Thursday 25 August 2005

Diving - Day 2

Had another early wake up call and dragged myself out to the dive shop this morning. I felt a bit blocked up in my ears last night and was worried that I might be coming down with a cold (the blocked up feeling was just from the diving it appears) but was assured that everything was okay.
Giap took another learner out for some lessons first and I snorkelled around the site for a while then we both went out for our first open water dive. It was the same site that i'd been to yesterday but this time I went down to 10 metres. Saw lots of colourful fish, coral and a few sea urchins (who are sure to grow up into sea thugs and sea muggers when they get bigger) - lots of fun ... If I had a complaint it would be the same complaint that most of the divers seem to have ... There's no mega-fauna in the water around here - the biggest predator seems to be the moray eel (which I haven't seen yet) - sometimes when one looks into the distance one will see a large, hulking animal but it invariably turns out to be another diver (there are lots of those around here). Rested for a little while and then went to the next site for another 10m dive and a few exercises. I had to flood my mask with water at 6m and then pump the water out, which was a little painful with the contacts but survived. I also ran out of air in one simulation and had to be rescued by my buddy.
Very fun day although now my ears are permanently blocked and I can't hear very much at all. i'm getting flashes of sound when they clear momentarily before losing it again, Once again, i've been assured that this normal. Tomorrow is my final dive, 18m, and i'll see if I pass the course.
After that it's off to Saigon, closely followed by Cambodia. Apart from the diving haven't really loved Nha Trang - the foreigners don't seem very nice - everybody seems very cliquey. Admittedly, have not been going out due to the diving requirements but will not be hugely sorry to see the back of this place.

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