15th – 18th April 2011
Advanced Certification!
Can’t believe it’s been almost 9 months since my 1st dive. I was very determined to do a second dive last year but I changed job and being so new in the role, there was never a suitable time to take leave.
This trip, I gathered people and ensure it was a slightly longer trip than last year. It’s
Tenggol Island again but there is just so much to explore there! Together with my buddy Tee Hui, I got Sam, Mark, Karen and Sakti on this trip. We also met Douglas and Chee Wai who were doing their advanced certification with us.
We were delayed on our journey there so we reached pretty late at Mayang Sari, Dungun.
Photo by Soo
Day 1
2 Dives
When we reached the island, we were separated by leisure divers and those taking the advanced certification. And the comedy begins. Funny story 1: Douglas descended with his snorkel! Yea, guess he thought he didn’t need air until he started to drink some water. Funny story 2: Chee Wai fell asleep drinking milk! That was a classic sight, would have been a great photo to post but we didn’t manage to take in time.
Day 2
3 Dives + 1 Night Dive
Sam was suppose to perform out of air with any one of us and she chose Chee Wai under water. To everyone’s surprise, she tapped him on the shoulder and he took a slight look and swam away! Ever since that, he is dubbed the runaway-buddy. Apparently he didn't see anyone. Haha. Guess the only thing he saw were these beautiful "Christmas trees".
Photo by Soo
After a few dives I feel I have so much better control of movements underwater. Happiness. Diving with current was interesting. You practically get pushed pretty far even with minimum movement. When we did night dive, it wasn’t as scary as I thought. Torch lights very much lighted up the whole place. But we MUST have another funny story so... Chee Wai was out of air within a few minutes after descending. He showed his pressure level going up and down as he inhale and exhale. Of course with our instructor Soo’s expertise, he found Chee Wai’s tank not fully opened. During this dive, we saw a very rarely spotted flat worm! It’s beautiful!
Photo by Chee Wai
It was a tiring day! So we slept pretty early. Half way through the night, someone started speaking in teochew! I thought it was a one off and soon it became almost conversational. :-p I found my buddy sleep talking.
Day 3
3 Dives
It was our 1st deep dive to a ship wreck! Before I know it, Soo was pointing to my right and there was it, a ship wreck. It’s really cool as many type of fish just swims around it. Did any of us experienced nitrogen narcosis? Nope. We were even emotional and heart broken when Soo said we failed. As we ascend to do our safety stop, we took some photos. Chee Wai passed his camera to Soo and somehow he didn’t loop the holder on his hand. We watched as the camera floated up and Soo not realizing it told Chee Wai to stay when he attempt to swim up to get it. It was only after Soo tried to use his camera that he realised it was missing! Thank God we found the camera floating nearby.
On our 2nd dive, we were all a little down as we wanted to attempt another deep dive the next morning to pass our certification but Soo said there wasn’t sufficient time. He had to rub it in by telling us he has never failed so many candidates at one trip before. Sigh. We saw a lot of fish on this dive – huge batfish and angel fish and was chasing after them to take photos.
Before our 3rd dive, he finally broke the news. It was another one of his con joke and we ALL fell for it. Sigh, that’s our instructor. I get to launch the sausage for our safety stop. Haha. Yes I am excited about every little thing I learned.
That night, my buddy spoke in her sleep again, this time in English... and coincidently Chee Wai got up to use the washroom. I'm sure he was pretty shocked!
Day 4
Saying goodbye to the staff and Tenggol island is hard. On our boat ride back to mainland, we were stopped by marine police. How embarrassing! Most of us naughty folks were not wearing life jackets. We got away with a warning. :-p
