.....aaaand, he's a rescue diver.

In terms of process, this is the first step in moving from an Advanced Open Water diver through to Dive Master. The first 11 dives I had after I arrived were extra fun dives needed to bring my numbers up so that by the time if finished the Dive Master course I had 60 dives. The Rescue Diver course ran over three days. The first was a non-diving, theory day; six hours of reading, videos and discussion, culminating in a final exam (I was able to squeak out a pass with 100% on the exam). The second day was in water practice of the various steps integral to rescuing a dive-mate from various water situations. Yesterday I was presented with two simulated rescue situations that, while there was fourty folks on the boat, several with way more ability than I, I had to manage. The first occurred as we were traveling from one dive site to the other out in un-protected water. One of the Dive Masters leapt into the sea while the boat was under way. The call went up, " MAN OVERBOARD!" I had to tell the captain to bring the boat around, set up look outs on the upper deck pointing to the victim in case I lost sight of him while I was in the water, gather my mask, flippers and rescue ring, and go out in the water to bring him back to the boat (about 50 metres). My " victim" plays the part of a panicked diver, so when I got to him he tried to climb up on top of me, splashing and just generally freaking out. I kept the float ring between us, slowly swimming toward the boat until he tires and grabs the ring, then tow him back. The fun thing about this was none of the paying guests on the boat had a heads up so once back on the boat, half the customers hadn't figured out it was pretend and we're all, "OMG!"

The next scenario was a lost, unresponsive (non-breathing) diver on the bottom. My task was to find the diver - my "victim" left the boat 15 minutes before I even got my gear on and could be anywhere on the bottom within a 100 metre radius of the boat - reported lost by their dive buddy. The process is, interview the buddy in order to narrow the search area and establish how critical time is (how much air in the tank), scan the surface for clues, gear up with a buddy while discussing the search strategy, use that strategy to locate the lost diver, assess the victim's condition while on the bottom, transport them safely to the surface (most dive injuries and deaths in Thailand are a result of divers being hit by boats at the surface), establish respiration and, if absent, call for EMS, begin rescue breathing while towwing the vic to the boat, while at the same time removing their gear and my gear so that when we arrive at the boat I can carry them aboard, carry out an EFR assessment and, if need be, begin CPR.

The certificate above suggests I got it close enough.

Off for a couple days in Bangkok this morning, having a visit with Norm and Cheyl. It will be nice to have a couple days away from diving - I'm bagged.

Below is our captain at work.

Catching Up

Well readers, you must be wondering what ever happened to me. I'm thinking that, unless I get a second wind, this blog will get a lot more interesting after I'm done my diver training. My basic day is as follows. I get up around 5:00, prepare a cup of tea, a bowl of ramen noodles and a bit of yogurt and after I've eaten go for a 2 1/2 km run (it's already in the high 20s when I run). After I shower and make the room, I walk to the dive shop for around 8:00. I help to organize gear for all the divers that will join us for the day (the last two days there have been 38 divers on the boat, excluding paid staff, dive masters in training and boat staff). The boat trip to the various dive sites takes between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on the site. We have 2-3 dives per day, groups of 3-5 divers go out with a dive master/instructor and those taking a course work one on one with an instructor. Two or three dives with lunch in between and it's back to land, arriving to the shop around 5:00. All the gear used that day has to be washed and returned to storage which is done by about 6:30. Back to my rooms for another shower, out for a bit of dinner, and surprisingly, by 8:00 I feel I'm ready for bed.

*****

Today I started my dive master training with a three day course called Rescue Diver. Trains you to make rescues from the surface as well as from the sea floor. Today was the theory day so no dives and I was finished by 3:30 so.... I've time for the blog!

I've got to cast back here but there are a couple of events since my last entry worth reporting.

