Oh gosh, I have been so busy in the past few weeks that even the idea of writing a blog was exhausting and slightly overwhelming; but I've finally found a few minutes to sit down, breathe, and more importantly for y'all, write another post.
I've been up to so much since the last time I posted and I don't even really know where to start, so I think I'll just write about the most recent adventure and then work my way backwards as I remember things. Good plan? I think so.
I remember writing in almost all of my blogs how I planning on scuba diving, then about how I signed up to scuba dive...well, now I can tell you that I am a certified Open Water Diver! I did my certification course this weekend and diving is one of the best things I have ever, ever, ever done in my life (and one of the most exhausting, I am so sore and tired)! My course was three days long and included 2 pool dives, 2 shore dives, 2 boat dives, and a written exam. I started Friday morning and had to be in Fremantle at 8 am. The buses here are kind of hard to figure out and I really didn't want to be late for my first day. I got up at 6 am and left for the bus/ATM at 6:30; turned out that the bus didn't come until 7:04 so I ended up sitting at the bus stop for about 20 minutes, and then the bus ride was speedy quick so I sat in front of the dive shop for another 30 minutes before it opened. Being half an hour early is always better than being 5 minutes late...but at 7:30 in the morning all I could think about was how I could have slept for another half hour. All that waiting was so worth it though when the dive shop opened and I realized that my Dive Master/Instructor was a total babe, turned out that he was a good instructor and interesting person too (bonus points!). My class consisted of 3 other people, Rick, Anne, and Luke, all of whom were really nice and super interesting as well. Friday was an introduction, we spent a couple of hours going over the homework before learning how to use the scuba equipment in the pool. We spent the afternoon putting together and taking apart our equipment, breathing through the regulators, taking our masks off and clearing them underwater, and doing basic, simple things like that. Here's a list of the most important things I learned Friday: 1)Putting on a wetsuit (dry or wet) is hard and you HAVE to do the wetsuit dance, 2)there is no graceful way to do the wetsuit dance, 3)it is impossible to look cute in a wetsuit, 4)if you hold your breath while diving, your lungs will explode (bit of a hyperbolic statement, but not by much), 5)Australians pronounce Aluminum wrong (they say "Al-uh-min-ee-um"), and finally 6)"real" Aussies don't wear shoes. Even though I spent the day diving in a swimming pool I was exhausted by the time I got back to Cats. The equipment weighs so much more than I realized, especially after you have to strap a weight belt around your waist.
My friend Jeni (I'm sure you all remember her) was also doing a dive course this weekend, and she finishes up tonight to get her Advanced Open Water certification (the next cert after mine). Jeni and I both had to be at the dive shop at 8 am Saturday morning and to save us the hassle of getting up earlier than need be, we spent the night at Jess' apartment since she is closer to Freo. We planned on getting up at around 6:45 and catching the 7:15(ish) train into Freo since the train stops a five minutes walk from Jess' apartment. Jeni and I got up nice and early and went to the bakery down the street before heading into Freo, we got these delicious iced coffees as well that came in little milk cartons! This iced coffee gives Starbucks a run for its money, I suddenly don't feel so sad that Starbucks hasn't reached this part of the world yet. Jess' roommate's sister ended up driving Jeni and me into Freo so we didn't have to catch the train. It was nice not to take public transport, but I accidentally walked to the driver's side instead of the passenger's side of the car...
Saturday I had my two shore dives out at Woodman's Point. The visibility was terrible, I could hardly see my hand when I put it out in front of my face, but it was still so much better than being in the pool! Since we did shore dives, we parked in the carpark and got dressed and put all of our equipment on right there and then had to make the 5 minute trek down the path to the beach, I'll tell you right now, that gear gets 10x heavier when you have to walk up hill and through sand! Our first dive we just walked into the water and did our dive around the pier; we got down to about 8 meters and just practiced more of our skills in the new environment. It was a lot more difficult to take my mask off in the ocean than it had been in the pool, but after the first time (when I didn't drown) it got so much easier and by the end of the day I was comfortable with taking off and putting my mask back on underwater as well as throwing my regulator out of my mouth and then finding and replacing it. For our second dive I got separated from the group and after spending 1 minute looking for my buddy I ascended to the surface to wait for my dive master to come retrieve me. As I was going up this big dark shadow swam quickly past me, coming so close as to actually brush my leg. I'm not going to lie, I was convinced that it was a shark and I was about to die; there was a shark attack not too far from here two weekends ago, a surfer was attacked and died as a result of his injuries. When I got to the surface, somewhat panicky, I realized the thing that had touched me as it swam by was a wild dolphin! Can you believe that? On my first ever dive in the ocean I got to "swim" with wild dolphins! There were a bunch of people fishing of the pier and the 3 dolphins had come for the free meals; people were climbing down the water holding fish out for the dolphins to come eat. It was so amazing! Dolphins are by far the greatest animals. Shortly after ascending Dean came up to find me. I got a little bit of a lecture about staying close to my buddy and then he made me take off my BCD (buoyancy control device--the vest that my scuba tank and gear is all attached to) at the surface and prove that I could put it back on again. Then he told me to go back to the bottom and dunked me. We spent the rest of the dive just swimming and getting used to moving in the water with scuba gear. After our two dives we went back to the shop and Dean gave us an hour lunch break before we had to be back to take our written exams. The four of us went to Little Creatures, one of the best breweries in WA. It was a bad idea. Our hour long lunch break turned into an hour and a half because Little Creatures was super busy and it took forever to get our pizzas and chips. Since we were late we tried to suck up by bringing back all of our leftovers for Dean, its a good thing guys are so easily appeased with food.
