my first experience of scuba diving

Hello semua :) i will try to tell every details about my trip to KK ye?

Arrived at Kota Kinabalu quite late since i took the red eye flight. flight to KK around 2 hours from LCCT. and i spent that two hours in the plane studying for my final -_- tak tipu ah! :)

lebih kurang pukul 12.15 am sampai kat Kota Kinabalu Airport Terminal 2,
queue and settle hal dengan imigresen, dalam pukul 12.45 am baru dapat gerak pergi hotel.
1st night, i was staying at tunehotel. reason, murah and senang. book tros ngan flight tickets.
rm56 je for two nights plus one towel rental.
cab fee. rm75. sebab dah midnight and airport cab, biasa lah. but the driver sangat friendly.
he asked me if this is my first time in kk. and siap showing around lagi.

mind you, bilik dia agak kecil tapi sangat selesa. ada tv and aircond tapi if nak guna ,ada extra charges. so go green! masa check in,i tanya tunehotel if they can arrange a cab for me tomorrow morning tapi shuttle diorang start at 8am, i need that cab around 730am. so i asked for taxi number, and they have none! ish nasib baik boleh online, i google and call cab malam tu jugak. book tros .malam tuh tak boleh tidur sangat sebab baru sampai, and i sambung study until 430am.

my 1st day kat kota kinabalu, i decided to go scuba diving. and pilih company nih
http://www.divedownbelow.com/
pukul 8am, kena kumpul kt sutera marina jetty. cab sampai awal, and i told him,
nak pergi sutera marina jetty and dia macam pelik. nak pergi mana, cik? kenapa mau pergi sutera marina jetty? i cakaplah, nak pergi pulau manukan. kenapa? and the taxi driver cakap, kalau nak pergi pulau manukan, biasanya naik kat jesselton point. i checked my email again, and betul lah, dia tulis sutera marina jetty. then i told him, saya pergi dengan package, dalam ni tulis sutera marina jetty. masa tuh, takut jugak. eh kena tipu ker aku ni. then he said, oooo pergi ngan package, sutera marina jetty itu, private jetty, kepunyaan hotel 5 stars. fuh, pakcik ni, bikin i cuak je. hehe then on the way to jetty. dia cerita lah pasal sabah, where to get cheap seafood, do's and dont's hehe. and before sampai jetty, dia tanya dah breakfast ker, kalau belum ada restaurant, depan hotel ni. murah sikit and sedap. dekat jetty tuh, takde food. tapi i takut lambat, so i better go and register first. masa ni dah started to like sabah people. sangat friendly and polite.
cab fee from tunehotel to sutera marina jetty is rm30.

sampai kat jetty, ada one guy wearing blue t-shirt written divedown below borneo. so i pergi register, and he arrange which boat i kena naik. alhamdullilah, i dapat naik 1st trip so tak payah tunggu lama.

dalam boat, i noticed im the only malay, yang lain semua macam mat saleh and korean je hehe.

sampai kat gaya island. and baru i tau, actually divedown below company base kt gaya island. bukan kt manukan -_-

this is their centre. they are the only company there, and orang-orang yang dive sini semua yang ambil package dengan divedown below company. kalau yang pergi sendiri or dengan company lain, semua akan ke tunku abdul rahman marine park. which is next to this island. tak jauh pun. tapi i bersyukur choose this package sebab tempat dia less crowded and more privacy.

before diving, ada briefing about the island location and ada form yang kena isi. medical form and settle payment pun kt sini jugak. after that, kami diberi seorang personal instructor. dia akan jaga and guide i masa diving. seorang instructor akan dapat dua students. my partner is a mat saleh.

this is my instructor, Bob. my camera din do him justice, hes actually a very good looking guy :D

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after that,bob bawak pergi changing room, and tolong carikan my scuba suit, gogel and tolong prepare semua equipment according to my size. later on, dia pesan to eat during brunch, sebab diving ni agak penat and kene drink lotsa water. after brunch, ada theory briefing, how to breath underwater, how to release water pressure and semua lah yang we need to know masa diving. and we also learned about the signals. sebab underwater kan, tak boleh bercakap.

