... the whole dive was like that once we got ourselves under water. One or the other was constantly losing a fin, or missing their mask (both of which I had to go find and put back on for them), dropping their regulators and trying to get at mine (which, at the time, I was actually using the BREATHE underwater, wouldn't you know!!)... at one point when I was sufficiently distracted by seeing a blue-spotted stingray float by, Karin did succeed in yanking my regulator out of my mouth (she had lost hers and couldn't breathe, panicked divers seem to go for the quickest solution when they lose their air, which often means they try to take YOURS!), but it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to grab her straps so she didn't float away, at the same time blowing my little bubbles and calmly reaching for my alternate air source to breathe out of that until I got her calmed down and back on her own air... it didn't even make my heartbeack quicken, I was so impressed with myself, and got many many kudos for it on the surface! :)
After that we actually got to do a fun dive (a real fun dive where I got to look at the coral and sealife rather than just the 2 crazies I was diving with!) for 30 minutes around Japanese Gardens, and it was so beautiful. I saw so many different fish, and lots of things I didn't notice last time I was there because we were doing training dives and not fun diving. I even got to do a couple of swim-throughs, where there are little holes/tunnels in parts of the rocks, and you can swim through them like an obstacle course, it was great for practicing my buoyancy, I loved it!! And I was very happy once I reached the surface, as after ONE more panicked diver scenario I actually got to take off and stow my kit, officially an Stress and Rescue Diver - woohoo!!
I laid out on the sundeck for the hour of time we had left (the sky was gray but no more rain fell), visiting with the rest of the divers and my buddies. Once everyone was back on board, we headed home... we couldn't actually come in by longtail like we usually did since the waters were so choppy, so we took the boat back to Mae Head, the nearest big port, and unloaded gear, across the decks of 4 diving boats, oxygen tanks and gear bags from boat to boat, to boat, to boat, and finally to shore and into trucks to take everything back to the shop. My fancy new red diving card was reading and waiting for me when we got back to log our dives, and I have now hit 20 logged dives with rescue certification, woohoo!!! :)
When the day was done and the gear was packed away I went out for a few drinks with the instructors/DMTs (the first time I've even had a real drink since being on the island because I've been diving every morning!) at one of the local bars, and laughably I was exhausted and back in my bed with my book before 10pm. I went to bed still feeling the world rocking beneath me, uncertain a few times whether I still might be on a boat, and hoping the feeling will go away soon... what a week, what a week, what week it's been!! :)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Monday and Tuesday in Thailand
Monday morning was gray and cloudy but still warm with a pleasant breeze. We had to be at our course for 9am to get started on the advanced diving course. On this island, Koh Tao, you hear a whole mix of languages walking around everywhere you go... German, Dutch, Swedish, and French seem to be the most of them, it seems there are Europeans everywhere! In my course this morning I met my first American, Brian from Newport Beach in CA. Luckily he's one of those Americans who breaks typical young-US-traveller stereotypes, and it's been a pleasure diving with him so far...
So we started our course Monday morning with the bookwork and the training on land. We marched around the beach making little squares using our compasses (new skill for me, never used a compass before!!), mimicking the activities we would be doing underwater. The longtail came for us at 12:30, and the water was choooooooooooppy!! I was considering losing my lunch as we were pulling up to the dive boat, but my stomach sorted itself out and all was well again.
Our first dive of the day was the Navigation Specialty... using our compass along with our buddy to make little patterns in the water, hopefully arriving back at the instructor and our course partners (provided we used our compasses and counted our kicks properly!). We managed well, my buddy and I, and the 4 of us all passed the Navigation section of the course.
Second dive of the day was the Peak Performance Buoyancy... in the water you float, right? Add a neoprene wetsuit and you float some more... add a steel tank full of oxygen and you sink... put on a vest that fills itself with air, you float, add about 7kgs of weight around your waist, you sink... breathe in... you float, breathe out, you sink... get the picture?? :) Yes, lots of floating and sinking that goes on while you're under water, but the key is to control where you're at in the water using your breath... the best way to learn how to do this is by taking this special course, and I was so happy we did... I can now float mid-water in the cross-legged lotus position, standing on my head, I can get myself through narrow passes and take photos with my head looking under rocks and my feet up in the air, I *love* it!! :) I am now officially buoyant!! :)
At the end of the day we arrived back on the island around 5:30, logged our dives, cleaned our equipment, and then did the review/bookwork for the next day's dives... we finished that all up around 7 and decided it was time for some grub - all that mucking about underwater sure does make a girl hungry!! We went for dinner, the 4 of us who are diving together, at this amazing (really really amazing Indian place up the road...
