YES! I'm a certified diver now

I have always had a fascination with underwater world. As much as I love the beach and the sea so much, Scuba Diving has always been a great interest to me ever since graduated from high school. All these while, I just couldn't find the right time and a buddy to learn with and finally now I've made the bold decision to get my Open Water Diving certification from Dolphinlee Aquatics (A ONE-STOP center for aquatic needs and a well-established swimming school in the Klang Valley), whom the founder was once my swimming coach. 

It all started when I had this random conversation with Sheryl while we were at the JumpStreet Indoor Trampoline Park, KL with the rest of the bunch. So we decided like finally, to sign up for the course. Learning scuba diving is one of the thing that I wanted to do the most among my bucket lists, and no matter what I must take it before I start work. So let the adventure begin! I was on a Open Water Dive trip to Redang last Thursday in order to get myself certified as a PADI Open Water Diver! You will be evaluated throughout the trip. Before being able to dive in open water, I've already attended a confined water training and passed the written exam as though you are taking a driving licence. I'm sure some of you will be like, oh it must be even stress, nervous and stuff to go for a dive with all the evaluation and tests, but you know what, it doesn't feel like that at all. It's just so enjoyable and relaxing throughout the 3 days dive. Bear in mind, forget about all the tests or evaluation, the most important thing is just go out there and enjoy yourself, explore the underwater world and you will do just fine!

White sandy beach and crystal clear sea

Just perfect for vacay-cay.

So, meet my dive buddies.

From left: Keid (Rescue Diver), Brandon, Me and Sheryl.

My diving instructor, Mr. Dolphin Lee, a funny yet serious and responsible instructor. *thumbs up*
Pss: trying my best to open my eyes, but failed! It's too sunny...

JJ, Keid (Both undergoing Rescue Diver course) and Dolphin Lee

Now that you have met all of them, let's see some action underwater shall we?

My instructor, teaching some instruction before we go anywhere deeper

We were instructed to demonstrate some basic skills

I'm required to open my eyes and search for my mask and put it back on.

Learning to remove my whole BCD and put it back on underwater.

Practising how to share air with your buddy if you're out of air.

'V' peace

Swimming through...

Pivoting!

hehe *evil smile*

Brandon, Sheryl and me!

Hello Nemo, don't be shy, we bring no harm :)

Underwater mushroom

Those tiny lil dots are all fishes.

GIANT Stingray

Meet JJ.

Beautiful corals

Fishessssssss, they are all surrounding the shipwreck. It's like their home now.

Look at that!

And this is Keid.

Group pic

With the Instructor.

Selfie is a must! HAHA

They called it 'Spider Flower' 

Turtle! Swimming alone looking for food?

It's actually quite surprising that I can still see so many fishes at Redang, and those beautiful corals too. I've seen Trigger fish, bumphead fish and etc (the rest I don't know their names actually, haha)

Me, being silly while waiting for a safety stop :P

             

Selfie again.

It was really a wonderful and unforgettable experience for me. It's totally a different world down there, where you can see all sorts of living things which you've never seen before at the surface, you never know what will be under there waiting for you. All I can say is, it's full of surprises and excitement.

Scuba diving wasn't that hard after all. Before this, I always have this one question where how could one scuba dive with so many hose dangling around and isn't it heavy to carry a tank behind your back? It's actually all about pivoting, controlling your buoyancy, equalising, breathing through your mouth but not your nose and most importantly, complete relaxation while diving and breath continuously, holding your breath underwater is totally forbidden. Just be graceful!

Sunbathing after a long dive.

It was my first attempt doing a headstand, of course with a lil help, hehe.

Tadaaa...

 Having a break until the next dive, but first, let me take a selfie :P

Dive bud!

Group pic after the so called "certification ceremony" 

YES! I'm finally certified as a PADI Open Water Diver and I'm proud enough to tick this off my bucket lists *PADI Open Water Diver* H-A-P-P-Y. Looking forward for more diving trips to log more dives, and of course for more experience before I could reach for the advanced level. And I'm definitely willing to try out many many different dive site, there's a lot more to learn. Perhaps I could go for some adventure dive like deep dive or shipwreck dive, or maybe some underwater photography? Well, it's still a long way to go but that's my aim. Not to forget, thanks to my Instructor, Mr. Dolphin Lee! He's really a funny yet serious instructor. Thanks to him, I got an extra credit to attempt a deep dive to 22 metres.

Again, being underwater is just so peaceful and relaxing. It is a complete silent, relaxing underwater world except for the bubbling sound of exhalation and the whooshing of air during inhalation, haha. I guess I've found my secret world, peace zone!