I felt as if I was in an oven, the stale air encompassing me was absolutely stifling. Being a light sleeper, the droning sound of the ferry engine in the background certainly did not help to induce any sleep. It was a torturous four hours ferry ride to Pulau Dayang, an island 65km east of Mersing, Malaysia. Pulau Dayang together with the more famous Pulau Aur and many other islands formed the offshore section of Marine Parks of West Johor. A diving paradise for both amateur and veteran, this group of islands offers vast variety of marine life ranging from whale sharks to manta rays.
430a.m.
We reached Dayang Island Resort, and after allocated a 12-bedded dormitory, everyone quickly washed up and tried to catch as much sleep as possible. Ample rest was very important as we would commence our first dive at first light.
I had a quick wash up at the common washing area, and felt instantly refreshed. The light morning sea breeze was rejuvenating. “Morning Nadia and Alan!” I couldn’t help to greet them in such upbeat tone. “Ready for your first dive?” Nadia asked. To be frank, I was a bit wary, as I did not enjoy the experience one week earlier during the pool lesson. Nonetheless, I replied, “You bet!”
We set off on a boat to an island called Telok Mariam, a basic training ground for beginners. Gearing up was rather troublesome; fixing the regulator to the BCD, wearing the weight belt, putting on the BCD and clumsily slotting my feet into the fins. With a giant leap, I plunged into the water but immediately emerged at the surface due to my inflated BCD. With one arm bent over my head, I signaled a big OK sign.
It was my first descend into the sea, and the feeling was nothing I had before. During pool lesson, I did not felt as if I was descending because it was merely 1.8m. But for my first dive here, it was 8m. I saw the rest of the divers already kneeling in line on the seabed, and hence I descended towards them. The claustrophobia I used to have underwater during the pool lesson was gone. On the contrary, I felt free, as if I was in outer space.
We did the drills which we learnt a week earlier and it was a walk in the park. For most of the time I was observing the marine life around us, absorbing each and every of their movements, amazed by every single wriggling, tugging and zooming by. It was exactly what I had seen on TV.
Biting down on the mouthpiece of the regulator was a troublesome chore for me. I was more focus on keeping the regulator in my mouth than anything else. After all, that was my only source of oxygen underwater. My source of life. All I had in mind was to finish the two dives as soon as possible, clear the drills and get on with actual diving. My definition of actual diving is to swim around exploring the sea, not kneeling down to do drills.
After each dive, we would rest on the upper deck of the boat, waiting for other groups of divers to return. There, we would share the diving experience we just had, what sea creatures we saw and taking pictures of the islands around us. Mother Nature is indeed an impressive artist. Some of the boulders we saw had resemblance of animals like whale, rat, dolphin, etc. But of course you must have certain imagination to picture that.
I would say a diving trip is a quick way of getting to know people, and getting closer to people. I remember when I first met the other students during the water lesson, besides my dive buddy, I did not really talk to any of them. Not even the instructor Nadia. But by the time we did our second and third dives at Dayang, we were cracking jokes at each other, gossiping about colleagues in our separate companies, helping one another out to get equipped.
Whenever I did the giant leap into the water, I felt excited immediately and all ready to descend, eager to see the amazing sea creatures, for example giant parrot fish, blue starfish, cushion starfish (which is very soft and looks like a cushion, hence the name), sea cucumbers and famous Nemo; clown fish which took refuge among the tentacles of sea anemones. Why do they do that? This is because the poison emitting from those soft “harmless” looking tentacles offered these fishes natural protection.
We had total eight dives during this trip, but none was as exciting as the sixth one at Rayner’s Rock; one which I would remember for a long time. Even though the rain had stopped now, the sea was very choppy. Hence, we were told once we were deployed in the sea and gathered, we should descend immediately. As usual, I was the last to be deployed. The moment the lady in front of me jumped into the water, I sensed something was wrong. When she emerged from the water, her mask was not there. It must have flown off and sank to the bottom of the sea.
The six of us, including the dive master were holding onto one another on the surface, waiting for Nadia to retrieve the mask. It must have been ten minutes or so, before I saw Nadia swimming towards us from some 100m away. We had drifted that far and the boat had driven off. I lowered my head into the water and was shocked that I could not see the sea bed. This location was way too deep for us to dive. We had to swim back to where we were first deployed and to save energy, we would descend a little and swim underwater. But this meant wasting our oxygen in the tank.
