Busy busy busy

Sorry for not updating earlier, I’ve been really busy the last week or so. Finally there is something happening, I’ve done my first skill circuit (need to do three), my first Open Water assist (need 3) and 2 Rescue Course assists (need 1), done my 400 m swim, 800 m snorkel and 15 minute float. Oh and finished all my knowledge reviews (academics, 12 chapters). Thank goodness SSI divecons do not have to do the swim and snorkel within a certain time, we just have to do them… otherwise I would’ve had to redo them because I’m a horrible swimmer (snorkeling was fine). Oh and on my last Rescue Course I also got assest on my unconscious diver rescue skills, so one more thing I can tick off on the list. Plenty of things left though…and Thailand is not really liking me, or at least my body is not liking Thailand. I’ve got 2 ulcers on my legs from scratched mosquito bites which have now turned into gigantic ulcers (do not scratch anything here, or you’ll get these nasty creepy bacteria all over and in your body). Luckily they sell everything here in pharmacies without prescriptions, so I got some antibiotic cream today and am applying it like crazy. Let’s hope it’s not too late and I don’t have to go to the doctor… Anyway. At least I can cook at home and they do some Western food in the restaurants, so I don’t have to suffer too much foodwise. I know that probably nobody will understand, but I don’t really like Thai food (unlike many around me here), I simply can’t deal with rice and noodles 3 times a day. I also found a place where they sell bread, jam and nutella.:D


Otherwise I am not doing too much, just doing dive con stuff and also a bit of diving. I went to Chumpon pinnacle a few days ago and it was amazing. There was a really strong surface current and it was really hard to swim into that, but once we went down there it was amazing: so much fish around, massive groupers and other big fish (over 1,5 meters), massive schools of yellow fin and regular big barracudas, little shrimps, nudibranchs, angelfish etc etc. Simply stunning divesite, so much to see, so little time (it’s a deep dive site, down to 30 m, so not much no-decompression time). My buddy Megan was leading the dive and brought us back to the best buoy line, so we could just drift down back to the boat. Even during our 3 min safety stop at 5 meters we really had to hang onto the rope otherwise we would’ve been swept away by the current… fortunately once you get down to 10 or lower there is no current to speak of.

Nothing really exciting is happening here apart from these kind of things, I don’t have time to do anything else really, no long days sightseeing the island or something, I just really want to get my stuff done before Christmas. Also because I am not really good at some of those skills, so I might have to do them over…. I will prepare for my first presentation soon (need to do 3) and hopefully can get the stress test out of the way (sharing air while exchanging all equipment during which the instructor is doing stupid things to you as well, like pulling your mask off or getting lots of air in your BC so you float up if you don’t deflate it quickly) and the equipment drop down (drop all your gear at 3 meters, bound together, duck dive down and put it all back on underwater without drowning or coming to the surface). That’s the kind of things we have to do, sounds silly and am not looking forward to it, especially since I’ve already done the stress test once and it didn’t go so well. I also need to lead dives, which will be really hard because I suck at navigation…. So actually I am feeling more incompetent each day, not exactly what I had in mind when I was signing up for the course. There is not a lot of guidance from the dive store, am a bit disappointed in that. It’s not really organized and you need to figure out a lot on your own.

This has turned out into a complaining post, sorry. I am just having a little down moment I guess. I am happy I did the swims etc and got a few assists in, so at least something is happening. About 4 weeks left, so I should be able to finish (I hope). And then it’s off to New Zealand where there are not that many creepy bacteria and viruses around and not all your clothes and other stuff gets moldy from the humidity …. Anyhow, at least it’s warm here!