For the next four days, I had a whirlwind of scuba diving training. \u00a0The PADI \u201copen-water diver\u201d course includes a combination of readings from a coursebook, classroom style lectures, \u201cpool dives\u201d (which we did in the ocean, but in shallow water) where we would learn different techniques, and ocean dives (where we went to greater depth) for further practice of diving techniques.<\/p>\n
Scuba diving may seem dangerous if you have never done it before, but the safety instruction is very comprehensive and when diving there are actually many equipment redundancies and conservative safety techniques that you use which makes it very safe … as long as you dive smart and stay cautious. \u00a0Some of the cool things I learned included how to clear a diving mask if it fills up with water when you are underwater, what to do if your oxygen tank runs out of air, and how to use the air in your lungs to strategically ascend or descend without actually swimming up or down.<\/p>\n
Being underwater, the techniques we learned proved very important. \u00a0Not necessarily to address any unforseen issues, as there weren\u2019t any that came up, but having that knowledge base in place and feeling adequately planned allowed us to keep all we had learned in the back of our mind so that we could enjoy the present moment. \u00a0The peacefulness of being in an environment without any noise beyond the bubble of oxygen coming from our regulators.<\/p>\n
The dives sites we went to were beautiful. \u00a0Some of the cooler dives I went on included a deeper dive to about 100 feet, and a wreck dive to explore an old navy vessel, the\u00a0HMTS Sattakut. \u00a0Of course, you had to get below the surface of the water to see what beauty the ocean contained. \u00a0Highlights included a myriad of beautiful fish and coral – trigger fish, angel fish, clown fish, groupers, wrasse, moray eels, rays, and others – fish ranging in size from an inch to 4 ft or more. \u00a0It was especially awesome to see different examples of symbiosis underwater. \u00a0For instance, the relationship between goby fish and pistol shrimp. \u00a0Pistol shrimp are known for burrowing into the sand, but prefer to in areas that often offer little coverage from predators. \u00a0This dangerous housing location combined with their bad eyesight requires the shrimp to seek protection from goby fish. \u00a0As a shrimp is digging into the sand, a goby fish will stand (or should I saw swim?) watch outside of the burrow. \u00a0If a predator approaches, it will flick its tail warning the shrimp to hide in its burrow. \u00a0If the predator gets too close the goby will swim into the burrow as well. \u00a0In the evening, this gives the goby a place to rest, as it will sleep together with the shrimp in the burrow.<\/p>\n
My accommodation started off as a bit of a nightmare. \u00a0The first place I stayed in was such a great location, a bungalow about 20 feet away from the ocean. \u00a0But due to a few gaps in the walls was plagued by insects, most small but with a cockroach my bathroom approaching 4-5 inches long. \u00a0I told the woman running the hotel and she called a guy over from a nearby restaurant who came to my room, saw the cockroach, and promptly smashed it with his bare hand. \u00a0Wow – the advantages of growing up in Thailand versus the US. \u00a0The next day I spoke to my dive school about it and they laughed saying, \u201cthat\u2019s Thailand after the rain, every place will be that way.\u201d \u00a0I try to be an easygoing understanding traveler especially in this neck of the woods but this was too much for me. \u00a0I switched into another hostel, a cool place inland a bit with signage mimicking the London tube platforms including \u201cmind the gap\u201d and other similar notices, which was much better and without the insect issues.<\/p>\n
Lessons Learned<\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes you need to go beyond the surface level of something to see what beauty it contains<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Like the shrimp and goby, sometimes it is helpful to team up with others if you have something they want and they have something you want, for mutual benefit<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Some of our fears – my fear of insects for example – can feel internal but in fact be a product of how we are trained to think by society and local culture<\/p>\n<\/li>\n For the next four days, I had a whirlwind of scuba diving training. \u00a0The PADI \u201copen-water diver\u201d course includes a combination of readings from a coursebook, classroom style lectures, \u201cpool dives\u201d (which we did in the ocean, but in shallow water) where we would learn different techniques, and ocean dives (where we went to greater […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thailand","category-touring-around","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"geo":null,"yoast_head":"\n\n