Very soon, I realized I was the last swimmer and felt frustrated at being unable to swim any faster despite how hard I kicked. This caused my oxygen to deplete even more. At last, we reached where we were supposed to be, and began our actual dive. By now, I had consumed half of the oxygen in my tank. The underwater current was quite strong at times and erratic, and I was more focused on swimming correctly than admiring the scenery. Very soon, my SPG showed that I had only 40bars of oxygen left, which meant it was time to cut the dive.
I signaled the dive master Alan and he gave me an ascend hand sign; a thumb up that was. All of us swam to a less rocky spot to prepare for our safety stop. All of a sudden, the undercurrent was so strong, it swept all of us away and we had to hang onto the nearest rock or coral. It was at this point that water got into my mask and I had no free hands to perform the mask clearing drill. It was not much of a problem as I could fully open my eyes underwater; hence I just focused on holding onto the coral so that I would not drift away and wait for the current to pass.
During lessons, we had all been taught not to touch suspicious sea creatures, even if they are just corals. But sometimes, it is beyond our control and totally unavoidable. While I was clinging onto a group of corals, my left leg touched some sea anemones. In fact, I could not be sure if I did touch them because I was looking in front and did not feel anything. Except for the almost immediate burning sensation. I started to pant a little, and as soon as the current passed away, I kept rubbing my leg with my hands, hoping to remove whatever poison that might be on it. It was futile and made me pant more. Also, I started to feel that I was not breathing in as much as oxygen as I used to do. Normally when I did a full inhale, I could easily feel an abundant of cold air filling up my lungs. But not this time. Perhaps I had used up another 10 more bars of oxygen.
I checked my SPG and could not believe what I saw. The needle on the gauge was within the red zone, meaning I had less than 10 bars left. I tugged my dive partner Jasmine, signaling to her that I was short of air by sweeping my hand across my neck. I needed to share oxygen with her using her alternate source. After these few diving sessions, I had come to realize that my buddy had much better oxygen consumption rate than me and was rather certain she would have about 50bars left. While she was trying to comprehend what I wanted from her, my mind was racing what to do if suddenly I have no more oxygen in my tank. How does it feel like to be not able to breathe again? Do I start to drink in water then? Every breath I took, I could not help to think it could be my last. Will I still have the energy to ascend to the surface while drinking water and without oxygen? Or will I faint immediately?
When finally she understood that I was out of air, she turned around and checked her SPG to see if she had enough for both of us. My mind went crazy. “Just give me your darn alternate regulator NOW!!!” I wanted to shout underwater. How long more will I last now? It was then when I saw a bright yellow round object suddenly appeared before my eyes. Has anyone of you been in a place where it was pitch black and you could not make sense of any direction around you? Then all of the sudden, you saw a light from afar and you knew you will be safe if you walk towards it. That was how I felt when I saw that round object. It was like a sun to me. It was my second source of life. It was the alternate regulator from Alan.
I grabbed it without second thought and inhaled greedily. To be able to fill up my lungs once again was an unimaginable feeling. I was safe.
Back on the boat, the burning sensation was starting to become more and more overwhelming and I had to constantly pour water on my left leg as if I was putting out fire. I was not the only victim of poisonous stings. Jasmine was stung too and it looked much worse on her fair legs. At first I was still chirpy and we were all trying to recall what happened down there. Later I grew silent as I was feeling unwell. I sounded out to Nadia that I felt numbness on my hands and abdomen and a slight heart palpitation. As she had not been stung by sea anemones before, she could not conclude whether such symptoms were a sign of allergy. (Later it was confirmed by doctor that those were signs of hyper-ventilation due to shock.) She told Alan that as soon as we got back to the resort, he were to get the resort owner to prepare O2 and some vinegar from the kitchen to neutralize the acidic poison.
Fortunately, by the time we were back to the resort, the numbness had subsided and I was breathing normally again. But the pain on my leg was exacerbating. It was so unbearable that I wanted to yell vulgarity, but good manners and the presence of girls prevented me from doing so. After applying vinegar and teabags for the cooling effect, it felt much better. But that night was a sleepless night. My leg was on high fever, hot like fire. I contemplated whether to give up the last two dives tomorrow.
