I just want to see fish godamnit!
DIVING : 4 DAY OPEN WATER COURSE
KO CHANG
Celias View.................
So after a few days of relaxing and exploring on the lovely Koh Chang , Curt and I decided we were up for a little more excitement.
We decided to sign up for our 4 day Open Water PADI course, something we had both been looking forward to for ages while planning the trip.
We picked a dive school, basically the one closest to us and got ready to go.
I asked the instructor if there would be any problems with me being asthmatic and diving and he admitted he had absolutely no idea and said I could either just risk it and lie on my dive form or go have a dive medical. ( and yes perhaps there should have been alarm bells ringing already)
I chose to get the dive medical and saw a lovely Thai doctor in the international clinic. He cleared me for diving although only to certain levels but did so without any tests or any history of my ashtma being asked whatsoever...
Next day we rock up for a mornings class on the theory behind diving. We learnt all the basic stuff, got handed out horrible big textbooks and finally hit the pool in the afternoon to practice skills.
Curt picked it up straight away , being just good at putting things together and so on, but I struggled from the first second I had to wear the regulator. I just felt breathless all the time underwater. The instructors were sure it was just nerves and kept telling me it was really common which made me confused. I was pretty sure I wasnt nervous but then I was getting more and more frustrated with the fact that I couldnt be underwater for more than ten minutes without having to come up and get air. Eventually I struggled through the exercises and crashed out for the day.
Second day same as the first except I was even more disheartened. Curt on the other hand was really crusing through the course and both of us were hoping it would be a little more fun once we hit the open water......
Finally the third day we hit the open sea and headed out to a dive site about an hour off the coast of Ko Chang. We did one quick dive nothing huge, to run through some skills on the ocean floor and then one afternoon dive which was really fun , I have no idea what any of the names of any of the cool fish were but there were lots of them! NO turtles though which was what we were searching for....
The only down side of that dive was the massive coughing fit I had right at the end that meant I had to exit quicker and which maybe should have been a bit of a warning to me.
Fourth day came round and I was really feeling rough. I hadnt been able to stop coughing all morning but was feeling kind of vunerable about the fact I'd been really struggling with the course the whole time so was determined to finish it . In retrospect Im not even sure why it was such a big deal to me since I hadnt been having much fun for the whole of the course and couldnt really imagine diving for fun but I guess just too much pride and ego involved.
Curt on the other hand was having a really good time, doing really well at it and enjoying it loads.
I bailed on the first dive ( at curts suggestion who was worried about how unwell i seemed) . This dive apparently was incredible, really good visability, loads of eels and fish and schools of Barracuda.
My instructor really pushed for the second dive from me though reminding me I wouldnt pass the course otherwise and going through the whole nerves, it will be fine , just relax in the water thing again.
So back to the water for the second dive......
I was doing a skill with my instructor when I started to feel pain in my right chest. I went up a little but nothing happened. I was pretty much non stop coughing at this stage and my instructor was signalling to me whether or not there was a problem or not.....I was signalling yes and then coughing and then I don't remember the next few seconds whatsoever until hitting the surface gasping for breath. Curt had thrown aside his mask, having been watching me from the surface through his snorkel and was yelling at the boat to get my puffer. The instructor had taken me up quickly as soon as I'd stopped signalling.
And then I was on the boat. Weak but okay.
So it turns out, after I did all the research I should have done all along that its pretty much completely NOT OKAY for asthmatics to dive. Espcially not asthmatics like me whose main trigger is cold air. Cold air ...like the cold dry air in a dive tank.
If your interested in more info on that look at this link.....
http://www.nevdgp.org.au/info/lungf/asthma-diving-health.html
One of those things about not trusting your instincts. I know I dont get asthma from nerves and I knew the air in the tank was making me breathless but I guess I was just kind of going along with everyone elses opinion instead of listening to myself. Majorly stupid.....
On the bright side....Curt passed with flying colours ..even acing his last task .........
The Divers version of a Beer Bong....Check it our below.............
:-)
KO CHANG
Celias View.................
