Aur; Awe.
My second pool session ended in utter, ignominous disaster, no less. After the first few mouthfuls of compressed air, my throat felt so utterly dry that I just had to cough. And in doing so, I took in water via my nostrils, which made me start finning for the surface like crazy. And after that, I simply couldn't go in again. The very first breath of compressed air through the regulator started me up again, and no matter how I tried, I couldn't make myself inhale a full breath of compressed air without choking on it, even after drinking so much water that I had to pee three times afterwards. It was only towards the end of the session that I managed to calm myself and make it down again, only to have the instructor ask us to surface to practice water entry methods.
That was it. My confidence was shattered. I didn't feel like I could do it, especially in open waters where conditions weren't as stable as in the pool. Would you believe it? A swimming instructor, far too diffident to put his noggin' into the water...And thus, it was with much trepidition that I embarked on my virgin open water scuba diving trip.
The trip did not start well. I couldn't get as much rest as I would have liked. On the 3 hour drive to Mersing, I got the seat right in between the driver and the front passenger seat, which basically meant I couldn't get a wink of sleep thanks to the headlights of cars travelling in the opposite direction. The boat ride was a 5 hour long traversity. The wind was pretty strong, which meant the waves rocked the boat hard. I didn't get a wink of sleep there either; I kept getting doused by water coming in from the drain holes,which was supposed to allow water to flow out of the boat,and was utterly drenched. Not being able to sleep meant I could find no escape from the debilitating effect the rocking boat had on me. There was nothing in sight in all directions; the other boat that departed an hour later overtook us very early during the journey. The night sky was spotted with stars, but these spun so wildly and dizzily around that I would have fallen from the boat if I had persisted in stargazing for more than 3 seconds.
And so, there it was. By the time I disembarked at Pulau Aur, I was feeling dizzy and nauseous, cold and brain numbingly sleepy. That, coupled with my total lack of confidence, meant that my first dive went the way of my last pool session. I hadn't been underwater for five minutes before my throat decided to feel dry again and caused me to cough. I shot to the surface, losing one of my fins in the process. In the end, I could only snorkel back to shore, consoling myself with the view of the tropical fish that swam close to shore. Even from just under the surface, the view was already spectacular.
As the sun rose further, I managed to get a short snooze which refreshed me considerably. During the second dive, following the advice of the dive masters, I managed to cough underwater and not take in water, and stayed a full 45 minutes in there performing drills like mask clearing, regulator retrieval and buddy breathing. The feeling of facing my fears, my doubts head on and conquering them was uplifting.
Being able to operate properly underwater also opened my eyes to a lot of things that I missed out because I was concentrating on my breathing. Even so close to shore, (my 1st 2 dives were beach entry dives, 3.5m below the surface) the local fauna and flora was absolutely breath taking. I have always imagined that, to see what we see when we flick on the Discovery Channel, we'd have to go to prime dive spots like Australia or the Maldives. I have never imagined that there were such sights so close to home. Everything was as beautiful as what I've ever seen on the tv, and more. Oh so much more. Fish of every describable colour flicked to and fro, curiously stopping to look at us within arm's reach before continuing on their way. Corals and other sea creatures flooded the seabed, filling it with an array of colour that was inconceivable to me, even in my wildest imaginations.
I saw even more during my 3rd dive at Captain's Point. A briefest moment of doubt as i descended before the view wiped such thoughts away completely. A sea cucumber, lying motionless on the seabed. Little brightly coloured fish flicking to and fro in anemone. A bunch of worms that divers call 'Christmas Tree worm' because they formed up like just like the real tree, and shot back into the rock once I touched them.
Everywhere I went, underwater, it was a whole new world, a whole new experience. I half felt like an intruder in this pristine, silent and colourful world. Our last 2 dives the next day also yielded new, exciting sights. A juvenile barracuda, spanning wider than my head even in it's youth. A baby sea turtle. A giant moray eel hiding between two rocks, staring at us as we finned our way past. A fish ( I can't remember the name) we always eat steamed with mushrooms and tofu. The time I was surrounded by fish, crowding around me when I stirred up the seabed with my flippers, snagging the little creatures that I'd turned out of the sand for their lunch, and the feeling I got when I realised I had no more film left. (Imagine a picture of me surrounded by fish! *sigh*).The aura of hair-raising menace extruded by the territorial trigger fish as we approached after it attacked Dawn (she got bitten on her arm through her wetsuit). Everything was so beautiful (minus the attack of course), so new and so exciting that each time the dive master signalled at us to ascend, I couldn't have been more reluctant. Time passes so slowly when you are underwater.
As we were approaching the jetty, I suddenly realised how clear the water was. You could see the rocks and corals from the jetty, and the water was sparkling. The stretch of beach we were at was beautiful. Soft, white sand like the artificial beach at Sentosa, but this is natural. The towering coconut trees swaying softly in the breeze. The beach. Everything. Even at night, the sky was literally covered with stars, the constellations blanketing the pitch darkness like the points of a giant spider web, or God's own 'joint-the-dots' picture game. We'd sat there for 3 whole hours, watching. This was it. Nature just as God meant it to be. And I felt so priviledged that I could see all this. Till now I have not seen a more untouched example of nature; as we arrived at the mainland, I suddenly found the buildings very uncouth and ugly.
I think that's what the locals had in mind when they named the island. They wanted to call it 'Awe'. That's what it evoked in me after all. But perhaps they bastardised the spelling...and so, just like 'restaurant' became 'restoran', and 'motorcycle' became 'motosikal', 'Awe' became 'Aur'.
And so it didn't matter that I had to sit in the sun and develop a sunburn on the way to the mainland on the boat. It didn't matter that I had to sit between two seats on the way back with my butt hanging in the air just like when you sit on a toilet bowl seat, between the front two seats again, having the headlights prevent me from sleeping. It didn't matter that during the dive, I got hit by some inept diver on the head and mouth, dislodging my mask and regulator.
The accomodations consisted of small wooden huts that, surprisingly enough, had air conditioners. Power was only switched on when we were supposed to return to the rooms to sleep, and the sole water pump was shared by the entire 'resort', which meant that if everyone took a bath at the same time, everyone would get nothing but a trickle. The food was okay, with satay that tasted just like the ones the malay chap sells below my block, and flower crabs that look like the ones I chased on the beach when I first arrived on the island, woozy-footed.
All these things that I could have missed if I continued making excuses for myself and not dived. God...if I'd known all that I'd be experiencing, and I missed it, I'd give myself a good kick.
God is truly great! I'll upload the pictures if I can get them from the disposable camera into my computer, and you'll see why. Such magnificence. The only gripe I have is this: Why did God put all these underwater where we must go to such lengths in order to admire?
I'm bone tired.
Breathing deep, slow, AND finning like crazy!
That was it. My confidence was shattered. I didn't feel like I could do it, especially in open waters where conditions weren't as stable as in the pool. Would you believe it? A swimming instructor, far too diffident to put his noggin' into the water...And thus, it was with much trepidition that I embarked on my virgin open water scuba diving trip.
The trip did not start well. I couldn't get as much rest as I would have liked. On the 3 hour drive to Mersing, I got the seat right in between the driver and the front passenger seat, which basically meant I couldn't get a wink of sleep thanks to the headlights of cars travelling in the opposite direction. The boat ride was a 5 hour long traversity. The wind was pretty strong, which meant the waves rocked the boat hard. I didn't get a wink of sleep there either; I kept getting doused by water coming in from the drain holes,which was supposed to allow water to flow out of the boat,and was utterly drenched. Not being able to sleep meant I could find no escape from the debilitating effect the rocking boat had on me. There was nothing in sight in all directions; the other boat that departed an hour later overtook us very early during the journey. The night sky was spotted with stars, but these spun so wildly and dizzily around that I would have fallen from the boat if I had persisted in stargazing for more than 3 seconds.
And so, there it was. By the time I disembarked at Pulau Aur, I was feeling dizzy and nauseous, cold and brain numbingly sleepy. That, coupled with my total lack of confidence, meant that my first dive went the way of my last pool session. I hadn't been underwater for five minutes before my throat decided to feel dry again and caused me to cough. I shot to the surface, losing one of my fins in the process. In the end, I could only snorkel back to shore, consoling myself with the view of the tropical fish that swam close to shore. Even from just under the surface, the view was already spectacular.
As the sun rose further, I managed to get a short snooze which refreshed me considerably. During the second dive, following the advice of the dive masters, I managed to cough underwater and not take in water, and stayed a full 45 minutes in there performing drills like mask clearing, regulator retrieval and buddy breathing. The feeling of facing my fears, my doubts head on and conquering them was uplifting.