I was up by 530am to catch the sunrise. The fact was I hardly slept at all. It was a pity that the sky that day was too cloudy for any beautiful sunrise view, but it did not dampen my mood at all. My leg was still throbbing with pain but I was all ready for the dive, especially we would be re-visiting Rayner’s Rock again. Rayner’s Rock is a large boulder that is ninety-five percent submerged in water, to more than 20m. The terrain around there was rocky and offered good habitat for vast variety of marine lives.
Fortunately, this time there was no mishap, no mask was lost, no running short of air supply and no anemone stings. We were lucky to spot two giant parrot fish, each about one metre long emerging from a thick arch. The crown on the head of the parrot fish looked more like a tumour because it was just too big. We circled around the Rayner’s Rock, slowly descending deeper while blowing our noses constantly to equalize. At first it appeared to be an uninteresting piece of rock; with only some vegetation clinging lifelessly onto it. But as we drew ourselves closer, we realized it was more than just a piece of dull wall. Every facet was like a block of apartments, with different kinds of marine creature such as eels, starfishes, prawns inhabiting in them.
After doing an adventure drill of swimming under an arch one after the other, we ascended and rested on the shore for the nitrogen content in our body to reduce to an acceptable level. An hour later, we were ready for our last dive, an easy shore dive.
Surprisingly, at shallow water, there were much interesting sea animals to offer and I was not at all disappointed. I got to see school of fishes swimming in synchronized motion, colourful eels hiding among discarded tires, puffer fish trapped in a cage (we tried to cut open the cage to save the fishes but in vain). Getting out of water with the cumbersome oxygen tank and removing the flippers were challenging. The trick was to walk backwards so that you would not trip and fall.
All the equipments have to be cleaned thoroughly with fresh water and packed nicely in the duffel bags. That ended our three days of diving adventure, which certainly was most enjoyable. Despite the pain I had to endure, the panic and fear I felt underwater and the thoughts of death when oxygen was running low, the reward was definitely worthwhile. Diving might seem a risky sport, but as long as you follow the safety instructions, do the necessary precautions, the risk can be easily minimized. In my case, the situation appeared to be life threatening but in fact, later I was told the last 10 bars of oxygen is enough to last me for quite awhile. I do not see diving as just any other sports. It is more a short getaway holiday and merry-making than just a physical demanding activity. It is an exploration in another completely different world, whereby your senses work differently. You cannot smell, you hear sounds which seem afar, and you see things which appear larger and nearer.
And you breathe like a fish.
That is diving to me.
430a.m.
We reached Dayang Island Resort, and after allocated a 12-bedded dormitory, everyone quickly washed up and tried to catch as much sleep as possible. Ample rest was very important as we would commence our first dive at first light.
I had a quick wash up at the common washing area, and felt instantly refreshed. The light morning sea breeze was rejuvenating. “Morning Nadia and Alan!” I couldn’t help to greet them in such upbeat tone. “Ready for your first dive?” Nadia asked. To be frank, I was a bit wary, as I did not enjoy the experience one week earlier during the pool lesson. Nonetheless, I replied, “You bet!”
We set off on a boat to an island called Telok Mariam, a basic training ground for beginners. Gearing up was rather troublesome; fixing the regulator to the BCD, wearing the weight belt, putting on the BCD and clumsily slotting my feet into the fins. With a giant leap, I plunged into the water but immediately emerged at the surface due to my inflated BCD. With one arm bent over my head, I signaled a big OK sign.
It was my first descend into the sea, and the feeling was nothing I had before. During pool lesson, I did not felt as if I was descending because it was merely 1.8m. But for my first dive here, it was 8m. I saw the rest of the divers already kneeling in line on the seabed, and hence I descended towards them. The claustrophobia I used to have underwater during the pool lesson was gone. On the contrary, I felt free, as if I was in outer space.
We did the drills which we learnt a week earlier and it was a walk in the park. For most of the time I was observing the marine life around us, absorbing each and every of their movements, amazed by every single wriggling, tugging and zooming by. It was exactly what I had seen on TV.
Biting down on the mouthpiece of the regulator was a troublesome chore for me. I was more focus on keeping the regulator in my mouth than anything else. After all, that was my only source of oxygen underwater. My source of life. All I had in mind was to finish the two dives as soon as possible, clear the drills and get on with actual diving. My definition of actual diving is to swim around exploring the sea, not kneeling down to do drills.
