My Amazing Certification!

As you know, we are currently on a live aboard dive boat in the Similan Islands.  The boat, built in Indonesia, looks a lot like a pirate ship.  The crew is from Thailand and Indonesia.   The nine guests (in addition to ourselves) are from many different Western countries.  There are also four Western dive instructors with us.  Today, we spent a lot of time in the water diving.  I had some high points and some low points.  I saw some amazing things, but ended up missing a dive.

In the morning, I dove with my instructor, Anna, to twelve meters while my parents went to eighteen with another group.  I am only allowed to dive to twelve meters because of my small lungs.  When I turn twelve, the standards will allow me to go to eighteen meters.  Once Anna and I were under the water, we started to get lucky and we found ourselves staring into the eyes of some amazing marine life.  We saw three sea turtles, a Giant Moray Eel, a beautiful reef lobster, and an octopus hidden in the coral.  Our second dive of the day was even more lucky.   We saw a Banded Sea Snake, five Barracudas, another sea turtle, two moray eels, and a Bearded Scorpion Fish!  I came up after the second dive as a certified diver, having completed four open water dives.  Yea! 

My good luck ended on the third dive of the day.  I descended a few meters and could not equalize my ears (push air against my ear drums by squeezing my nose and exhaling to counteract the water pressure) so my ears had excruciating pain.  I had to go back to the boat and abort the dive.  Even above the surface my ears hurt.  It was disappointing to miss the dive and have sore ears.  Back on the boat my dad gave me some ear drops and my ears are feeling a little better.  I hope I will be able to dive again tomorrow.  In addition, I got a little sea sick and I hope to feel better soon.

Today I had some low points and some high points.  I saw some amazing marine life and got Open Water Dive Certification, but I missed out on a dive and hurt my ears.  Tomorrow, we will be diving, eating, and sleeping. I will enjoy our third day aboard!

A Relaxing Beach Spot in the Heat of the Day.

Thank you for reading Rohan Geographic!