Saturday night was also the St. Catherine's formal ball at the major casino in Perth. The ball was Phantom of the Opera themed and had an open bar. Jeni and I rushed back from Freo after Saturday's dives to shower really fast and get ready for the ball. The buses were supposed to pick us up at 6:15 in the St. Cat's carpark, but at 6:30 we were all still standing in the carpark all dressed up with no where to go (or at least no way to get there). It turned out that something had happened with our reservation and the company we had rented buses from had us scheduled for the 11th instead of the 10th! Backup transportation was being arranged, but by this time I was fighting off a migraine and was tired beyond belief. Sadly, I chose to go back up to my room and go to bed instead of going to the ball...so I guess you can say that in my version of Cinderella's fairytale, the princess misses the ball in favor of a good night's sleep. After listening to all the girls talk about the highlights (and the drama) of the night I am super sorry that I missed the ball, but I know it was the best choice for me considering I had to dive again Sunday. I ended up going to bed at 8:30 and got something around 9 and a half hours of sleep. It was so nice and I felt so good when I got up yesterday morning.
Perth, being the city that it is,doesn't have public transportation that runs prior to 9 am on Sunday mornings and thankfully I realized this when I randomly woke up at 10 pm Saturday night. I ended up having to order a taxi (online since I kept getting put on hold when I called the taxi company...) to take us to Freo Sunday morning. I don't take many taxis in Denver so I don't really have much of a reference point, but holy smokes do taxis cost a ton of money in Perth! Jeni and I ended up having to pay for a $28 taxi. When we arrived at the dive shop they took my picture (for my diving card) and Dean gave me a hard time for wearing makeup just for the photo, but hey, I have to have that card for the rest of my life, I didn't want to look like a total goon on it. Thankfully, my photo turned out pretty good, I'm pretty happy with it. After taking every one's pictures we loaded up all the gear and caravaned over to the docks. Our group was going out with another dive shop and the trip was packed with 39 divers. I met so many new people, and learned so much about diving (like where to go to dive before I leave Aussie). My first dive was to 14 meters and it was amazing. AMAZING. We swam through rock formations, I chased the fishes, and pretty much demonstrated that we are capable divers. After our first dive we had lunch on the boat, they made us these delicious chicken burgers and I spent more time flirting with Dean. He's pretty much one of my new favorite people, think of the craziest things you can and I can pretty much guarantee he's done. He's done everything. The first dive was glorious, and the second dive was even better. I touched a jelly fish! It was just a little one, but still, I was pretty stinking excited. I also got to hold this squishy little sea cucumber looking thing that was bright orange and really pretty. During the second dive we actually were on a small reef and even though it's bad practice we dove deeper than we had on the first dive, reaching 18.5 meters. Dean showed us an eel and Jeni even saw a sea turtle with her dive master. It was a really great dive. It was a great day in general. When we got back to the dive shop that afternoon we had some paperwork we had to finish filling out before they would give us our temporary certifications (printed sheets of paper that will eventually be replaced with a pretty little card). While the four of us were filling out the paperwork Dean came out of the dive shop with a 6 pack of beer. Oh yes. I could get used to a life like this. Honestly, now I understand while people spend their lives running dive shops and living on beaches. Life is good living like that. I'm officially hooked...my backup's backup plan is to open a dive shop and spend the rest of my life scuba diving and drinking on a beach.
I guess all together, it was the best weekend I've had since I got here..and I feel like it's the first real "Australian Adventure" I've had! I can't wait to do it again in 2 weeks! Jeni and I are doing some dives up in the Exmouth area while we're there over the study break and we have talked about flying out to the east coast before coming home at the end of the semster so we can dive the Great Barrier Reef. I've been told the GBR isn't the prettiest or the greatest dive in Aussieland, but it's one that I have to do since the reef is so famous and likely to be gone in the next 20 years. How sad is that? Also, I finally have tan lines after spending so much time in Aussieland! I have suit lines from when my wetsuit wasn't all the way on, and I have an awesome goggle tan. Oh yeah, rockin it!
I didn't get much productive done this weekend, and I have a paper due on Wednesday that I haven't started yet (yikes!). So I think I'll call it quits for now and write again (hopefully) soon to keep yall up to date on my life in the land down under.
Love always!
No comments:
Post a Comment