Tuesday was much the same, met at the shop in the morning but this time at 7am, the boat left at 7:30. Dives of the day were the deep dive, the digital photography dive, and the night dive. The ride out at 7:30 was fine, but once we got to the dive site visibility was less than a metre... this means that you couldn't even see a full metre in front of you as you were descending... to 30 metres... ugh! The first part of the descent was along a mooring line, so we held on to the rope and stayed really close together. At about 20m our instructor led us to the sandy bottom, though I can tell you that I wouldn't have known it was sandy but for actually setting my fins down on it!! We did our few exercises (including navigating a there-and-back course, pretty much blind, with only our compasses) and then slowly made our way up. When you do deeper dives like that you can't just rush your way to the surface or you might end up hurting your lungs, so we kinda meandered our way up blindly behind the instructor. Part of the way up I bumped my leg on some anemone (I thought it was moss at the time, but 5 minutes later I could tell by the burning feeling on my leg that it wasn't so friendly)... we made it back to the boat safe and in one piece, with 4 tired, fairly unhappy but relieved divers... Oh, and Mom, the burn is fine, you almost can't see it anymore, so don't worry! :)
Back up to the surface (well, to the boat deck) for an hour to relax and get ready for our photography dive... that dive was pretty cool, though I have to say it was difficult to monitor my depth, and my air, and my buddy, and my divemaster, all while taking pictures of pretty sea creatures!! :) It was a pretty good dive, much clearer and less stressful than the first dive, and with that 4 of the 5 certification dives were out of the way!
We arrived back on shore around 5:30, cleaned our equipment, logged our dives, grabbed a quick bite to eat and met back at the dive shop for the night boat that went out at 6:30. The night dive, in my opinion, was pretty awful... we were all 4 very nervous on the surface, and while it was beautiful descending in twilight, I am NOT (not even a LITTLE bit) a fan of diving when I cannot tell what is around/beneath me! While we each had a torch (i.e. little underwater flashlight) to shine around so we could see all of the sea life, it didn't make enough light so that I could actually see coral shelves and things before I practically ran into them, so I really didn't enjoy the dive. Top that with the fact that the instructor forgot to pack an extra torch, and of course her light burned out at the bottom, so we had to cut our dive short and come up early (it's not safe to dive if everyone doesn't have a light).
It was neat to see how some creatures behave quite differently at night than during the day (e.g. I saw a huge minefield of the spiky sea urchins, as they leave their rocky hidey-holes and actually sit out on the bare sand - so don't hit bottom on night dives!!). We also saw some giant baracudas out hunting (though we didn't see them catch anything) - they were huge! One the DMs torch burned out we couldn't all see her any longer, and I didn't see any hand signals, I just noticed by checking my dive computer that we were making our safety stop and final ascent (early)... she denied at the surface that she'd forgotten the torch, though I was first up on the boat and saw it sitting dry in the lock box... so yes, even DMs can make mistakes (even if they won't admit it)!!
All-in-all I thought it was a pretty stressful diving day, and I was happy when the boat finally brought us back at 8:30!! We 4 divers went out for dinner together and then they went drinking, and I went back to relax with a drink on my patio before calling it an early night... what a day, what a day!
However, I now have a new diving certification, I am an SSI Advanced Adventurer now (same as PADI's Advanced Open Water), and on my way to doing more in the morning!!
So we started our course Monday morning with the bookwork and the training on land. We marched around the beach making little squares using our compasses (new skill for me, never used a compass before!!), mimicking the activities we would be doing underwater. The longtail came for us at 12:30, and the water was choooooooooooppy!! I was considering losing my lunch as we were pulling up to the dive boat, but my stomach sorted itself out and all was well again.
Our first dive of the day was the Navigation Specialty... using our compass along with our buddy to make little patterns in the water, hopefully arriving back at the instructor and our course partners (provided we used our compasses and counted our kicks properly!). We managed well, my buddy and I, and the 4 of us all passed the Navigation section of the course.
