Intern’s Journal: Former Diving Virgin
Big news: I am not a diving virgin anymore! I finally got the chance to do my Open Water Course and now I can consider myself as a diver – it’s awesome to be able to say that! On Monday, a new German course started which I could attend – so I took the opportunity and signed in.
At 8:00 am, two other students from Switzerland and I sat down in the classroom and received our first lesson in terms of the Open Water Course which consisted of a two hour movie which gave us a first impression of diving. After watching the movie, I was so curious about what it is like to be under water and definitely ready for the first pool session!
The first deep breaths under the surface were really weird; I had to fight against my natural reflex of immediately pulling my head out of the water. But once you get used to it, it’s such an awesome feeling, even though there’s nothing other than the bottom of the pool to see – probably it’s not anything spectacular for an old-established diver. So after my first meet and great with the world below, we already did some exercises like preparing the equipment and inflating the BCD using the low pressure inflator. Besides that, we learned how to clear a partially flooded mask and recognize as well as demonstrate standard hand signals.
The second day started with another pool session, followed by another movie and the highlight of the day – the first dive in the ocean! We headed to the beach in Sanur and took the boat to Dog’s point –don’t ask me about the name; I think no dog ever has seen this spot. But never mind, so I took the back roll entry (which is really fun!) and the exploration of the underwater world began. I already expected it to be awesome, but I didn’t expect it to be THAT awesome. It is like a complete new world where other laws exist. You have to accept them and when you do so, you get the unique chance of exploring a parallel universe with foreign, incredible creatures. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to enjoy the new feeling of being a fake fish because I was busy with flooding my mask and becoming neutrally buoyant.
On the third day we went to Tulamben. Our first dive was at the coral garden, and I felt like being in an aquarium. The fishes seemed to accept me as being a part of them, just a little bit bigger and a little bit less elegant moving under water and I was quite surprised by the diversity of animals. The second dive was definitely the highlight of the whole Open Water Course because we dived at the USAT Liberty shipwreck, which by the way, was really big and impressive. I felt so small compared to the size of the ship and just like a nothing in the big ocean. Of course we were not the only group who like shipwrecks, especially during high season… I kind of felt being in H&M for summer sale. You really had to take care not to accidently hit somebody with your fin or just follow the wrong group. After that dive, I officially entered the world of diving and writing in my logbook made me feel quite proud.
So, to make a long story short: The past three days were really intense, I learned a lot, dived a lot, got tanned a lot, and swallowed a lot of water. Next step: Advanced Open Water! Hopefully with less water in my lungs but the same amount of fun 🙂