Last Saturday we had 3 dives, two in the day and the last at night. The night dive was at Hin Luk Bat, a rock in the ocean surrounded by really quite lovely corral beds, a 40 minute boat trip east of Koh Chang. We left the pier just as the sun was setting, so by the time we reached the site it was quite dark. As soon as we left the protection of Bang Bao Bay it was clear this was less than a bucolic tropical evening. We traveled in the rain, lightning flashing and thunder rolling all the way.  By the time we got to the site the wind waves were 2 1/2 to 3 feet and a spirited wind was blowing. It was a bit of an adventure getting into the water given the conditions - you jump in, use a pre-installed line to pull yourself to the moorage line off the bow, and use the moorage line to descend, which takes real effort in three foot chop. Once you dip under the water, though, the transformation is dramatic. All the chaos at the surface disappears at even 5' of depth. We had a great dive, using only flashlights, saw a ton of sea life, and were on the bottom for 45 minutes. On the surface, things had deteriorated. The wind had picked up and the wind waves were about 4'. The boats we use are wooden, built here on Koh Chang using traditional designs and methods. The main dive boat is about 20 meters powered by a big, old, stinking diesel and is geared to hold 50 divers in total (customers and staff). The smaller dive boat boasts an even stinkier diesel, holds about 20 total divers and is about 10 meters. We were on the small boat. The place on the side of the boat where divers exit and enter is only about 2' above the water so getting in the boat was easy - line yourself up with the ladder and let the next wave toss you aboard. On the trip back the waves rolled right over the side of the boat washing the decks. Neither boat have any electronics, no VHF, no GPS or radar, no radio. Our return was marked by storm conditions, strong winds, no visibility and we relied entirely on our captain's experience in navigating us safely back using only a compass. I sat right behind the captain and was a bit nervous, but everyone else aboard appeared unconcerned.

The next day we had two dives at the national park 90 minutes south east of the island. While we were diving we enjoyed light airs and sunshine, but on our return trip we motored into a squall. We were in the big boat so didn't have waves across the deck, but again had zero visibility, no electronics, only the captain's good judgement.

The diving has been great, most days 30 metre visibility and the sunny days make the corrals and sea life simply pop. I've been up close and personal with some amazing sea creatures that seem almost completely indifferent to our presence. The dive shop is great with friendly, knowledgable and welcoming staff. Two Canadians, don't you know. There are two other dive shops on island and we see their boats everyday at the dive sites. These last two days when we have had 38 divers aboard, the other two have had six or eight. The woman who owns the dive shop started it 20 years ago, built it with great service and great staff and now has three boats (2 dive boats and a touring speed boat), five offices on island - one includes a training pool - and she owns it all. 

I don't have a lot of down time, but when I do, I feel quite lonely. I'm missing all those I love. Remember that this blog comes with a comment function. I'd welcome any, if only for the contact that I am without.

Here, as promised are some photos of Bang Bao, as well as some shots from the dive sites. I'm thinking of renting an underwater camera so I can share a bit of what I'm seeing under the sea. I'll keep you posted.

First day of diving..

You might be thinking, " Well, he's just going to be diving every day. Stories about that are going to get pretty thin, pretty quick." But here at Kimmylou's Asian adventure, if there ain't news, we make it!

So, funny thing.

My first dive today was largely un-eventful, about an hour, during which we ran across a scorpion fish, some very cool sea slugs, big angel fish, etc, etc. 

