If one was having a romantic walk on the beach, the sight of five Western tourists walking aimlessly in circles, arm-over-arm, trying to figure out armband compasses would prove to be very amusing.
We're practicing our navigation skills on land before going under water. After hours of poor compassing circling, we're in the water at 2:26pm. We're leading this dive ourselves, trying to manage the depth and somehow circle Laem Thiam Bay and make it back to the boat alive. Yvonne follows behind, only interrupting to yell at me to slow down as I am trying to garner the new nickname of "Mighty Mouse" due to my velocity and size. Our group is a bit all over the place but we somehow make it to the boat and receive a royal welcome from a school of canary yellow butterfly fish.
Our final dive is at 4:36pm at the Japanese Garden. Remco and I are off on our own, sans instructor, with only our dive computers and compasses as tools. We do a decent job navigating the open bay, using the beach as our compass reference. Despite being alone, we're confident together as we were at the Full Moon Party, but we actually stick together this time. We pass by a giant trigger fish and endless schools of banner fish. Remco laughs as I can't seem to inflate my safety sausage. Performance anxiety, I guess as those plastic tubes are always hard to get out. I look a bit like a headcase as I entangle myself in the sausage and ascend, minus the inflated safety divice, like a hiker deep in the jungle swatting away mosquitoes. (Images from Google)
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| From Google |
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| From Google |
Despite my sausage failure, we rise to the surface right in front of the Big Blue boat. And as I look around spotting all of my peers on the surface, I know we've passed the final test with flying colors. We head back to the shore as Advanced Adventurer Certified Divers, approved to scuba up to 100 feet anywhere in the world, at any time of day.
Let the celebration continue beyond the sea:
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