---

If you have missed my anxiety attack on first sea descend, do read them HERE before reading this post. To encourage more readers to take up diving, I would like to share how I did my open water course with Career One Divers. Career One Divers is actually a diving school which was introduced by my friends and boyfriend. The most economical diving class in town.  For your information, Career One Divers offers SDI diving, instead of PADI.

Why I Took Up Diving Class with Career One Divers?

*  Cheap – RM777 (not inclusive of transportation to Perhentian Island & accomodation)

* Few pool diving sessions before completing the diving class at Pulau Perhentian.

*  I could attend the pool diving sessions as many times as I wished to improve my diving skills and buoyancy

* Friendly diving crew

Things that You Should Expect for Your Diving Course

1.  On your first day, you have to watch a video for basic diving skills. 

2. Then, the first skill expected out of you is to clear the mask. This is the basic of the basic. Other lessons are removing and replacing weight system underwater, removing and replacing scuba unit underwater, half & free mask, regulator recovery by arm swing and host grab. I did all this in the baby pool.

3.  The first diving lesson in the standard pool is the entry methods; either giant stride entry or the backward back roll.

 

4. Next, you will be taught of how to tow your buddy on the surface of the water. You will also have to do Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent (CESA).

5. The toughest of all is the buoyancy. To put it simply, buoyancy is your ability to float naturally. According to my dive instructor, to achieve neutral buoyancy requires 18 dives. It is not an easy task to perform. It is actually an acquired skill as the dive instructor can only tell you the concept, it’s for your discover yourself as it involves your weight, body compositions, gears etc. 

6. Buddy check underwater.

As I have completed my pool sessions, there was more than a month gap before I went to Pulau Perhentian to complete the course. Cost-wise, we carpooled to Kuala Besut (RM80 each return, shared by 5 person), the boat trip to Perhentian Besar Island costs RM75 per person, the campsite at Teluk Keke costs RM10 per night per person and food expenses were only RM25 per pax. We cooked our own meal.

At Pulau Perhentian, we had 4 sea descents, for which we were evaluated by the dive instructor. From time to time, we were called by our dive instructors for briefings. I was put in a group of 4 under supervision of En. Hussain Jaafar. He’s the coolest dive instructor I have met. I had my baby sister to be my buddy. Among the four of us, Hariz was the youngest of all. He is 15+ years old. I learned from En. Hussain Jaafar that a child below 16 will be certified as junior open water diver. So young kan?

My First Sea Descend Experience

To be honest, I was quite afraid and nervous especially my boyfriend who knew my fear was unable to make it for the trip to Perhentian. During the first sea descend, I knew I had to rely on myself and no one else. I ensured I set up my equipment correctly and tried to absorb as much as I could from the dive instructors. I was glad my group was small as it somehow enhanced my confidence level. I surprised myself when the fear began to settle down as I submerged comfortably underwater.

Everything went smooth except that at one point I was struggling as my weight system came off. I began to make a quick ascend. Luckily En Hussain managed to get hold of me and put one of his weight in my BCD compartment.  Weather was a bit off as the underwater current was strong and the visibility was bad. We had to kneel down as we demonstrated the diving lesson we had learned before. Although I tried so hard to not move, the current pushed me here and there. I know it’s a lame excuse. 🙂

There were moments when I could not help but guess the hand sign put forward by the instructor. It was when we were on the surface that we had the chance to ask what exactly did he mean. On top of them all, there was always a sense of uncertainty surrounding your first few dives. How often do you have to equalize? How do you know the pressure changes? When do you need to clear your mask? How often do you need to check your gauge ie. air? How far out your buddy can be? There were and still are 1001 questions on my mind. Some got sorted out when we had our post mortem sessions with our dive instructors. The rest needs to be acquired on as and when basis.

2 dives were supposed to be done at Ruang Tiga, Pulau Perhentian. But it was cancelled due to strong underwater current. We went back to Teluk Keke for the last two dives.

I’m looking forward to fun dives trip. Sapa ada fun dive trip sila lah ajak saya yang baru belajar.

Photos for Open Water Course (Career One Divers)

(Gelagat masing-masing dalam boat)

(Baya & Atira posing depan khemah)

(Ni posing lepas dah naik darat : From left – Irdzamir, Rasyid, yours truly, Wan Firdaus and Baya)

(Itu dia diver tersohor – Lily)

(Baby and Atira showed off their gears.)

(Group pic)

(Sesi cuci BCD and reg di perigi)

(Yaya & Tok Siak)

(Zara & Rashid)

(Tak tahu apa yang terjadi)

(Baby got her temporary card. The man in red was our dive instructor – Encik Hussain)

 To read Lily’s entry on this open water course trip, visit I PASSED MY DIVING LICENSE.