At the onset of our second dive, once we were to depth - about 60' - I realized my mask was quite fogged. "No worries", says I, "it will clear in a bit." Across the reef we go and my visibility is such that I could make out the yellow in the fin of the dive master in front of me, and only just.  Against some fairly strongly held beliefs I held at the time, it wasn't getting any better. So, I'm cool, kind of a boring dive in store but I'll finish it and I'll clean my mask once we return to Bang Bao. (It's a new mask and you have to scrub the shit out of them with tooth paste or - wait for it - they fog. I'm going to say I didn't clean mine well enough.) About 1/2 an hour in I am noticing that the little bit of water in my mask is, if I hold my head about level with the bottom, creating little lines of visibility as it rolls across the inside of my lens. Eureka! So I spend about 15 seconds trying to get the water to clear more of the lens, and then I look up.  Then down. Then right. Left. Forward. Back. Hmmmm. No dive master. No dive buddy. Just.......ocean. My first thought was, "Those fuckers." Then, " OK, they've got to be close." I continued in the direction I think we were heading and after about a minute, out of the murk, I discern the outline of a dive master. Then the outline of a dive buddy. Yay. Then a second dive buddy. Sure, I started with just one dive buddy but, when the universe is offering up gifts, it's bad form to quibble. My (new) dive master swims up to me and gestures excitedly with both hands the direction my original group had gone, urging me to hurry in that direction. The sign language divers use is complete for most eventualities under the the sea, however, "If you think I am swimming off into the deep, by myself, in a functionally blind state, you are out of your f#~=Ing mind," does not covey smoothly.  I tried. Several times. Mr. new dive master would have none of it. OK, he's done this more than me. Maybe bat-shit crazy Is what it takes to be a dive master. I turn around and swim, focusing on a relaxed and regular breathing pattern 'cause I wouldn't want to over use the air in the tank, right? Because, when you feel like you are screwed, it's nice to have some unrelated little problems that you can control, obscuring the larger shit storm that looms. After about five minutes ( OK, it may have been 3 seconds but it felt like 5 minutes) I've had no success in finding anyone ahead of me and Mr. dive master 2 and his motley crew were just bad memories from my past. I stop and wrack my little brain (I promised it beer later if it would help me out in the present) with regard to the protocol for this situation. All alone in 60' of foreign waters. I had to urinate, so I know that peeing your pants fits in nicely, though I'm sure there are more effective courses. (If you ever visit Southeast Asia, don't swim in the gulf of Thailand - I peed in it.). The  promise of beer worked - look around for a minute, go up to 15', safety stop for 3 minutes, then surface. Once on the surface, the wind had come up hard, and with it heavy rain. Night was falling and though I spun around frantically in all directions, no boat was visible in any.....no, wait. That last bit was the plot of a Tom Hanks film or something. When I got to the surface, I swam the 20 yards to our boat and went aboard. From the bow of the boat I was able to let dive master 1 know I was OK and he continued the dive with my original dive buddy. Protocol has it - if you can believe this - that I now own my dive master a beer 'cause I scared him. Humph. I'll bet that he didn't pee his pants!.

More diving tomorrow and I'm going to do my best to have nothing to report. I'll also take and post some photos of Bang Bao and the boats.

First dive day.

Hanging out with the dive masters waiting for the rest of the rec divers 

A belated beggining.

To all of you who I promised blog action beginning the evening of my departure, I beg your forgiveness.  I took me a bit to re-establish my relationship with Blogger and I clearly required a Koh Chang sunrise, cicada roaring their song to the morning, birds of every ilk joining in the celebration let by the village roosters, to find the time to do that.

So, what did you miss?

Travel. More specifically, fourty three hours of travel from Maple Ridge to my rooms here on Koh Chang. Even more specifically, fourty three hours of largely un-remarkable travel - trains, planes and automobiles. We've all been there. Nothing to see here, folks.  Move along. 

Blessedly, the trip did begrudgingly offer one small tale to tell. Once we debarked the ferry here on Koh Chang and, as is required by Thai law, crammed into a windowless, sweltering mini van for the drive down island, I found myself sitting - ok, what's the word; beside, on top of, with intimate knowledge of?; - lets go with beside, a fellow born and raised on Koh Chong, returning from his home in England to start work for the high season as a dive master at BB Divers where I will train. I had already made an agreement with the driver to pay extra for the run to Bang Bao, where the vans normally do not venture, but this fellow - Tia - offered to call his brother from the last usual stop and have him drive us down to Bang Bao. Perfect, says I. Saving money, says I. Three hours, 4 Chang beer and three games of pool later, his brother's wife arrived to collect us.  150 baht extra for the van to make the 10 minute trip to Bang Bao, or 240 baht for the beers and three hours of drinking it for the trip with Tia. I think I came out ahead.

Pictured below is my room. Very nice at $11.84 per night. Mattress provided by The Marquis de Sade (a box spring - coils of steel with two layers of linen to cover. Very chic. Guess what I am finding today?)

Off to find some food, and later, two dives. Updates as required.

And......they're off!

Well, one of us is. At the West Coast Express station waiting for the 7:44. Koh Chang awaits.