Apart from 3 hours of feeling very ill and spewing my guts up while trying to set up my gear and speak with the instructors, during the ride out the skies changed from overcast and rainy to gorgeous sun. There are a range of divers on board, from people doing their Open Water to those who are already Advanced. There are 2 others taking the Advance Course with me, a guy from Indiana and a Korean girl from Hawaii/Vegas.
Surprisingly, there is not much to the Advanced Course (with PADI anyway). Read the manual, copy some headings, do the dives... seems a bit wrong to me but that's the way they operate: like a McDonalds drive-through. It's interesting to see how people react to being underwater. My dive buddy (Korean-American previously mentioned) was a nice enough, friendly person but after a while the realisation dawned upon me that she was also a big know-it-all. Any single question or uncertainty, and she'd be there with an answer, even talking over the instructors at times. So, was she a very experienced diver? No, she'd been certified for about 3 weeks and had done a grand total of 4 dives. Furthermore, she was adamant that she was the 'controller', even underwater. However, it takes all types and she was a friendly soul. One suggestion - any time you dive with a new buddy, especially on an unguided dive, be sure that you both recognise the same signals for things as underwater communication can be really hard otherwise.
Enough complaining. The reef (what we saw of it) was amazing, with so much life - turtles, sharks, giant clams, so many types of coral, sea stars, fish... The water was clear, though the visibility was not as good as Fiji, and although they shouldn't, certified divers and instructors alike were seen to touch, handle and knock marine life with hands, fins and tanks. I must admit to my horror that I am guilty too - I found myself over some very shallow reef and put my hand out in an attempt to stop myself bashing on to it with the surge - cutting my finger in the process but hopefully saving the reef even more damage.
One of the most interesting dives for me was the Deep Dive. Going to 28 metres was surprisingly calming... the fish all looked so happy and made me laugh. My breathing slowed down, I felt very very peaceful and so very happy. Welcome to nitrogen narcosis! The diving instuctor made me do a test (numbers in squares on a board, you have to touch each one in numerical order then touch your nose after...he times you and you do it again at some point on the surface). I found this task amusing. I felt very slow, which was also amusing. My time: 20.3 seconds.
Coming back to the top, that sense of calm stayed with me. Sometimes when I dive I feel the urge to swim around looking for things, not in a frantic manner but, all the same, after going deeper I have slowed down, I don't feel the need to kick so hard, I look for smaller creatures amid the coral and am rewarded with sea stars, nudibranchs, fish that are hiding...
The return to solid ground was celebrated with drinks and interesting conversations. That night I noticed that my right foot was a little bit swollen - nothing to stress about I thought. The next morning, however, it was bigger, and this blister I had got from taking fins on and off and wearing them for so long had turned into a cut (on my last dive I think). I headed out to the chemist for some antispetic. She advised that I go to hospital. Stubborn as I am, it took about 5 hours for me to admit defeat. The hospital was quiet, and all the other patients in emergency seemed to be aboriginals. They walk the streets of Cairns like ghosts... The aboriginal issue here really is an issue, one that no-one seems to want to address.
Anyway, I am luckily seen in about 20 minutes and the young intern is kind enough to give me 2 different antibiotics for free...meaing I only have to pay for the consultation. This experience resonates with another I had in Brazil, where the care and medication provided was, surprisingly, free. So, drugged up on antibiotics I go to the cinema and contemplate my imminent departure of the western world. I am leaving behind comforts - things I recognise, a language I speak, a culture I comprehend. I am also leaving the country where I was lucky enough to spend 3 months with my sister, and however much I try to push to the back of my mind the missing, it is, of course, still there. Yet I know that soon I will be leaving, that time continues and I feel blessed for all I have been able to experience thus far.
No comments:
Post a Comment