Second dive of the day was the Peak Performance Buoyancy... in the water you float, right? Add a neoprene wetsuit and you float some more... add a steel tank full of oxygen and you sink... put on a vest that fills itself with air, you float, add about 7kgs of weight around your waist, you sink... breathe in... you float, breathe out, you sink... get the picture?? :) Yes, lots of floating and sinking that goes on while you're under water, but the key is to control where you're at in the water using your breath... the best way to learn how to do this is by taking this special course, and I was so happy we did... I can now float mid-water in the cross-legged lotus position, standing on my head, I can get myself through narrow passes and take photos with my head looking under rocks and my feet up in the air, I *love* it!! :) I am now officially buoyant!! :)
At the end of the day we arrived back on the island around 5:30, logged our dives, cleaned our equipment, and then did the review/bookwork for the next day's dives... we finished that all up around 7 and decided it was time for some grub - all that mucking about underwater sure does make a girl hungry!! We went for dinner, the 4 of us who are diving together, at this amazing (really really amazing Indian place up the road...
Tuesday was much the same, met at the shop in the morning but this time at 7am, the boat left at 7:30. Dives of the day were the deep dive, the digital photography dive, and the night dive. The ride out at 7:30 was fine, but once we got to the dive site visibility was less than a metre... this means that you couldn't even see a full metre in front of you as you were descending... to 30 metres... ugh! The first part of the descent was along a mooring line, so we held on to the rope and stayed really close together. At about 20m our instructor led us to the sandy bottom, though I can tell you that I wouldn't have known it was sandy but for actually setting my fins down on it!! We did our few exercises (including navigating a there-and-back course, pretty much blind, with only our compasses) and then slowly made our way up. When you do deeper dives like that you can't just rush your way to the surface or you might end up hurting your lungs, so we kinda meandered our way up blindly behind the instructor. Part of the way up I bumped my leg on some anemone (I thought it was moss at the time, but 5 minutes later I could tell by the burning feeling on my leg that it wasn't so friendly)... we made it back to the boat safe and in one piece, with 4 tired, fairly unhappy but relieved divers... Oh, and Mom, the burn is fine, you almost can't see it anymore, so don't worry! :)
Back up to the surface (well, to the boat deck) for an hour to relax and get ready for our photography dive... that dive was pretty cool, though I have to say it was difficult to monitor my depth, and my air, and my buddy, and my divemaster, all while taking pictures of pretty sea creatures!! :) It was a pretty good dive, much clearer and less stressful than the first dive, and with that 4 of the 5 certification dives were out of the way!
We arrived back on shore around 5:30, cleaned our equipment, logged our dives, grabbed a quick bite to eat and met back at the dive shop for the night boat that went out at 6:30. The night dive, in my opinion, was pretty awful... we were all 4 very nervous on the surface, and while it was beautiful descending in twilight, I am NOT (not even a LITTLE bit) a fan of diving when I cannot tell what is around/beneath me! While we each had a torch (i.e. little underwater flashlight) to shine around so we could see all of the sea life, it didn't make enough light so that I could actually see coral shelves and things before I practically ran into them, so I really didn't enjoy the dive. Top that with the fact that the instructor forgot to pack an extra torch, and of course her light burned out at the bottom, so we had to cut our dive short and come up early (it's not safe to dive if everyone doesn't have a light).
It was neat to see how some creatures behave quite differently at night than during the day (e.g. I saw a huge minefield of the spiky sea urchins, as they leave their rocky hidey-holes and actually sit out on the bare sand - so don't hit bottom on night dives!!). We also saw some giant baracudas out hunting (though we didn't see them catch anything) - they were huge! One the DMs torch burned out we couldn't all see her any longer, and I didn't see any hand signals, I just noticed by checking my dive computer that we were making our safety stop and final ascent (early)... she denied at the surface that she'd forgotten the torch, though I was first up on the boat and saw it sitting dry in the lock box... so yes, even DMs can make mistakes (even if they won't admit it)!!
All-in-all I thought it was a pretty stressful diving day, and I was happy when the boat finally brought us back at 8:30!! We 4 divers went out for dinner together and then they went drinking, and I went back to relax with a drink on my patio before calling it an early night... what a day, what a day!
