Diving.

Hey there, its been along time since I last "talked" to you guys here. The amount of advertorials here is too damn high and I really really hate that. I'm so sorry and I promise I'll try to inject my daily life entries here more often as I kinda miss blogging actually. But it is just that I'm too busy everyday with work + advertorials + events to attend + friends to meet + pole dance classes, that I seldom have time to blog anymore.

A couple readers have been asking me to share about my new found hobbies, which are diving and pole dancing. So today let's talk DIVING.

I've had friends, Juan & Esther, who dived way before me. Esther became a hardcore diving addict after her sister introduced it to her and then Juan decided to try it out with Esther too. Never in a million years would I imagined that I would be one of them. They did ask me along for their diving trips but I was too into my whole "I WANNA BE SNOW WHITE FAIR" phase that I just rejected them because I didn't want to get tan. I mean, I still do want to stay as fair as I can but after I did my first dive, I realized, life is too short to sacrifice all these experience just because of my vanity.

So long story short, about 9 of us decided to learn diving and we managed to book an entire yacht for our 3 days 2 night diving trip to Tioman. The group consisted of 9 beginner divers and about 4 advanced divers. For the beginners, we had to take 2 lessons in Singapore before we were allowed to go for our diving trip. (I'm not sure if every school is the same, but I know of some schools that allow you to just go for the diving trip straight). But I'm kinda thankful that we had the 2 lessons in Singapore first because at least before we jumped into the open sea, we knew what to expect and won't be as blur and afraid.

Our 2 lessons were held at a Secondary School's swimming pool (can't remember which school), and we had to wear the full diving suit + learn how to fix our oxygen tanks and all the other accessories. The oxygen tank on our back was mother crazy heavy I swear. We had to learn how to breath properly underwater, how to find for our regulator in the water if we accidentally removed it from our mouth and not panic. The KEY is to stay calm underwater because once you panic, you will be out of breath easily and then you'll drown. HAHA. We also learned how to clear our mask underwater, how to remove it and put it back on underwater, how to control our buoyancy underwater. There's just so much to remember and it was really good that we got to practice it once in the swimming pool before the real deal.

That's us at the secondary school prepping ourselves!

Suit up..

& ready to put our masks + regulators on.

So we departed from Singapore in those big buses from the diving school and drove into Malaysia. The entire bus journey was about.. 4-5 hours if I'm not wrong. Shit, I can't remember. But there was a pitstop for us to have our dinner/supper before we continued to the ferry "terminal" where we boarded our yacht!

By the time we got on to the yacht and showered, it was already about 2am?

And we had to get up bright and early at 6-7am the next day for our dive.

That's our breakfast.

So full even before my first dive.

Bulging tummy *gasps*

We had our meals on the top deck.

& this was our tea break after our first dive.

Yes, we eat and then we dive, and once we are out of water, we eat again and then we dive again.

LOL.

A group picture with everyone!

After finishing our 2nd dive, we decided to jump into the open sea & snorkel.

That's me with Dave & Pham.

The 3 boys - SX, Pham and Dave. 

Suntanning on the mid-deck.

Something I'll never ever do. 

I miss this lifestyle so much!!

We be holding hands like otters in the sea.

That's Esther with me!

Solo shot.

& then it was time for our final dive of the day.

All ready to leap into the sea.

Can you spot me?

Esther & I.

How glamorous do we look?

& here's SX and I underwater.

For beginners, we could only go to the depth of 18m.

We saw turtles!

Tons of sea urchin.

Omg, I was trying my best to not get pricked by them thorns.

Then I began to wonder, there are so many of them.. why is it that japanese restaurants are selling it at such a high price?

Nemo.

Nemossss.

I really miss this peaceful + carefree lifestyle.

LOL.

With my city plaza buddies, Megan and Esther.

Sunset taken when we were are the shore..

We went to tioman island and got some drinks and snacks from the convenience stores there.

Our yacht coming back to pick us up!!

& when the clock struck midnight, it was my birthday!!!

I HAD NO IDEA HOW THEY MANAGED TO GET A CAKE ON BOARD!

Super sweet of everyone.

They actually told the diving school to ask the boatman to get a cake beforehand.

*touched* wipes tear from corner of eye. LOL.

& here's all of us on the bus heading back to Singapore on the 3rd day.

So in total, for beginners to get the open water license, you'll have to complete 5 dives in the sea.

What I did was, 3 dives on day two and 2 dives on day three!

It was pretty tiring like non-stop diving.

You'll be super exhausting every night but it was FUNNNNN!

You know, Megan and I were deciding to back out of diving if we sucked during the pool lessons because we were both afraid of drowning. Like, I've always had this fear of being unable to breathe underwater and I think that drowning is really a horrible way to die. I mean, getting burned to death is a horrible way too but I've read news where even super pro divers drown and my parents were kinda nagging about my safety when I told them I was going for diving. My dad always says I was supposed to be a boy instead of a girl. Even when I was little and he brought me to the swimming pool, my brother would be scared to enter the water and slowly dip his foot in while I will just run and jump into the pool even though I couldn't swim and my dad had to catch me. LOL. 

Okay, sorry for digressing over there. 

But my point was, I'm glad I did not back out on diving. I'm glad I pushed myself and went for it. It truly is an experience that I hold so dear to me and I can't wait to dive again in end of October where all of us (the beginners) will be taking our advanced divers license.. WOOHOO!! I'm able to go deeper next time! 

Here's SX, Esther & Pham in Maldives.

We went for 2 dives while we were in Maldives because.. HOW CAN WE NOT?

Happy like a fish underwater.

With SX who was having a little difficulty because he put on too much weights on his weightbelt. 

He damn blur cock one lah.

You see, when we were in Tioman, we put on 6 pounds of weight on our weightbelt.

& when we were at Maldives, the weights were in KG and not Pounds.

He this smarty pants went and put 6KG on his weightbelt and he kept sinking and having trouble floating or swimming. He said he was like running underwater, super exhausting for him.

I don't know to laugh or get mad at him -___-

All of us underwater!

Left to right, Esther, Pham. Me and SX.

The prettiest view I saw underwater.

A huge school of dory fishes!!

We didn't get enough of the sea and went on to snorkel after our dive.

Maldives is amazing.

I WANNA GO BACK AGAIN!!

The above picture was us going down to the water via the stairs from my bathroom.

Snorkeling is fun too but it diving is a whole other experience. 

So.. this concludes my diving entry.

I know people will sure ask me these few questions:

HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY?

Ans: $600+ which includes everything. From accommodation, food, bus ride to and fro Singapore, renting of gears.

DO YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW TO SWIM?

Ans: You don't have to be the best swimmer, in fact 1 of my friends can't swim. You just need to know how to tread water and you can inflate the life vest on you anytime.

WHICH DIVING SCHOOL DID YOU GO TO?

Ans: The one I went to is called BluReefs Scuba Diving or something. Located at North Canal Road. Our dive master were Ashar and Sing.

WHAT SUNBLOCK DID YOU USE?

Ans: I was taking oral sunblock pills from Heliocare and applying sunblock from SUNPLAY (the red bottle one that has 130++ SPF after each dive.

Okay, I can't think of anymore questions..

That's all guys.

:)

I'll be back with more blog posts that aren't advertorials. I PROMISE I'LL TRY!!!

XOXO.