Grapestomper's travel blogs:
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Southwest Pinnacles and WhiteRock
Entry 25 of 35 | show all | print this entry |
Today was a huge success! Early morning was beautiful out on the water. The first divesite, Southwest Pinnacles, was about 45 minutes off the coast, you can guess which direction. The wind was causing some swells at the surface, but once under everything was calm. This site was gorgeous! We made our deepest dive - to 18 meters - and swam all around a huge underwater pinnacle that was absolutely surrounded with huge schools of fish, all moving as one. Even our instructor said we got to see A LOT of fish, and that's really saying something since the guy has been diving Koh Tao for over 3 years now! When it was time to resurface we needed to make a safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes, just as a precaution for decompression. I was the only one who managed to stay under with the instructor for the full time. Everyone else popped up to the surface for one reason or another. When I did finally resurface I got a bloody nose - it was kinda scary, though I was told it happens once in a while when theres a slight sinus blockage that gets forced a little too hard.
Dive 2 of the day took place at WhiteRock and was more mellow and not as deep - only 12 meters this time. We spent some of the dive swimming about and the rest working on some underwater excercises such as mask clearing, buoyancy control, and compass work. To resurface we practiced a controlled emergency ascent, just to show us how easy it is to get to the top if you should run out of air.
Afternoon brought with it the final exam, which we all passed with varying degrees of success. I'm proud to say I was the star student with 98% correct. I thought it was really important to study since it's like taking your life in your own hands 18 meters under the ocean surface...but that's just me. The celebratory dinner and video viewing took place at a mexican restaurant with pretty good food. I was quite happy about that as I've been craving the tastes of home lately. The video was a riot to watch and I was tempted to buy, but it was way too expensive at $70 usd. Oh well, I'll have to live with just memories. After dinner much drinking and fun ensued until late and everyone had a great time. I'm very glad I took the time to do this class and didn't wimp out at anypoint...I even met some really nice people in the process!
Tomorrow - island hop to Koh Phangan!
Latest Comments (3)
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Great job! (reply)
Apr 9, 2007 13:39 EST by kbuckreus
Hi, Erica. I have enjoyed following your adventures, trials and achievements. You are amazing! Can't wait to hear about it all from you in person and I'm sure the photos will be awesome. Wish you could have bought the dive video. One less thing to put into the backpack, right? See you soon! - Love, Kathy
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Cool Stuff (reply)
Apr 7, 2007 01:04 EST by ladies
Hey Erica, it's your cousin Kelly. I've been reading your blogs and they're really interesting. The suba driving sounded fascinating and I'm glad you didn't get eaten by any sharks in the process. Hope you keep posting so we can all keep reading. ^_^
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Hidden Info (reply)
Apr 6, 2007 12:18 EST by dadio
Peanut, Just checking in before work again. Last time I was too stupid to click next at bottom of your entries so did not see last 3 or 4 entries. Wondered how M knew about scuba diving etc. You'd think highlighted 'next' arrow would give me a clue! Duh. Well I'm all updated now. I still want you home safe but I'm very proud and amazed at what you're able to do. Hope memories and experiences will ... show all
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