Monday, August 13, 2007

Back to Bangkok

We headed back to Bangkok today. It was a good trip overall. As my first diving trip at a diving resort, I was struck by the fact that your whole focus is diving. Seems pretty simple, right? You are going to go SCUBA diving and that is what you do. Well I like to dive. I like it a lot. I always suffer from a little nervousness, there is always the hyperventilating on the first dive, and the constant vigilance regarding the amount of air that I am using. Overall though, I really like it. It is different, it is fun, you see cool stuff, what is not to like?

Well there are two things that drive me a little crazy, having to rush, and having to change my clothes. Sounds stupid, I know, but there it is. While at the resort, I didn't ever have to rush (even though we got up early), but I did have to constantly change clothes. Put on the swim suit, put on the wet suit, grab the mask, fins, and weight belt. Put on the weight belt, put on the fins, put on the BCD, put on the mask. Ugh. I am not trying to complain here, but I think that this aspect of the trip kind of weighed on me. When you are suiting up and unsuiting up three times a day, plus the regular clothes before and after, it takes a toll on you!

The hurdle to get ready to dive was soon forgotten as soon as I fell backwards off the boat and sunk 25m (75ft) under the surface of the water and saw the sea turtles, the sharks, the barracudas, the fish, the coral, the wrecks, the reef. Overall, things on this trip were great. It solidified my enjoyment of SCUBA diving, made me realize that there is a reason that Sipadan Island (Malaysia) is known as one of the top ten dive sites in the world.

That said, all that changing and suiting up was still a lot to take!

3 comments:

Tracy said...

'Been following your trip on the blog and have been enjoying imagining the sites myself. SCUBA diving...in Malaysia..a vacation from vacation, really..what a complete change in scenery!! Hopefully you were able to take some cool pictures to share later! (By the way...if you DO get taken by pirates..please call and let us know... ;)

Chris Tetro said...

Caught by pirates would be an adventure I guess. I don't think a Black Pearl with walking dead kind of adventure but hey whatever you need to think to get you through the mission.

Anonymous said...

if you go commando the whole time you could eliviate the issue of constantly having to change.