Diving off the islands
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
139
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Nha Trang,
Vietnam
Saturday, March 22, 2008
After a seriously shoddy shopping job we decided to go with Vietnam Explorer Dive Center. I'll tell you why we didn't shop as extensively as we did on Utila - it was a Dive Center, it was cheap, it was PADI licensed
awaiting the second dive
. Many travel agencies offered dive packages, but Travis and I agreed that we'd be most comfortable visiting an actual dive center, meeting the people we'd be under water with, and so on and so forth. There's probably nothing terribly wrong with booking with a travel agency - I'm sure some of them contract with licensed dive centers - but you can only be sure you'll be comfortable if you scope out the dive stuff yourself. Lonely Planet said dive packages started at $40 per day - our dive center went at $35 including two dives, equipment, fruit, water, tea, and lunch. We figured they could pull this off because it's low season. While we weren't convinced I checked on the PADI website to scope out Nha Trang licensed dive centers. Being inexperienced licensed divers we know we can trust PADI to hold to safety standards. And it turned out that Vietnam Explorer was lovely. Because one must always dive in the morning the dive center picked us up (along with a load of other people) and off we went to the boat. The dive boats left from the same area as the tour boats, so everything was busy and bustling when we got there, but the dive team made sure we got on the boat without a hitch, and then we were off!
Diving is a rather orderly sport, mostly due to the fact that if everybody's not on the same page people can die or get lost or hurt. So after a banana and a cup of tea we were briefed on the dive site and proceeded to try on our gear. When we reached the dive site we went over the hand signals and then we all splashed into the water. The vast majority of people on the boat were snorkelling (or, because they're Asian and don't like to be in the sun, not doing much of anything). There was one woman doing a trial dive
dive boats
. This is a baby dive for inexperienced divers; a divemaster holds on to your tank for half an hour as you swim around at no deeper than 6 meters. When I read this I decided it wouldn't be any fun at all, but this woman had an excellent time, so I guess I won't knock it till I try it. It's also a good way to check out diving without spending several hundred dollars on your training. Travis and I dived with one other guy who was licensed and a dive instructor. It was a small fun time (except for the fact that the third diver had no idea where his flippers were and kept bonking stuff, including me). I always get super excited about little things that the more experienced divers couldn't care less about, like clown fish and mushroom coral and spiny sea urchins. But we did see some more exciting stuff on this go, too. The instructor coaxed a Moray eel out of its lair, and we saw several blue and yellow spotted slugs (which are super cool), and a couple of real, live porcupine fish. I recognized these from the National Aquarium. Excellent knowledge.
After 45 minutes we climbed back onto the boat. There was more fruit waiting for us and I thoroughly perused the fish guide to see if I could recognize anything and write it in my dive log. After a while a divemaster saw me and told me about some of the things we saw, like a clear shrimp less than an inch long that hides out on coral and takes an experienced eye to find (this is why instructors are good to have around)
gearing up for the dive
. Very interesting. And apparently you can see some other strange creature if you turn over a sea cucumber. Travis thought it was a strange thing to imagine, a diver roaming around turning over sea cucumbers to find little critters. And the sea cucumbers would squirt out their guts, so I think it would be messy. Before long we had to put our wet wetsuits back on. That is not so fun, just so you know, but once we were back in the water all was well once more. On this second dive Travis and I had better control of our buoyancy again, so we could relax and enjoy even more. I've always wanted to see a real live scorpion fish and a red lionfish. And a giant clam. And I've always been curious about that evil crown of thorns. Well, now I've seen them all. Because of their venomous spines, the instructor prodded them with his dive knife to make them display. Don't worry, they didn't get cut - just getting in their grill is enough to make them cranky. The red lionfish was much smaller than I expected, but apparently they get bigger. It's really wild to see a fish spread out all its stuff and swim around threateningly. Then the scorpion stonefish was a total surprise. Our instructor poked his knife at a rock and all of a sudden it had multicolored wings. Way cool. Giant clams, while not as mobile as fish or as large as those super giant clams you see in Discovery Channel, are super nifty, super colorful thingies that retract and look squishy. I am a fan of the giant clam.
Toward the end of the dive the instructor reached down into a crevace with his knife and pulled up a big spiky blob the size of a dinner plate. As we swam along with it skewered on his knife I began to wonder exactly what we were going to do with it
divemaster takes a break with the used oxygen
. At first I thought he had pulled it out to show us and stabbing it wasn't the end of the world because it was a regenerative creature (which it was, but that's not why he stabbed it). Then we were swimming along and I thought maybe he was going to move it. Finally he stopped and smushed it under a rock. That's odd, I thought, but okay, we'll go with it. When we ascended we heard explosions from dynamite fishing. It's a little freaky underwater, but sound carries really far, so it wasn't a threat to us. Still, it's not the greatest way to go fishing. Finally, back on the boat I got the explanation about the spiky blob. It was the infamous crown of thorns, which is a champion reef destroyer. Our instructor said that if one finds them one must kill them because they breed like mice and can destroy a reef in a year. Perhaps you will recall the oh-so-depressing story of the Australians who would fish them out of the water in the Great Barrier Reef, chop them up, and throw them back? All this did was exponentially expand the population, because, as a member of the seastar family, these little guys can regenerate if only a small part of the center is left in the water. That is why our instructor killed it by placing it under a rock. Take that, coral eater! Once again we were back on the boat, munching on watermelon and pineapple. I tried to find more of the stuff that we saw, but I already knew much of it
reclining Buddha
. Then we were back at the boat launch, back on the bus, and back at the dive center for lunch. Yay! The rest of the day might have passed totally uneventfully, but then we remembered that we hadn't yet gone to see the pagoda with the giant Buddha on the hill. It was getting late, so we decided to rent bicycles and speed up our transportation. Bicycles are much faster than feet. Unfortunately this meant that we were in the middle of insane traffic, and when we finally arrived at the temple Travis said he shouldn't have listened to me and he hoped he'd never have to experience the horror of such a ride again. But we did get there in one piece.
I think that in and of itself the Long Son Pagoda isn't too thrilling. Its claim to fame is mosaic dragons and the giant seated Buddha on the hill above it. There are also still monks living at the pagoda. We wandered up to the top of the hill, passing many beggars as we went. It's very depressing to have beggars lining the stairs where you've got to walk to get where you're going. And they all look equally miserable.
About half way to the top of the hill there's a long reclining Buddha, milky white, hidden, and peaceful
big Buddha for peace
. Then we went the rest of the way. I must say, the giant Buddha is quite giant. While Travis snapped photos I did a little exploring and discovered that the surrounding area below the Buddha is a sort of cemetery. I ended up spying on a young woman chanting with incense at the plaque of her ancestor, but when she turned around and saw me she smiled and waved. We descended and were almost on our way out of the gate when we were approached by a monk. We're always a little wary of people approaching us, due in no small part to the fact that most of the time they want something that we don't want to give them, like money. But it's pretty hard to resist a monk, so we stopped. "Can I speak English with you?" I looked confusedly at Travis, who looked slightly (but only slightly) less confusedly back. "Sure," we said.
The monk was really sweet, especially when he didn't know the English words he wanted to use. We learned that he was 47 and had been living at the monastery since he was a little boy. He'd only just started learning English, but he wanted very much to practice. We especially liked the way he said, "Then I met the Buddha..." to explain his religious growth and decision to become a monk full-time. After a few minutes we had to go because it was getting dark, so he gave us a blessing and wished us good health and we parted company. It was a lovely experience, and we were more than happy to help him practice his English, if only for a little while.
Erin