After each dive, we would rest on the upper deck of the boat, waiting for other groups of divers to return. There, we would share the diving experience we just had, what sea creatures we saw and taking pictures of the islands around us. Mother Nature is indeed an impressive artist. Some of the boulders we saw had resemblance of animals like whale, rat, dolphin, etc. But of course you must have certain imagination to picture that.
I would say a diving trip is a quick way of getting to know people, and getting closer to people. I remember when I first met the other students during the water lesson, besides my dive buddy, I did not really talk to any of them. Not even the instructor Nadia. But by the time we did our second and third dives at Dayang, we were cracking jokes at each other, gossiping about colleagues in our separate companies, helping one another out to get equipped.
Whenever I did the giant leap into the water, I felt excited immediately and all ready to descend, eager to see the amazing sea creatures, for example giant parrot fish, blue starfish, cushion starfish (which is very soft and looks like a cushion, hence the name), sea cucumbers and famous Nemo; clown fish which took refuge among the tentacles of sea anemones. Why do they do that? This is because the poison emitting from those soft “harmless” looking tentacles offered these fishes natural protection.
We had total eight dives during this trip, but none was as exciting as the sixth one at Rayner’s Rock; one which I would remember for a long time. Even though the rain had stopped now, the sea was very choppy. Hence, we were told once we were deployed in the sea and gathered, we should descend immediately. As usual, I was the last to be deployed. The moment the lady in front of me jumped into the water, I sensed something was wrong. When she emerged from the water, her mask was not there. It must have flown off and sank to the bottom of the sea.
The six of us, including the dive master were holding onto one another on the surface, waiting for Nadia to retrieve the mask. It must have been ten minutes or so, before I saw Nadia swimming towards us from some 100m away. We had drifted that far and the boat had driven off. I lowered my head into the water and was shocked that I could not see the sea bed. This location was way too deep for us to dive. We had to swim back to where we were first deployed and to save energy, we would descend a little and swim underwater. But this meant wasting our oxygen in the tank.
Very soon, I realized I was the last swimmer and felt frustrated at being unable to swim any faster despite how hard I kicked. This caused my oxygen to deplete even more. At last, we reached where we were supposed to be, and began our actual dive. By now, I had consumed half of the oxygen in my tank. The underwater current was quite strong at times and erratic, and I was more focused on swimming correctly than admiring the scenery. Very soon, my SPG showed that I had only 40bars of oxygen left, which meant it was time to cut the dive.
I signaled the dive master Alan and he gave me an ascend hand sign; a thumb up that was. All of us swam to a less rocky spot to prepare for our safety stop. All of a sudden, the undercurrent was so strong, it swept all of us away and we had to hang onto the nearest rock or coral. It was at this point that water got into my mask and I had no free hands to perform the mask clearing drill. It was not much of a problem as I could fully open my eyes underwater; hence I just focused on holding onto the coral so that I would not drift away and wait for the current to pass.
During lessons, we had all been taught not to touch suspicious sea creatures, even if they are just corals. But sometimes, it is beyond our control and totally unavoidable. While I was clinging onto a group of corals, my left leg touched some sea anemones. In fact, I could not be sure if I did touch them because I was looking in front and did not feel anything. Except for the almost immediate burning sensation. I started to pant a little, and as soon as the current passed away, I kept rubbing my leg with my hands, hoping to remove whatever poison that might be on it. It was futile and made me pant more. Also, I started to feel that I was not breathing in as much as oxygen as I used to do. Normally when I did a full inhale, I could easily feel an abundant of cold air filling up my lungs. But not this time. Perhaps I had used up another 10 more bars of oxygen.
I checked my SPG and could not believe what I saw. The needle on the gauge was within the red zone, meaning I had less than 10 bars left. I tugged my dive partner Jasmine, signaling to her that I was short of air by sweeping my hand across my neck. I needed to share oxygen with her using her alternate source. After these few diving sessions, I had come to realize that my buddy had much better oxygen consumption rate than me and was rather certain she would have about 50bars left. While she was trying to comprehend what I wanted from her, my mind was racing what to do if suddenly I have no more oxygen in my tank. How does it feel like to be not able to breathe again? Do I start to drink in water then? Every breath I took, I could not help to think it could be my last. Will I still have the energy to ascend to the surface while drinking water and without oxygen? Or will I faint immediately?
