Poor Knights

Just had to share - I had the most amazing weekend ever! We went up on the Friday with a group of people who were doing the advanced course and stayed in this massive house just down the road, in Pacific Bay.

On the Saturday we were up early and out to the boat and the weather was crap (please excuse my language). It was windy and drizzly and the boat was rocking as we got on, before we had even left! It took an hour and a half to get out there and after a few minutes out of the marina Bruce (the guy with the boat) asked us if we wanted to turn around, but everyone decided it would be fine. Hmmm, there was one girl I think may have been regretting that decision as she chucked over the back of the boat later. The tanks banged around the whole way out there. It was my first time getting everything organised on a boat and I found it quite difficult with everything moving around, I could hardly stand :) Butterflies were on a rampage in my stomach, my heart was pounding and my knees trembling (more with anticipation than fear lol) I had to hold on to the silver bar to steady myself against the violent swaying - it was soooooo hard standing at the back of the boat. I took my last few breaths of natural air before closing my mouth over the regulator and sucking in. It was uncomfortable and salty. 3, 2, 1. I wasn't too worried about stepping off the boat and totally trust Marcus (I don't know any better and I kind of have to trust him lol) even though we'd seen a shark on the way out. One giant clumsy stride and I was in the sea! So blue! So clear! So many bubbles! I swam over to those waiting in the water and we got SORTED. S - signal (down), O - orientation (boat), R - regulator in (already in, I didn't plan on getting rid of that anytime soon!) T - time (11.20am), E - equalise, D - descend. I let a little bit of air out of my BCD and felt myself gently float down a little. I could see the bottom! White sand and rocks below us, golden seaweed rippling gently in the current. My eyes must have been so wide as I took in my surroundings! Marcus came over to check that everything was alright and I gave him the ok sign. Everything was so quiet! There was not even an inkling of what the weather was doing above us. We were in our own world, at one with our thoughts. I couldn't believe the abundance of fish - silver, blue, black, orange, pink - all were unphased by our presence. There was a little moray eel curled around a rock, so close I could have touched him if I'd wanted to. He didn't seem to notice us just above him. I think I sucked through my air quite quickly on that first dive but oh my God, it was just the coolest experience ever! I couldn't believe how colourful everything was and how much we could see! That first dive was at McKenzie cove and we saw a stingray below us. Our next dive was at Rikoriko cave and we saw what I thought was a massive long tailed stingray but apparently it wasn't huge. It was soooooo beautiful to watch - just amazing! It was really cool swimming out of the cave into the light. The most difficult part was getting back onto the boat in the cave. It was very rough and I was getting bashed around the ladder but was just buzzing from the experience. I was feelng a lttle queasy by the time we got home, and was not looking forward to Sunday's boat trip. Luckily the weather was better, but it still took almost an hour to get out there. Apparently on a good day, it's a 20 minute trip. This time the girl who was sick stayed at home and we had a new guy come with us. He was sick. My stomach felt a bit strange but luckily was ok. I think it was just the fact that my insides had been churned around for two days in a row. I noticed that the tanks didn't bang around as much. Our first dive on Sunday was at Jan's tunnel and it was even more amazing than Saturday. There were thousands of fish, all different colours and sizes and we were right in the middle of them. They were all around us and above, and below and they weren't even scared of us! It was just incredible and sooooooo beautiful. There was a big snapper who I think was sleeping and Marcus swam right up to him before the fish noticed and darted away. I had to put my hand onto my regulator to stop it falling out from laughing. We went to blue maomao arch for our last dive and wow! Stunning! We swam through the arch and also through a little gap. I was a bit hesitant not quite sure how I was going to fit, but realised that Marcus is bigger than me and he fit through just fine so in theory I could too :)

I had so much fun. It is just a whole other world and so peaceful. I can't wait to go again, although I think it will be summer before that happens. I was happy that I didn't have any trouble with my ears as I had been quite worried about that. I could equalise quite easily. My nose bleeds a tiny bit though - I don't know why. It did on my first dive in the lake too. I don't know whether it did this time because of something I was doing or because I'd been sick, but it's not much and it doesn't hurt. At first, I had trouble going down. On Saturday Marcus had to give me a pull to get me past the first couple of metres but by Sunday, I'm not sure what I did differently but I had it sorted. I had the same weight both days (8kg). Maybe I was more relaxed or something. I found it really cool that I could actually just focus on my buoyancy control (I still have a lot to learn there lol) and could concentrate on breathing in and out and feeling the difference just using my lungs. Even though we practiced this I had so many other things to think about that I don't think I quite got it. I am getting better and I'm still on a high :)

Lake Pupuke Part 2

I had a couple of little issues yesterday.