i was abit scare jugak, sebab macam banyak we need to know and memorize. and they advised us, not to step or touch anything down there because everything is so precious and took hundred years to build.

then after that, kena confined water dive. bob sangat sabar and supportive, sebab i macam xboleh adapt dengan bernafas dalam air. it was so tough ok. sebab biasa bernafas dengan hidung, tiba-tiba nak guna mulut all the time. naseb baik tempat cetek je, so bila rasa nak lemas, i terus naik. bob taught me how to breath properly underwater. xsama dengan bernafas kat darat. and lepas try dua tiga kali, i can! yeay! then dia ajar a few skills yang we might use during diving, he will demo it first and then asked me to try.

and i manage to do all of the skills once je! god, im such a fast learner!

haha my partner need to repeat it a few times. maybe dia rasa tercabar sebab im a woman,

and im better than him! hehe

after dah berjaya buat semua skills yang dia ajar, he slowly asked us to swim. it was okay at first, then lepas makin dalam kitorang dive, i feel pressure kt my ear, and i started to panic bila air laut start masuk dalam my mask. and bob asked me to release the pressure. and clearing that flooded mask. i tried, tapi air tuh xkuar jugak, sampai paras hidung. i cant. i rasa nak lemas dah sebab i cant breath and i show him signal. i nak naik atas. i cant do it. so bob take me up.

sampai atas, i told him, i cant. i cant. i cant breath and memang dah terbatuk-batuk sebab tertelan air masin. i rasa nak give up dah. abit painful dengan ear pressure and xboleh bernafas semua.

then bob asked me to try one more time, its okay, just try. dia cakap jangan panik, sebab kita xguna hidung pun nak bernafas, so biar je air tuh. and i asked, berapa meter dah kita turun?

he said, 7meter. and we supposed to go down until 12m. God! how am i manage to do that?

he ingatkan always release the pressure even tak rasa apa-apa pun and breath calmly. so we tried, once again!

after that, i dah abit calm and started to enjoy it especially bila nampak coral and fishes. sangat lawa ok. excited gile. then bila turun jauh lagi, i dah panik balik. sebab nampak ikan pelik-pelik. i dah start nak lemas balik, so i told bob, i wanna go up. i wanna go up!! then bob said, we cant. u need to deal with it. (using signals lah, of course ) maybe sebab da deep down kot, we cant just go up like that. bob show signal, guided to breath slowly. and nak taknak i terpaksa deal with it.
bob suruh buang air dalam flooded mask and release the pressure. so i did. then everything was okay. and bob bawak kitorang around, and i nampak oyster!ada ikan sebelah, and xtaulah ikan apa lagi. sebab bawah tuh, ikan lagi pelik-pelik and lawa. bentuk and size pon macam xpernanh tengok. amazed gile sebab its such a different feeling. tengok gambar dalam majalah or tv, dengan tengok real life. too bad, i takde underwater camera :(

then we stop for lunch break, 1 hour. Bob noticed kaki i ada luka sebab terlanggar coral, masa borak with the other staff during lunch break, dia bagi antiseptic cream. and i told him, i was feeling guilty sebab terlanggar coral. semua tuh took hundred years kot nak terbentuk.

and he said, nevermind, we tried tp accident still happened. and the other staffs shared their experience of diving with me. ada yang jumpa shark, turtle, im so excited listening to their stories.

about their trip to amsterdam and krabi. and ade one staff pernah nampak shark lalu atas dorang. i learned alot from them too. im very comfortable with them and felt like a family. everyone is so friendly and funny.smart. hardworking. they also suggested a few seafood restaurants and siap lukis map lagi.

lunch was served.

this is the second session, we went to coral garden, pulau sapi.

that is bob, in blue suits.

my first attempt, terjun backwards. scary gile! sebab tank tuh berat and rasa macam nak terbalik.

i manage to do it! yeay me!

second session was abit funny. sebab i sesat for 15min! tengah diving and swimming, bob asked me to stop and stay at my current spot sebab my partner tuh, cam ke bawah sangat so dia nak pull him up abit. i stay tapi my jacket tuh, maybe filled with some air, so i float. bila i realize, eh im floating, i try to go down again. bila dah turun, eh mana semua orang?

