In true dramamama form, the first dive proved to be as eventful as predicted. Norman Leong had very nicely said, “-insert evil laughs- I can’t wait to see what will go wrong on your first dive“.

He got what he wanted when he heard a panicky “HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!” with the SOS signal out in the open sea when he surfaced.

Come to think of it, it was nothing short of hilarious.

I was all psyched up when we had to load all the equipments on board, and knowing we were chaperoned makes me feel a great deal better.

I thought I would be scared to jump off into the water, but I remembered doing so when I was 12 and I did it with little fear.

Sometimes we just need to fool ourselves that we are still young and our frail hearts are as strong as before and we might just find the courage we need.

I jumped into the water, and panicked a little when I had to bob up and down on the surface. Strangely, I actually felt so much at ease when underwater than on the surface.

On the left top corner was my instructor, a Japanese lady named Funny.

We had to spit into the mask so it wouldn’t fog, and that the saliva can act as eye drop when it gets dry underwater, or when the eyes get painful from the salt water.

The first of many mishap happened just after I headed down to water a pissing sound was heard from my tank. It was resolved quickly and we headed down for my 1st dive.

The initial dive was pretty alright until when we were 14 metres below sea level, a sudden leaking sound was heard and when no one was watching me, I was floating up like a balloon and I couldn’t grab anything or scream (I did try to go MMMMMMMMMMMMMM underwater but it didn’t help). No one saw.

A buffet of air was free-flowing into my BCD inflating it to the max, and the additional air escaped and enveloped me in bubbles.

Before I knew it I was rocketed up at too fast a speed and I was praying with 2 things in my mind.

1) No passing boats, I don’t need a shave, thank you very much

2) Please, do not let my lungs explode

I wasn’t even thinking about bends because I was trying to breathe out as much as I could to make space for my expanding lungs as I get closer to the surface. Cos they scared us enough during theory lessons (now, I am mightily thankful for theory lessons) for me to know that a fast ascend is dangerous. And I was doing a super-shuttle ascend…..

I prayed.

It could have been well been over within 10 seconds, and I could only saw bubbles around me, but that was one that had so many thoughts running through me and it was a situation I could not control nor help myself out.

I remember looking down and no one looked up to see what happened to me. I was suddenly MIA from the group and no one realised.

As I surfaced, the leak was still strong and my BCD was inflated so much that it was pressing against my lungs. With the anxiety and all, I could hardly brief and I felt like passing out.

The boat was a distant away. No one saw me. I yelled and no one heard.

I remember looking to the sky and not knowing to laugh or cry and thinking to myself, “You kidding me, right?!”

I lost my weight belt in the midst of the rara.

Then Norman and WT surfaced and pulled me back to the boat.

NORMAN WAS LAUGHING OKAY?! He said he heard someone shouting and he didn’t even need to guess and knew it must be me, cos he was expecting for something to happen, just that he didn’t expect it to be that potentially serious.

I was propelled up from 14 metres and I was alive and I kept breathing hard to see if my lungs were leaking like the damn BCD or not.

As expected, my 2nd dive was one I was darn jittery, and it took a while before I got over the fear. It helps that I was the lost lamb Funny took personal care of as I held on to her hand during the dive.

My hand was also cut from the rope leading us down to below, and it was badly lacerated. Very ouch, cos salt water, ya know?

Nonetheless, the beautiful underwater sights and the freedom to move around weightlessly was one experience that was truly amazing, concluding our day 1 of adventure.

The fishes swimming at near distance, and Funny was pointing out the underwater sea creatures to me whenever I was too distracted by other parrot fish I tried to swim close to.

I held out my hand to reach out to some of them, and waved at passing fishes, who flared their gills nonchalantly at me.

Evening came and we were back on land, hungry and devoured plenty of food in the process.

We headed to a nearby hut where they served alcohol, and I did the thing I know I shouldn’t do but always do.

Yes, I drank alcohol.

I didn’t even manage to finish one inch of the drink, before the below happened to me.

Though I somehow am convinced it wasn’t me, but just someone who looks a lot like me.

