Scuba Diving - August 7th

In the ship. Cool Guy was really cool, among us he was the only one feeling totally alright (and sleepy...)


the ship was pretty waving


Landing!!! (Yu-Jie was still feeling dizzy)


eugene.......

the wonderful place we spent our nights. thanks to Greenisland fire department

Bo-Han was still uncomfortable from long distance standing and non-sleeping

eat and drink were a must before going to the class

the place we learned scuba diving

20 minutes before our first dive. everybody was intently preparing for their equipments

Bo-Han and Monster the coach

yeah~ that was me~

one of our pretty classmates. i told her she's pretty and she agreed to take the photo with me

Shoot…it’d been a torture since last night! We bought non-seat train tickets as there were too many people going to Green Island and Lan Yu Island. I was fortunate enough to have been able to sit and take a nap by the gate. The train did stop of course, and I was awaken and had to stand up at every stop so people would not be blocked by me; yet the other three friends were not that lucky, they kept standing all the way through the 6 hours journey through the midnight! It was not until the last hour we had seats available…

Actually the train didn’t travel all the way. It stopped one station ahead and we were told the technicians had to change some mechanical parts. People were a bit pissed off about this but not for me because I was totally enjoying my sleeping on the real seat.

We arrived at Tai Dong station at around 6 am and the cab had been waiting for us already. Feeling worried by the unexpected parts-changing-thing, we hopped on the taxi soon and the driver knew it too so he drove as if driving a Formula 1! (which was horrible!)

As all the tourists were delayed by the train, the first ferry was awaiting us so we were still able to take the first one. After getting in I put on my lenses and quickly brushed my teeth, soon after the ferry set off. Jeeze…wind was breezing, wave was strong, the ferry was not as big as the Lomprayer ferry I took last year when I was on the way to volunteer on Koh Tao Island. It was up and down and felt totally like a roller coaster! Probably 20 minutes later my stomach started feeling upside down, I rushed to the washroom with a vomit bag and got ready. There were people much earlier than me, and their facial expressions were written “VOMIT, SHUN AWAY”.

“Good, I’m not gonna get close to you, you have your turf and I stayed by the sink, we are well apart so the smell wouldn’t get to me. “ thought I. However…the smell doesn’t but sound DOES! Immediately the first “Grrrrrrr…..Huh grrrrrrrrr” shot out from not only male washroom but also female’s, which created some kind of atmosphere around that area. I COULDN’T BEAR IT ANYMORE! I made my first “Grrrrrr” too but nothing came out. At this time I thought of a movie scene in which people seal their mouths with a paper or plastic bag and then started breathing in and out. I did the same and great it did help a little bit. Before long I decided that vomiting would be probably the most efficient way, so I reached my index and middle fingers deep in my throat and then “Grrrrrr”, but again, nothing came out…

“This is weird”…I thought at least I had something to vomit out but no. probably that was because I didn’t eat anything after hopping off the train I guess. So again and again I reached my fingers in and then “Grrrr”ed until our ferry arrived one hour later. The guy called “Cool Fella” in our group is a firefighter and he seems to have experienced this many times, he said he almost fell asleep; Bo Han did feel bad but he stood at the gate all the way; the girl Yu Jie in us had already vomited in the washroom so when we landed she looked totally awful. Me? I don’t know, picture says everything.

After landing we rushed to the scuba diving school and checked in immediately. One coach gave us a ride to the firefighter’s accommodation where we will spend our nights. Then at 10:30am we gathered, filled some forms, were taught with some essential tips about putting on goggles, getting water out from the goggles, assembling all the gears and wearing them on. We dived with the first oxygen tank at 1:30pm, and then the second at 16pm. The first one was just a trial and hand-on thing, but the second one we went to feed fishes toasts and that…was…AMAZING! It is sooooo different under water than on land. Seeing fishes slipping by and eating toasts were just special, and I loved to see my bubbles floating up too. “Thank God. This is what I have wanted. Thank You Lord! After such a long hard work days THIS is just what I need!” I thought to myself. I love scuba diving!

Cool Fella didn’t like scuba diving at all, even he is already an advanced diver. He said the scuba diving training is a must being a firefighter, and the skill is used on nothing but looking for dead bodies. Searching for things in dirty unclear water is difficult, so they usually feel them by fumbling. The first few times he and other firefighters were searching for dead bodies which suddenly popped out right in front of their faces! Shooot!!! Goosebumps fall off just by thinking off that!

It’s 6:49pm now. At 8:30pm we are going to have on land class. Looking forward to it!