Being able to operate properly underwater also opened my eyes to a lot of things that I missed out because I was concentrating on my breathing. Even so close to shore, (my 1st 2 dives were beach entry dives, 3.5m below the surface) the local fauna and flora was absolutely breath taking. I have always imagined that, to see what we see when we flick on the Discovery Channel, we'd have to go to prime dive spots like Australia or the Maldives. I have never imagined that there were such sights so close to home. Everything was as beautiful as what I've ever seen on the tv, and more. Oh so much more. Fish of every describable colour flicked to and fro, curiously stopping to look at us within arm's reach before continuing on their way. Corals and other sea creatures flooded the seabed, filling it with an array of colour that was inconceivable to me, even in my wildest imaginations.
I saw even more during my 3rd dive at Captain's Point. A briefest moment of doubt as i descended before the view wiped such thoughts away completely. A sea cucumber, lying motionless on the seabed. Little brightly coloured fish flicking to and fro in anemone. A bunch of worms that divers call 'Christmas Tree worm' because they formed up like just like the real tree, and shot back into the rock once I touched them.
Everywhere I went, underwater, it was a whole new world, a whole new experience. I half felt like an intruder in this pristine, silent and colourful world. Our last 2 dives the next day also yielded new, exciting sights. A juvenile barracuda, spanning wider than my head even in it's youth. A baby sea turtle. A giant moray eel hiding between two rocks, staring at us as we finned our way past. A fish ( I can't remember the name) we always eat steamed with mushrooms and tofu. The time I was surrounded by fish, crowding around me when I stirred up the seabed with my flippers, snagging the little creatures that I'd turned out of the sand for their lunch, and the feeling I got when I realised I had no more film left. (Imagine a picture of me surrounded by fish! *sigh*).The aura of hair-raising menace extruded by the territorial trigger fish as we approached after it attacked Dawn (she got bitten on her arm through her wetsuit). Everything was so beautiful (minus the attack of course), so new and so exciting that each time the dive master signalled at us to ascend, I couldn't have been more reluctant. Time passes so slowly when you are underwater.
As we were approaching the jetty, I suddenly realised how clear the water was. You could see the rocks and corals from the jetty, and the water was sparkling. The stretch of beach we were at was beautiful. Soft, white sand like the artificial beach at Sentosa, but this is natural. The towering coconut trees swaying softly in the breeze. The beach. Everything. Even at night, the sky was literally covered with stars, the constellations blanketing the pitch darkness like the points of a giant spider web, or God's own 'joint-the-dots' picture game. We'd sat there for 3 whole hours, watching. This was it. Nature just as God meant it to be. And I felt so priviledged that I could see all this. Till now I have not seen a more untouched example of nature; as we arrived at the mainland, I suddenly found the buildings very uncouth and ugly.
I think that's what the locals had in mind when they named the island. They wanted to call it 'Awe'. That's what it evoked in me after all. But perhaps they bastardised the spelling...and so, just like 'restaurant' became 'restoran', and 'motorcycle' became 'motosikal', 'Awe' became 'Aur'.
And so it didn't matter that I had to sit in the sun and develop a sunburn on the way to the mainland on the boat. It didn't matter that I had to sit between two seats on the way back with my butt hanging in the air just like when you sit on a toilet bowl seat, between the front two seats again, having the headlights prevent me from sleeping. It didn't matter that during the dive, I got hit by some inept diver on the head and mouth, dislodging my mask and regulator.
The accomodations consisted of small wooden huts that, surprisingly enough, had air conditioners. Power was only switched on when we were supposed to return to the rooms to sleep, and the sole water pump was shared by the entire 'resort', which meant that if everyone took a bath at the same time, everyone would get nothing but a trickle. The food was okay, with satay that tasted just like the ones the malay chap sells below my block, and flower crabs that look like the ones I chased on the beach when I first arrived on the island, woozy-footed.
All these things that I could have missed if I continued making excuses for myself and not dived. God...if I'd known all that I'd be experiencing, and I missed it, I'd give myself a good kick.
God is truly great! I'll upload the pictures if I can get them from the disposable camera into my computer, and you'll see why. Such magnificence. The only gripe I have is this: Why did God put all these underwater where we must go to such lengths in order to admire?
I'm bone tired.
Breathing deep, slow, AND finning like crazy!
posted by Metalfyre at
6/05/2005 11:47:00 PM
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