📍 Langkawi, Malaysia (Scuba Club Langkawi)

Took one day of my annual leave and a weekend in December to pick up a new certificate – PADI Open Water Scuba Diving.

This has always been on my bucket list but guess who is afraid of open waters? Also me! So, it took a bit of self-convincing but I’m now 30 and it’s time to face my fears.

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Why Langkawi?

• It’s only a 1.5h flight away – This is significant for those with limited leave days (like me) and because there’s a required “no flight” period of at least 15 hours after diving.
• It’s relatively affordable – Made better with the range of budget flights, strong SGD and supply of dive centres there.
• Discover new places beyond the water – Explore markets, go on hikes, and visit beaches to enhance your vacation experience.
• Available year-round – When I finally decided to take the plunge (literally) and go get my diving cert, having a year-round diving destination really made it easier to “just do it”.

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The Course

• Self Learning – This can be done through the PADI Open Water Diver manual or online eLearning modules. Topics covered include diving physics, physiology, equipment, and safety procedures.
• Confined water dive – Basically a safer space to do hands-on pratice of all the technical skills. Starting from how to put on the equipments (pictured above) to what to do when issues occur underwater.
• Open water dives – Minimum of four dives, spread over at least two days. These dives usually take place in a controlled, yet natural setting (i.e. in places where the currents are not so strong)
• Exams – Spread out across the course, tests and quizzes (think math problem sums) will be administered to gauge your knowledge of equipment and scenarios handling.
• Certificate – The passport to the underwater world given when everything is completed!

My Experience

First day training was half a day and in a swimming pool. We started out with a light 50m swim for the instructor to gauge our water confidence before we started proper to suit up and learn the technical skills.

One of the skill we needed to learn was to remove our snorkel mask and wear it back while underwater. Even in a controlled environment like the pool, it caused me anxiety.

“Remember to breathe with your mouth not your nose”

“Don’t let go of the mask”

“Wear the mask back properly”

“Breathe out hard through your nose to clear the water in the mask”

Just too many things to do, causing an anxiety that I’ll do something wrong and choke on the water. However, I was there to get certified so time to steel my nerves and complete it. Quick prayer and guess who did it!

For the not-so-book-inclined, note that there’s a theory portion that needs to be completed. We powered through it at night and it was doable.

Next day, it was time for open waters!

When getting certified, we cannot bring any go-pro or equipments along on the dive so no underwater photos this time!

Weather started off great and we saw a sea turtle on our first dive. Then, weather got progressively worse in the afternoon and visibility suffered from Dive 2 onwards. I literally could only see the flippers of the instructor and focused on just making sure I didn’t get lost.

The scariest part in diving for me is the descent. It’s feels like I ‘m sinking yet floating at the same time. The instructor and other students seem to do it more smoothly then I do. Then, the pressure in the ears just adds another thing to remember to do proactively before descending further.

Diving is truly a mentally taxing thing at this point. However, the moment I’m underwater, I truly feel free. I still don’t float the way great divers do and I move my hands too much but… the colours of the corals and the sea creatures really is breath-taking.

By the end of it all, I am certified and I’ve unlocked 18m of underwater exploration. Maybe if I get more comfortable I might just consider going for an advanced cert.

I rate this experience a good +85 exp cos I conquered a fear, got a cert and saw new underwater things.

Toodle-oo~

p.s. All my experiences will be rated against a maximum of 103 exp. Why 103? Well, cos sometimes I wanna go beyond 100 😛