semua orang dah hilang, so i thot maybe dorang kt depan, so i swim ke depan, eh takde lagi? mana niiii. so i swim tengok kanan-kiri. alamak. takde sape pun. i started to panic dah. i check my tank. okay, oxygen cukup lagi. i terfikir nak go up, tapi kitorg tak boleh go up just like that, kene go up dengan instructors sebab nanti instructor akan lepas, macam belon merah, signal divers nak naik. just in case ada boat tengah nak lalu, kalo ada sign tuh, dorang xlalu lah. xdelah kepala kita terhantuk. or kene langgar dengan boat laju.

so i swim and tawakal je lah. letih dah rasa kaki. and i was abit scared, sebab before dive td, the staffs ade cakap if we are lucky, i can see turtles or catsharks during second session. tp we need to stay a few metres from them, alamak! doa banyak2 mintak2 xjumpa. tadi excited sangat nak jumpa kan. and makin lama swim, macam2 i nampak bawah laut tuh. and all the fishes cm pelik and blur tengok i. then i nampak mende bulat ada duri panjang-panjang kaler itam . oh sea urchin! sempat lagi excited. rasa macam nak ambil satu and makan. sebab mahal tau sea urchin ni. then lama-lama makin banyak plak sea urchin ni, last2 penuh kt satu tempat tuh, semua sea urchin. Aaaa! scary plak sebab duri dorg tuh poisonous and i just swim over them je. then sebab letih, i cant control my body, so i cam sinking. i tengok bawah penuh duri dorang! then i thot, alamak alamak im sinking! sinking! go up go up! sambil tolak-tolak kaki. naseb pakai fin, sebab i ada tersepak a few sea urchin tu. and sampai satu tempat yang i was surrounding dengan huge and big corals. serious sangat lawa tp that time, xlawa anymore, rasa macam scary. and i teringat masa briefing,

ada instructor cakap, kalo signal three fingers, maksudnya ada barracuda kat situ,

so please stay with your instructor. arghh! lagi scary ok.

but i cant panic, i try to breath properly and swim again. xkisah lah direction mana pun. swim je.

bila pandang bawah, ada macam batu and when i come nearer, dorang lari, rupanya ikan. ish. bentuk dia lain macam betul. i dah nak nangis bila nampak coral banyak-banyak and ada lubang-lubang. mesti ada moray eel dalam tu. moray eel adalah mende paling i xnak tengok skali. geli kot. dia macam belut tapi lagi besar, and lagi menggelikan. i swim swim until i heard, my tank was knocked by something. i turned around and saw bob! naseb baik dalam air, kalau x sure i dah hug him dah. he take my hand and pull me up.

sampai je kat atas, dia cakap where did u go? i thought u were behind me. and i told him, i dont know, im lost. he said sorry he din realized i wasnt with them then dia suro tanggal fin and naik boat, i was so tired, masa nak naik boat, nearly jatuh dalam air balik sebab tank sangat berat and my energy is zero.

sampai kt centre, i pergi mandi and salin baju and rest atas kerusi sambil tengok pantai, hampir tertidur dah sebab penat sangat and bob datang pesan suruh minum air dulu. i rasa dizzy and jalan pun macam nak terbalik. sebab nitrogen from the tank. after rest, bob datang balik with certificate.

and congratulate me for completing the introduction course for scuba diving.

he explained that i can continue this course in the future, if i want.

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it was a very memorable experience, satu sebab its not easy.

sangat lain dengan snorkeling.

it was quite tough and rasa lagi adventure :)

second, view bawah laut sangat lawa.

u need to see it urself. i wanna keep it to myself :P

third, sebab datang seorang, u boleh mingle with other people and share stories.

kalau datang in group, mestilah just nak stay with the group. xmingle ngan orang lain.

and i wanna go diving again, maybe mabul or sipadan after this :D

bye pulau gaya, im gonna miss u much,

and miss divedown below team too :(

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