However, I now have a new diving certification, I am an SSI Advanced Adventurer now (same as PADI's Advanced Open Water), and on my way to doing more in the morning!!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Day 1 in Koh Tao
So after my very early morning flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui, I arrived on the island lickety split and was whisked away on the Lompraha cataman before I really even knew where I was! A 2 hour ride spent enjoying the incredible scenery that is Thailand and chatting it up with a nice boy from Chicago before arriving at Koh Tao. Both islands are quite small, and much more rugged/untamed than my experiences in Phuket down south. I hitched a ride with the boy's scuba truck into town, and made my way over to my own dive school. It was nice to have the company getting from the pier into town so I didn't have to negotiate the crazy taxi stand!
Diving was WONderful... I did my 'refresher' course today... when you haven't gone diving for more than 6 months they recommend it, so for once I listened :) My instructor Evan from Scuba Junction (more on them later, I give them 50good/50bad so far) was fantastic and I picked everything up again really quickly.
I got to do 2 dives today along with my refresher, one mini walkabout (just a kind of underwater stroll/float through shallower water along a coral reef) and saw tons of fish, even more stinky pointy-pokey-spikey sea urchins, bannerfish, parrot fish, groupers and heaps of sea cucumbers. I reviewed all of my scuba skills (including removing my mask and swimming with just my regulator and NOT plugging my nose!) so I am all good and comfortable back in the water now - yay!
The second dive didn't have any teaching, it was just all diving, and I saw more really incredible fish... my two favorites were the juvinile boxfish and a huuuuuuuge white and yellow spotted pufferfish! I also saw those lovely bannerfish again, I am going to have to get an underwater digital!!!
I have come back from the 2 dives quite tired (maybe from not sleeping in the last 24 hours??) and hungry, so I'm about to take my new sunburn out to dinner up the road before an early evening into bed... I start my advanced course tomorrow, naviation and buoyancy dives tomorrow, deep, photography, and night diving on Monday - wheeee!!!!!
Wonnnnnderful... now I'm starving, photos will follow soon!! :)
Diving was WONderful... I did my 'refresher' course today... when you haven't gone diving for more than 6 months they recommend it, so for once I listened :) My instructor Evan from Scuba Junction (more on them later, I give them 50good/50bad so far) was fantastic and I picked everything up again really quickly.
I got to do 2 dives today along with my refresher, one mini walkabout (just a kind of underwater stroll/float through shallower water along a coral reef) and saw tons of fish, even more stinky pointy-pokey-spikey sea urchins, bannerfish, parrot fish, groupers and heaps of sea cucumbers. I reviewed all of my scuba skills (including removing my mask and swimming with just my regulator and NOT plugging my nose!) so I am all good and comfortable back in the water now - yay!
The second dive didn't have any teaching, it was just all diving, and I saw more really incredible fish... my two favorites were the juvinile boxfish and a huuuuuuuge white and yellow spotted pufferfish! I also saw those lovely bannerfish again, I am going to have to get an underwater digital!!!
I have come back from the 2 dives quite tired (maybe from not sleeping in the last 24 hours??) and hungry, so I'm about to take my new sunburn out to dinner up the road before an early evening into bed... I start my advanced course tomorrow, naviation and buoyancy dives tomorrow, deep, photography, and night diving on Monday - wheeee!!!!!
Wonnnnnderful... now I'm starving, photos will follow soon!! :)
Off to Thailand - Well, on the way at least!
So I left the apartment this afternoon, Saturday, at 1pm. In Korea the bus system is really great, and you can catch an express from almost any neighbourhood RIGHT out to the airport, it's awesome! My friend Jill is heading home to Ohio today, and her flight leaves the same time as mine so we caught the bus at the same time and chatted our way to the airport.
Though it isn't my preference, I was at the airport 2 1/2 hours before my flight... did some duty free shopping (which turned out to be window shopping because I couldn't be convinced I should buy anything on the way TO vacation!), bought myself a book, and went to hang out in the departures lounge. The Incheon airport is actually a pretty nice airport (I'm becoming a person who knows about airports, lol). There's lots of shopping, lots of restaurants and coffee shops, and even free wifi service while you hang out to depart.
My flight left right on schedule at 530pm, and I shared the flight with a very boisterous youth church group on their way back to Taiwan (my flight isn't direct to Bangkok). The food was fairly bad, though on a 2 1/2 hour flight I was just thankful to have food at all (Note: Stinky Air Canada and WestJet), but I had my MP3 player and my new book (The Interpretation of Murder (Jed Rubenfeld), I'd definitely recommend it!), that was really all I needed. Before I knew it we'd arrived in Taipei, Taiwan.