I will not drink any alcohol in Hanoi. Those who don’t believe what a sip of alcohol can do to me, were always proven beyond any reasonable doubt.

I was not the only tipsy one that night, with Daniel throwing indecent proposal at Norman’s way…..

I was piggy-backed back to the room, and nicely tucked in with the blanket under my chin.

I am a cheap drunk.

It was a wonder how I managed to get up early for my 2nd day of dive at Tioman.

And when I thought the drama ran its course, tsk tsk, I was just too complacent.

Because of the lacerations on my hand, Norman offered a glove for my right hand so if we had to hold on to any ropes, I could use my right.

But…. Murphy’s Law loves me enough to strike at the hand that wasn’t gloved.

It was during my last dive when my BCD was giving me a little problem, and I tried to release the air from it. I kept floating upwards and when I reached out to release some air, my left hand hit something without me realising I hit something.

What followed was a sharp pain with me seeing brown, dancing blood seeping out of my left index finger into the sea water.

My entire hand can feel the sour, numbing pain and I had to grab my wrist with my right to soothe the effects.

When I was going between 2 walls of coral, I hit my head cos I was inevitably floating upwards.

Just before surfacing, I couldn’t even do a safety stop and Norman came over to help me with my BCD, which didn’t help, and he ended up floating up to the surface together with me, but at least it was a slow, gradual ascend this time round.

“You BCD got problem lah!” was his first words as we surfaced. I don’t know what problems cos I was just a beginner, remember?

I told them my fingers was terribly painful, but no one quite bothered with it, cos they thought it was just a girlie whine.

Some thought it was a cut, some thought it was coral cut, some thought it was a bite.

I was given plaster but it was so swollen that when I changed the plaster, it almost couldn’t go one round of my finger. I didn’t give it much thought except it was growing bigger and bigger…

By that evening, it was red, sore, and lifting of my hand could mean a shooting pain down my entire arm.

We left Tioman as evening drew near, and went on to our next destination, Dayang.

Travelling with doctors meant that one could offer a good concoctions of antibiotics after another one had diagnosed an infection.

Barely had any sleep and we headed for a dive the next morning upon reaching Dayang. I was the only girl in a group of 9 chaps, and since I was only 2 days old diver, I panicked when they asked me to try to blow into my BCD which I wasn’t taught previously.

I was bobbing in and out of water and struggling while the chaps looked on, and did I mention I am most freaked by the surface?

I almost gave up and lamented loudly at instructor Jacki, “Sorry, I am not very good at blowing, can?!” as the rest of the chaps burst into laughs, and I just really wanted to let myself sink to the bottom of the sea to spare the embarrassment.

Dayang was different, but I gained plenty of independence in Dayang.

But I was getting cold and shiverish, and I was developing a fever, possibly because of my finger. There was a moment I was pretty delirious when the others were out for night dives.

After the theory, I ended up bunking in a bunk with 16 chaps, cos I returned to my bunk too late and it was cold and I didn’t know how to climb up the bunk bed in the dark. Since I was heading out early for morning dives, I shifted my stuff over.

One guy complained I was snoring as loud as the other chaps. Hahahaha!

Another got a fright when I sat up with dishevelled hair cos he didn’t know there was a girl in the bunk. I was chided for wearing white too.

It was the first time I went for an early morning dives and it was one of the best experiences ever. Refreshing and absolutely cooling. And I had so much fun exploring as we didn’t have an instructor with us.

The underwater is such a magically, beautiful place. Moray eels, cuttlefish, and fishes of all shapes and colours… I don’t know how my finger survived the trip!

We managed to go for one more dive before wrapping the trip up and headed back to mainland, with me badly burnt (I hadn’t learnt the importance of sun block then and didn’t use it religiously).

And that was the first dose, that made me yearn for much more to come.

Reminds me of a meeting on Friday where we spent the beginning of it planning a trip together. My colleague, and 2 other vendors of ours.

I need to repair this bad back of mine, or maybe I just need to arm myself well with plenty of painkillers/deep heat.