Diving Trip - Pulau Aur

Despite the fact that swimming to me is what running is to fishes, I managed to complete my PADI Open Water Dive.

I must say though, even at the risk of sounding like I am singing my own praises, that it takes a man with great courage to attempt diving when he cannot even tread water.

And so April 8th found us at the doors of Deep Blue Scuba where we checked our equipments and waited for the bus to fetch us up to Mersing and from there, onwards to Pulau Aur.

Initially, our Open Water Dive is supposed to be on the 26th of March but due to high waves and bad weather conditions, the dive trip was postponed for 3 weeks. As our pool session was more than a month ago, I was abit apprehensive on whether I can still recall the basics of diving.

I do not want to give a blow by blow account of what happened during the dive though because that would have included much too many embarrassing details than I wished to let known.

Therefore, what I will do instead, will be to list down the four important things that I have learned during this expensive trip down to Pulau Aur.

1 - The fishes eat almost anything

Our Diver's Lodge at Pulau Aur is actually built on the overhanging ledges of a cliff. The cookhouse of the lodge is built on those wooden platforms that are supported by stilts over the shallow waters of the sea. As the water in Pulau Aur is really quite clear, we can see the fishes swimming just below the cookhouse eagerly waiting for their food. These fishes are actually the rubbish bins for the leftover food. And so every mealtime, Eilleen will happily play Lady bountiful and empty her half eaten (as usual) plate of food into the sea and gleefully watched as the fishes fought over her leftovers.

The in-charge of the lodge then helpfully informed us that the fishes eat almost all kinds of leftovers except for egg shells. I was left to wonder what would happen if Eilleen dropped into the sea while trying to empty her plate.


2 - Fishes, regardless of how small they are, bite

We were diving from the platform and I was having quite alot of trouble with my bouyancy. I either have too much bouyancy or too little. It did not help that my tank kept slipping off from my Bouyancy Control Device and my instructor had to strap it back on while we are in the water.

Having bad bouyancy control is not a fun thing. You will either find yourself floating to the surface or sinking to the bottom when you are supposed to be hovering above the seabed. I landed on the coral reef and found out that fishes are actually -fiercely- territorial when they swarmed out to take a bite out of me (actually, they were targetting Eilleen more, which goes to show that fishes can tell bad people from good).

Our instructor, however, keeps insisting that the fishes don't bite and that they were just 'bumping' against us. I beg to differ though as judging from the bite marks on Eilleen's arms and legs, those fishes definitely do bite. Actually, the way Eilleen tells it, it would seem that we were attacked by a horde of piranhas instead of a few cute fishes that were barely bigger than the size of our palms.


3 - You can get sea sick from diving

Prior to being actually able to dive, we have to endure 4 hours or so on the bus and this was followed by another 4-5 hours on the ferry before we reach the diver's lodge. But these pales in comparison to being bobbed about on the sea surface as I hugged the safety buoy and waited for my fellow diver to descend and ascend.

The whole world seemed to be spinning when I got up from my 2nd dive and I vomitted once I got back to the room. I did not know that sea-sickness can last for hours as the world keeps spinning well past dinner time. Some people are just not made for diving, and at this point of time, I am thinking that I am one of them.


4 - The Oxygen Tank is really Heavy

The tank becomes really heavy when we were trying to climb back to the platform or the boat after our dives. I had little problem climbing back to the platform though, and I had fun watching Eilleen struggled up the platform. With the tank behind her, she does a really good impression of a sea turtle :)

All in all, I felt really crappy throughout the diving trip as I spent most of the time trying to keep my food in my stomach and the world from spinning. The only time I had fun was when we went out to the sea to dive and saw schools of fishes swimming around us.

Despite all that, I am still amiable to going diving again, if my finances allows for it :(