Diving at Sibuan

Today, finally, after a day of theory at the bar adjacent to the diving shop we got the wet suits, fins, masks on and went into thewater. We got Daniele from the UK to be our teacher, and she was very good. Vey patient and very detailed, explaining to us what to do, how,when, and why. I felt quite comfortable with all of the skills we hadto learn and practice today. Mostly because I've already dove once before in Thailand and although I didn't learn most of what I've learnt today I felt very comfortable under water. Katy did well too,her mask wasn't adjusted properly in the beginning, so she had problems with clearing it sometimes, but later she was good too.So, we took off at 8 am on the boat to the island called Sibuan about half an hour from Semporna. (If you're curious where it is google itup. It will come up. or look at the map on this blog). When we gotthere we were briefed on what skills we would learn today, got ourwetsuits on and got into the water. No need to tell you how clean thewater was and how turquoise it was in the shallow and deep blue almotblack at deeper waters. It was an amazing feeling. First we had to doa swimming test, so we had to swim 200m and float in water for 10minutes to prove that we actually can swim. This part was very easy.The waters were calm and as you know swimming in salty water is easierthan in fresh water. After that we went into the shallow water about chest deep and kneeled under water with all our gear on. That's when we started learning all the skills necessary to know to get the Open Water Course PADI certificate. Even while learning all the skills, which I won't bother you explaining about, I still could see lots of fish swimming around. By about lunch time we were almost done with learning the skills, and I was really impatient to get finally to the diving part. And so we did... :) We went around to the oposite side of the island and dove in. I think we were under water for about 35 minutes at the depth of 12 meters. No need to say how amazing it was. We saw a turtle eating something and then swimming away as about 7-8 divers started circling above it and some of them taking pictures.. One day for our dive when we're certified we will rent the underwater camera and take some pictures.. So expect those...

On this tiny island, I'd say no bigger than the football (soccer) field we found quite a few kids running around. I was told they were islanders gypsies. The kids were very cute and as all kids around Semporna as well, they all will say Hello... and something else, which we think is "Give us money~". The boy on the picture actually started posing when I asked him if I could take his picture. I guess he gets this question a lot. ha~ Then during lunch all the kids would gather around us and ask for food. Perhaps they get sick of eating fish every day and want something else, or I wouldn't be surprised that they were just hungry, because I honestly don't see how can they live on such a tiny islet. Anyways, apparently what the divers do is they give them what is left of food in exchange of all the plastic rubbish that gets washed off on the beach. Locals are not really concerned about keeping their seas clean. Semporna's waters are just awful I wouldn't swim in there. But you go 100 meters away and the waters are pristine clean.

Tomorrow is our last day of the course. We will dive on a different island, and then we will stay there until we leave because there's really nothing to do in Semporna.

Below is Katy's impressions of first diving~ (again I'll put it in italics to avoid confusion ^^):

Diving.... well, I was quite nervous about it, but after the first day I am looking forward to doing more. We practiced skills for diving in the morning, in the shallow water at the edge of an the island of Sibuan. Normally when you take an Open Water Course like ours you would practice in a pool, so we made a great choice to come here, where we can practice in the real environment and see lots of fish. We had to practice basic skills for diving all morning and Vlad seemed to progress through these with no problems whatsoever. He had done diving before in Thailand, so maybe this helped, but I think he is also relatively fearless when it comes to sports that might kill you because he has a $50,000 life insurance policy. I on the otherhand was not certain about whether I would be able to dive or whether I would enjoy it but also knew that thinking this way could actually bring about that result~ Such a Catch 22 situation...At first we just practiced breathing under the water. Sounds simple doesn't it? But when it reminds you of childhood days of seeing how long you could stick your head under in the bath, it feels natural to hold your breath, which of course defeats the purpose of SCUBA! So I had to lift my head a few times when my heart began to beat harder, otherwise known as panicking. So I panicked a coupla times... whatever~ I eventually mastered the two skills that gave me trouble; one which involved filling your mask with water and then purging the water by breathing out your nose while pressing on the mask and looking up. The second involved taking the mask off entirely. NOT RECOMMENDED! And if I can possibly help it, I will NEVER EVER do that in a real dive. Very unpleasant having water streaming up your nose while being told you have to breath calmly and swim in a circle. Our tutor, 25 year old Danielle from London, helpfully suggested I put the mask over my arm while I swim and squeeze my nose with that hand. This worked, although I proceeded slowly, breathing a few more breaths than normally necessary before I dared to remove my fingers and put the mask back on. At lunch we sat on the white shores of Sibuan to eat the shabby lunch of cheap white rice and tasteless chicken stirfry prepared for us. About 15 children, burned black by the sun, stood around begging for food, and giving me indigestion. Apparently every day they give the children leftovers if they pick up rubbish along the beach. So they wait with a bag full of rubbish... The island is so tiny that there are only a few huts there. God only knows what the children do when they are not begging from divers and feigning malnutrition. Certainly not going to school. Then we suited up for the first real dive and learned how to roll off the back of a boat, another skill I was not looking forward to learning, but which was not as hard as almost drowning myself with my eyes closed. The next difficulty was maintaining the same level while diving. Breathe in, you rise, breathe out, you fall. Simple, except there is a delayed reaction, so you breathe in, and you still seem to be about to scrape your shins along the coral, so you push some air into your BCD (stands for fancy words meaning a life jacket that inflates) and rise and rise and rise until you realize that you have risen far to far and need to deflate the BCD a little, or breathe out more... and so it went with both Vlad and I bouncing around for a while until we got the hang of it. Fortunately, besides Danielle, we also had another young Brit called Jack, who was training to be a Dive Master, assisting us ie. pulling me down again or steering me when necessary.In short, we dived to about 12 metres, I didn't panick and we saw a turtle and a fish that tries to conceal itself by looking like the white coral and rocks. I can't name all the others because I haven't studied hard enough yet~~ Will be more diligent in coming days! Tomorrow we move from this cowboy town run by rabid dogs to the island of Mabul, where we can enjoy a beach environment. Let's see how diving goes tomorrow~~ The final day of our OWC course.