So after a few days of relaxing and exploring on the lovely Koh Chang , Curt and I decided we were up for a little more excitement.
We decided to sign up for our 4 day Open Water PADI course, something we had both been looking forward to for ages while planning the trip.
We picked a dive school, basically the one closest to us and got ready to go.
I asked the instructor if there would be any problems with me being asthmatic and diving and he admitted he had absolutely no idea and said I could either just risk it and lie on my dive form or go have a dive medical. ( and yes perhaps there should have been alarm bells ringing already)
I chose to get the dive medical and saw a lovely Thai doctor in the international clinic. He cleared me for diving although only to certain levels but did so without any tests or any history of my ashtma being asked whatsoever...
Next day we rock up for a mornings class on the theory behind diving. We learnt all the basic stuff, got handed out horrible big textbooks and finally hit the pool in the afternoon to practice skills.
Curt picked it up straight away , being just good at putting things together and so on, but I struggled from the first second I had to wear the regulator. I just felt breathless all the time underwater. The instructors were sure it was just nerves and kept telling me it was really common which made me confused. I was pretty sure I wasnt nervous but then I was getting more and more frustrated with the fact that I couldnt be underwater for more than ten minutes without having to come up and get air. Eventually I struggled through the exercises and crashed out for the day.
Second day same as the first except I was even more disheartened. Curt on the other hand was really crusing through the course and both of us were hoping it would be a little more fun once we hit the open water......
Finally the third day we hit the open sea and headed out to a dive site about an hour off the coast of Ko Chang. We did one quick dive nothing huge, to run through some skills on the ocean floor and then one afternoon dive which was really fun , I have no idea what any of the names of any of the cool fish were but there were lots of them! NO turtles though which was what we were searching for....
The only down side of that dive was the massive coughing fit I had right at the end that meant I had to exit quicker and which maybe should have been a bit of a warning to me.
Fourth day came round and I was really feeling rough. I hadnt been able to stop coughing all morning but was feeling kind of vunerable about the fact I'd been really struggling with the course the whole time so was determined to finish it . In retrospect Im not even sure why it was such a big deal to me since I hadnt been having much fun for the whole of the course and couldnt really imagine diving for fun but I guess just too much pride and ego involved.
Curt on the other hand was having a really good time, doing really well at it and enjoying it loads.
I bailed on the first dive ( at curts suggestion who was worried about how unwell i seemed) . This dive apparently was incredible, really good visability, loads of eels and fish and schools of Barracuda.
My instructor really pushed for the second dive from me though reminding me I wouldnt pass the course otherwise and going through the whole nerves, it will be fine , just relax in the water thing again.
So back to the water for the second dive......
I was doing a skill with my instructor when I started to feel pain in my right chest. I went up a little but nothing happened. I was pretty much non stop coughing at this stage and my instructor was signalling to me whether or not there was a problem or not.....I was signalling yes and then coughing and then I don't remember the next few seconds whatsoever until hitting the surface gasping for breath. Curt had thrown aside his mask, having been watching me from the surface through his snorkel and was yelling at the boat to get my puffer. The instructor had taken me up quickly as soon as I'd stopped signalling.
And then I was on the boat. Weak but okay.
So it turns out, after I did all the research I should have done all along that its pretty much completely NOT OKAY for asthmatics to dive. Espcially not asthmatics like me whose main trigger is cold air. Cold air ...like the cold dry air in a dive tank.
If your interested in more info on that look at this link.....
http://www.nevdgp.org.au/info/lungf/asthma-diving-health.html
One of those things about not trusting your instincts. I know I dont get asthma from nerves and I knew the air in the tank was making me breathless but I guess I was just kind of going along with everyone elses opinion instead of listening to myself. Majorly stupid.....
On the bright side....Curt passed with flying colours ..even acing his last task .........
The Divers version of a Beer Bong....Check it our below.............
:-)
posted by Bella&Saunders at
5:46 am
1 Comments:
Sucks with the asthma, we had some one bail during a dive, it was a mega case of the nerves.
Its such a cool feeling underwater, doing the advanced is wicked as well, the night dive is awesome.
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