I started the first dive with the hood on but couldn't equalise so Marcus (I don't think he's a trained instructor, but he's a very experienced diver and dives with Vaughan - our instructor, all the time. He came out with us both days) suggested trying without the hood, which was a bit better. I made my nose bleed a little bit - maybe I was squeezing it too hard :) I can't remember which skills we did today because there was only one I was really worried about and that wasn't till the afternoon.

I was absolutely freezing for most of the second dive and Vaughan wanted me to come back another day for the mask removal skill cause he knew that was the one I was worried about. He thought I wouldn't be able to concentrate because I was shivering so much. The mask removal thing really frustrates me. I don't know what it is about that. Sometimes it's not a problem and then randomly I'll breathe in through my nose. Taking it off and putting it back on is fine, it's just clearing it afterwards, and not all the time. It's really weird though because it's not a problem when I'm just clearing my mask. It's only random, and it only happens after I've put the mask back on. I had to do the compass navigation underwater, and that was a bit crooked because my hands were shaking so much :) I only had mask removal left to do and we went up so Vaughan could talk to me. I really really wanted to do it then so he said we could have one try. I was rushing and he was right, I wasn't concentrating and had to go up. At the surface I said if I could have one more try I'd get it. I know in my head if I need to cough I can still do that under the water, I know that I can swallow some water and still breathe without having to come up. It's just psychological at the time. Luckily he agreed, but he was serious that I had to go in after this try. Even my knees were shaking. We went back down and the whole time I was thinking in my head there is no way I am not finishing this today. I am not coming back to the lake for one skill. I can do it and I know how to do it. There is no reason I shouldn't get it right. I did everything really really slowly, thinking carefully about every little thing. Mask off, easy. Mask back on head, easy. Mask back over face - almost, not quite, almost, not quite. I didn't try to rush it, I sorted out my hair and made sure everything was right. I took a couple of slow breaths thinking through the clearing part. I did it in two blows instead of trying to do it in just the one. Cleared half my mask and took a couple of breaths before doing the rest. Wow! I was`so relieved. High five under the water!! It was such a cool feeling and I could see that Vaughan was happy too. Yay!! Hopefully I won't ever lose my mask, and if I do, I just have to remember to sort it out slowly, lol!!

I had to go to school afterwards for a meeting which was a bit of a downer but after the meeting I went over to Vaughan's and had coffee with him and his wife, logged the last dive cause I didn't have time earlier, and got my paper 90 day temporary dive card. How cool is that!! Yay, I'm a certified open water diver now!!

Two weeks and we're off to Poor Knights :)

Lake Pupuke

I had soooooooo much fun today!! I had a semi dry suit on and a vest underneath and I found that much warmer during our first dive. Usually I get quite cold (apparently my lips go blue lol). I've got a hood and gloves for tomorrow though, cause when we did our second dive after lunch I was freezing! The water was 21' so I don't know why I was so cold. It was a thousand times better than in the pool! It was much better than just seeing the blue concrete of the pool :) We could see probably only 3 - 5 metres so that was ok, it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. The first time we just went for a swim around and didn't do any skills. There was sooooo much to look at - weeds and chains and a rope (which took me a while to realise that we were probably following that so we knew where we were lol). I think I was chewing on my regulator! They were laughing about it at lunchtime because I was hanging onto it! After lunch we had some skills to do before we could go for another swim. This time I had a bit of trouble equalising but when I did get down there I was a lot more relaxed and it went quite well. When I did get out, I couldn't stand or walk - my legs were like jelly :)

The coolest part would have to be coming up when we were near the surface and just floating up towards the light with heaps of bubbles all around. I can't wait till Anzac weekend!! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow :)