Went Diving: Now or Never

I had no idea I will go diving last Sunday.Together with Allie, Euge, Jok, Lace and Pao, I joined the trip to Anilao wanting to just swim on the shore. But when I got there, I changed my mind and decided to go diving instead. And why not? For one, there was no shore to swim on. It was a diving resort and so all I saw were just rocks and rocks, and more rocks. Besides, it seemed to me like that the timing was perfect. I didn't have time to worry and anticipate and mull it over. So go, go, go. It was a now or never kind of thing. Besides, what can go wrong?

The experience started and ended with the wet suit. There must be some magic to that. Initially, we were allowed to go on-shore sans wet suit, since I could tolerate cold water. But I thought, what's diving without it? I thought I needed to wear one to get in the mood and in the psyche of diving. And boy did that send me to the right mindset. The fit was perfect and i kooked fantastic in it (except for my guts showing, but that was fine).

When we arrived at the dive site, I panicked a little. The divers went diving and we were asked to just go snorkeling. I could see the oil spots on the water, and it did look quite murky. And I was without a lifevest. And so I asked, "may lifevest ba? pano kami lulutang?" Mang Ebs was not helpful at all. He just said wala. And looked away.

Well, apparently, the wet suit is enough to make one float. Galing. The dive instructor mentioned that I will float with the suit on. I was hesitant, but since I was feeling adventurous I went ahead and did it. Thing is, I have a psychological barrier on sea. When it gets too deep, I panic and get scared easily. I just rely on floating devices. Oh well. Now or never. I went ahead and swam. The first few minutes was a struggle that I questioned the whole thing. But I reminded myself to just relax and swim. Have fun. And after a few minutes, i found myself swimming away from the boat and heading to the peripherals. Nice. Though the water was quite dirty, I was able to see some nice and colorful fish and corals too.

Then came the dive lessons. John Dizon, our DI thoughts us a couple of things that were useful to diving. Pao impressed everyone by identifying what SCUBA meant. And a couple more acronyms like BCD and whatever, then the hand signals, then "equalizing". I was getting really pensive. It was time to hit the waters. Jokkie and Pao went ahead. I stayed on first.

then came my turn. I forgot all the things that John taught me the minute i hit the water. great. I was equalizing the wrong way at the start. But I got the hang of it, sooner. Padoy led me to this cave of corals, and corals, and corals, and this school of fish and more corals. Ganda. It was really nice down there. And more important, this whole new world was undiscovered. I just got a little tired paddling because I was doing it too fast.

But I enjoyed immensely. And to be honest, I really want to take this up as a hobby. I think it's going to be worth it. I'd love it. I am excited on my next dive trip.

I take back what I initially said about diving (that I could see all those corals and more on National Geographic and Discovery). Nothing beats seeing God's handiwork and being up close and tactile about it.

Good thing i decided to dive.