Are you for SCUBA?

The surface was a mere two inches above my head and my world was panic. Every exhalation sent a rapid stream of bubbles upwards to throttle my eardrums and every sucking gasp inwards pulled in stale dry air that made my throat want to close up. Safety was so close and nearly every part of my brain was screaming for me to claw my way to the bright light above.

I was, however, only kneeling in about four feet of water and this was the first part of my confined water training. I forced myself to relax and take stock, slowed my breathing down, and tried to convince myself that I hadn’t just wasted over $300. With nothing to really occupy my time, I had signed up for a PADI Open Water Certificaton course with Railay Divers.

Back in the 7th grade, we were fortunate enough to have a pool in our school and often had unique opportunities in our phys-ed classes. I remember quite clearly the day that we were able to try on SCUBA and swim around the bottom of the pool with an experienced diver. I also remember having absolutely no problems with panic or wanting to be anywhere but in the water at that moment.

Our course consisted of one day of theory, one day of confined (shallow) water, and two days of open water diving. To be honest, it was an experience that was very entertaining to do, but not overly exciting to write about. Our dives were great and the colourful array of sealife was amazing. The four open water dives took place off various places around Phi Phi island, including inside the famous Beach from the movie of the same name.

To anyone thinking of doing their dive course, I highly recommend doing it with Railay Divers.