When finally she understood that I was out of air, she turned around and checked her SPG to see if she had enough for both of us. My mind went crazy. “Just give me your darn alternate regulator NOW!!!” I wanted to shout underwater. How long more will I last now? It was then when I saw a bright yellow round object suddenly appeared before my eyes. Has anyone of you been in a place where it was pitch black and you could not make sense of any direction around you? Then all of the sudden, you saw a light from afar and you knew you will be safe if you walk towards it. That was how I felt when I saw that round object. It was like a sun to me. It was my second source of life. It was the alternate regulator from Alan.
I grabbed it without second thought and inhaled greedily. To be able to fill up my lungs once again was an unimaginable feeling. I was safe.
Back on the boat, the burning sensation was starting to become more and more overwhelming and I had to constantly pour water on my left leg as if I was putting out fire. I was not the only victim of poisonous stings. Jasmine was stung too and it looked much worse on her fair legs. At first I was still chirpy and we were all trying to recall what happened down there. Later I grew silent as I was feeling unwell. I sounded out to Nadia that I felt numbness on my hands and abdomen and a slight heart palpitation. As she had not been stung by sea anemones before, she could not conclude whether such symptoms were a sign of allergy. (Later it was confirmed by doctor that those were signs of hyper-ventilation due to shock.) She told Alan that as soon as we got back to the resort, he were to get the resort owner to prepare O2 and some vinegar from the kitchen to neutralize the acidic poison.
Fortunately, by the time we were back to the resort, the numbness had subsided and I was breathing normally again. But the pain on my leg was exacerbating. It was so unbearable that I wanted to yell vulgarity, but good manners and the presence of girls prevented me from doing so. After applying vinegar and teabags for the cooling effect, it felt much better. But that night was a sleepless night. My leg was on high fever, hot like fire. I contemplated whether to give up the last two dives tomorrow.
I was up by 530am to catch the sunrise. The fact was I hardly slept at all. It was a pity that the sky that day was too cloudy for any beautiful sunrise view, but it did not dampen my mood at all. My leg was still throbbing with pain but I was all ready for the dive, especially we would be re-visiting Rayner’s Rock again. Rayner’s Rock is a large boulder that is ninety-five percent submerged in water, to more than 20m. The terrain around there was rocky and offered good habitat for vast variety of marine lives.
Fortunately, this time there was no mishap, no mask was lost, no running short of air supply and no anemone stings. We were lucky to spot two giant parrot fish, each about one metre long emerging from a thick arch. The crown on the head of the parrot fish looked more like a tumour because it was just too big. We circled around the Rayner’s Rock, slowly descending deeper while blowing our noses constantly to equalize. At first it appeared to be an uninteresting piece of rock; with only some vegetation clinging lifelessly onto it. But as we drew ourselves closer, we realized it was more than just a piece of dull wall. Every facet was like a block of apartments, with different kinds of marine creature such as eels, starfishes, prawns inhabiting in them.
After doing an adventure drill of swimming under an arch one after the other, we ascended and rested on the shore for the nitrogen content in our body to reduce to an acceptable level. An hour later, we were ready for our last dive, an easy shore dive.
Surprisingly, at shallow water, there were much interesting sea animals to offer and I was not at all disappointed. I got to see school of fishes swimming in synchronized motion, colourful eels hiding among discarded tires, puffer fish trapped in a cage (we tried to cut open the cage to save the fishes but in vain). Getting out of water with the cumbersome oxygen tank and removing the flippers were challenging. The trick was to walk backwards so that you would not trip and fall.
All the equipments have to be cleaned thoroughly with fresh water and packed nicely in the duffel bags. That ended our three days of diving adventure, which certainly was most enjoyable. Despite the pain I had to endure, the panic and fear I felt underwater and the thoughts of death when oxygen was running low, the reward was definitely worthwhile. Diving might seem a risky sport, but as long as you follow the safety instructions, do the necessary precautions, the risk can be easily minimized. In my case, the situation appeared to be life threatening but in fact, later I was told the last 10 bars of oxygen is enough to last me for quite awhile. I do not see diving as just any other sports. It is more a short getaway holiday and merry-making than just a physical demanding activity. It is an exploration in another completely different world, whereby your senses work differently. You cannot smell, you hear sounds which seem afar, and you see things which appear larger and nearer.
And you breathe like a fish.
That is diving to me.