We had to get off the plane for 30 minutes, so I took the opportunity to go check out the duty-free shopping again, found a new perfume that I like (on the way back I'll worry about finding it!), and got myself a coffee. An hour later (rather than 30 minutes) I was back on the plane for the 3 hour flight into Bangkok. They played a Steve Carroll movie (not my thing), so I burned through my book and listened to music... once again, before I knew it we had arrived in Thailand!!
Getting off the plane the air was hot, but not the same as Korea, it seemed less heavy... it's still muggy as all get-out, but it felt fresher (maybe it was just the freedom from the forced air as we all boarded the airport transfer busses!). I finally got myself settled into the terminal around 11 after clearing customs and picking up my bag, and stumbled into free internet access with a camera and headset - score!!! I was so happy that I got to call Mom to wish her a happy birthday (happy birthday, Mom!)... even got in a video chat, completely unexpected happiness!! :)
I spent the night curled up on the cold concrete floor near a checkout area, me and hundreds of other passengers who rebuked the repeated temptings of the local hotel and tourism guides and their ever-decreasing room rates (which, I might add, started at $65 a night if you can friggin' believe it - in Thailand??!!). I had a blanket stowed in my bag, and the back of my pack is padded, so I actually got some sleep until around 4:30am Sunday when I could check in for my next flight to Koh Tao.
Now, I'm on my way again... I have 15 minutes to get me some coffee, have a quick snack, and get my butt onto the plane again for my short 1 1/2 hour flight to the island. I hope you are wonderful wherever you are, I'll keep you posted as I go so you know what I'm up to, so long as I can find myself some internet!! Wish me happy diving!!!
Though it isn't my preference, I was at the airport 2 1/2 hours before my flight... did some duty free shopping (which turned out to be window shopping because I couldn't be convinced I should buy anything on the way TO vacation!), bought myself a book, and went to hang out in the departures lounge. The Incheon airport is actually a pretty nice airport (I'm becoming a person who knows about airports, lol). There's lots of shopping, lots of restaurants and coffee shops, and even free wifi service while you hang out to depart.
My flight left right on schedule at 530pm, and I shared the flight with a very boisterous youth church group on their way back to Taiwan (my flight isn't direct to Bangkok). The food was fairly bad, though on a 2 1/2 hour flight I was just thankful to have food at all (Note: Stinky Air Canada and WestJet), but I had my MP3 player and my new book (The Interpretation of Murder (Jed Rubenfeld), I'd definitely recommend it!), that was really all I needed. Before I knew it we'd arrived in Taipei, Taiwan.
We had to get off the plane for 30 minutes, so I took the opportunity to go check out the duty-free shopping again, found a new perfume that I like (on the way back I'll worry about finding it!), and got myself a coffee. An hour later (rather than 30 minutes) I was back on the plane for the 3 hour flight into Bangkok. They played a Steve Carroll movie (not my thing), so I burned through my book and listened to music... once again, before I knew it we had arrived in Thailand!!
Getting off the plane the air was hot, but not the same as Korea, it seemed less heavy... it's still muggy as all get-out, but it felt fresher (maybe it was just the freedom from the forced air as we all boarded the airport transfer busses!). I finally got myself settled into the terminal around 11 after clearing customs and picking up my bag, and stumbled into free internet access with a camera and headset - score!!! I was so happy that I got to call Mom to wish her a happy birthday (happy birthday, Mom!)... even got in a video chat, completely unexpected happiness!! :)
I spent the night curled up on the cold concrete floor near a checkout area, me and hundreds of other passengers who rebuked the repeated temptings of the local hotel and tourism guides and their ever-decreasing room rates (which, I might add, started at $65 a night if you can friggin' believe it - in Thailand??!!). I had a blanket stowed in my bag, and the back of my pack is padded, so I actually got some sleep until around 4:30am Sunday when I could check in for my next flight to Koh Tao.
Now, I'm on my way again... I have 15 minutes to get me some coffee, have a quick snack, and get my butt onto the plane again for my short 1 1/2 hour flight to the island. I hope you are wonderful wherever you are, I'll keep you posted as I go so you know what I'm up to, so long as I can find myself some internet!! Wish me happy diving!!!
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