Guess what?
I'm back!
& I'd passed my advanced dive course!!!
YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

4 hours before my departure
My tummy failed on me
Headed to see doc asap
Doc diagnosed me with early stage of appendicitis
Recommended me not to go diving
But I insisted
Then he commented a damn long list on my medical card
Shucks. Black-listed
Told Er ge & Da ge about it
Er Ge scolded me, Da ge scolded me
But I die die still wanna go
Bwah
Think both of them wanna kidnap me on the spot & prevent me from going
But due to my persistance, Er ge sorta reluctantly sent me to dive centre & gave me some cash for emergency
=)))

Day 1
It was a pretty late departure coz the tide at Mersing was too low for the ferry to depart
The bus ride to Mersing was damn bumpy
Everyone was bouncing up & down at every minute.
We only left for Dayang at 2am
SMS-ed Er ge telling him I was fine already, need not worry
On the boat, thankfully Gene-jie helped me to reserve a seat. Kekeke

There were 8 Open water divers, 3 advanced water divers, 3 nitrox divers & 5 leisure divers. A pretty big group! Coincidentally, Juliana & Karen from our OWD lesson were there too. =D

In order to pass this course, I have to do 1)underwater navigation 2) Deep dive 3) Night dive 4) Boat dive 5) Wreck dive

At around 8am plus, we reached Pulau Dayang
Tired

*yawnz*

The sky was so clear that you can barely open your eyes
The water was so clear you can even see a sea cucumber!The day was so nice for chio chio photo!
Dive 1 (Pulau Lang)
1st dive at 10am...
Say Hello to my dive buddies
Jeffrey & KC
Ah.. Me the only girl among the Advanced divers
Princess treatment...*grins*Our tanks + equipment

It was only our fun dives, not yet skills testing
& Gene-jie came along with me for our first dives
Took photos underwater of coz!!
Heeheehee
*photo courtesy of Gene-jie*
Saw 3 bumphead parrotfishes feeding in front of me
OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!
My first dive I saw my favourite fish
I was so excited & admired
Think Martin knew I was so happy about it
& asked me look forward
Haha
>_<

Dive 2 (Pulau Lang)
Ah, time for skill testing
Before we headed off for our second dive, Martin revised us on navigation.
Practised on shore first
After that, we tried out underwater.
Ha!
Stupid lah.
When I was paired with Jeffrey, he navigated while I do the kick cycles
& he swam so damn fast that I did extra & lost count just to catch up with him
Then Martin said I didnt managed to do a complete square
=Lala..

Got 2 emperors & 1 parrotfish stopped at my fins
LOL!
I 'kicked' them but they didnt swam off
BWAHAHAHA so cute so cute

Dive 3 (Pulau Aur)
My first deep dive
Before we descended, we had to write our name backwards
After that,we descended all the way to 30m...
After few minnutes, Martin wanted us to spell our names backwards underwater
This was done to see if any of us were suffering from nitrogen nacrosis
Heehee... Dont have leh..
Then we ascend to shallower depth..
Swam swam swam until suddenly..
I floated up
Eh... not right leh..
I tried to descend... cannot..
Deflated my BCD also cant
Then I just left it float
KC notified Martin
& Martin quickly pulled me down & deflated my BCD
GWARRRRK
How come he can deflate & I cant?
Knn
I was so damn scared I'll kana decompression illness ok
Suddenly float up without safety stop
But luckily didnt...
*phew*

Dive 4 (Pulau Dayang Jetty)
Our deep dive ended at 7pm... & our night dives started at 730pm
-_-
Tired siaaaa
One day pia 4 dives leh...

The night dive was cool
Luckily wasnt that far off the mainland
Only KC & I went since Jeffrey had done night-diving previously
We had our torches with us & descended
Damn
Current was strong coz it was rising tides
& I got drifted off as soon as I was in water

Visibility was good
Dark dark also can see
But of coz must on dive torch lah
We swam abit, explored abit
& then did our black-out drill

Off torch
Swept hands to disturb luminating copepods
Broke light-stick
On torch
& off we go a fun night dive again!

Saw 2 moray eels, schools of damsels, surgeon fishes, rockfish, a very big red nudibranch
The current was really damn strong that I was losing my patience
I could hardly swam forward
I tilted my body to the side
I drifted
Then I finned side-ways
When I was really exhausted, i just let myself drift away
Martin signalled me to swim back see nudibranch
ARHHHHHHHHHH
Very tired to swim against current lah, abang...
& I've seen enough of nudibranchs already!!
BLEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHh

Dive ended 30mins later
Really very very tired
My shins were aching due to extreme finning
Very hungry as well...
Although my tummy had initially failed me
I gobbled 4 small pieces of lamb chops, a BBQ chicken wing, 3 sticks of satay & 2 scoopes of fried rice
*burps*

Day 2
Woke up at 6am
Washed up, changed blah blah
& our first dive at 7am
Sun didnt come out
Shucks...

Dive 5 (Pulau Kadut)
A warm-up dive
Buoyancy sucks
Wanna descend, cant descend
Then they waited for me to descend
Swam abit
Not that much fishes until later
Coz probably fishes still sleeping
Heehee
Found a sandy bottom to revise some skills
Hovering, somersaults, backward finning, fin pivot
But...GRRRR
My buoyancy cannot make it!!
Fin pivoting was ok initially until a current swept me
Then I rolled a metre away & swam back
I tried to hover
Kept sinking
Then when I managed to hover
Damn current swept me off again
GRRRRRRRR
Did the somersaults
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~~~
Backward finning...bleah
Cannot lah, heck

Rain fell above us
What a lovely sight to see raindrops & ripples above our heads

When it's time to ascend
I kept sinking down
I wondered also
When surfaced
Martin told me to fin harder next time
Jeffrey said I always reversed my order
Wanna descend, cant descend
Wanna ascend, cant ascend
-_-
Eh brother
Morning dive leh
Haven wake up fully ok?

Dive 6 (Pulau Dayang)
We're going wreck diving!!
As we got into the water, KC held onto me
We were supposed to descend to the bottom using a rope
But god damn is that rope fouled with barnacles
Bleah
But good thing is
I saw barnacles feeding with their cillas
So cute

KC did a free-fall descend coz he said the rope looks disgusting to hold onto for descend
While I used the rope, needed for equalisation
Initially Jeffrey went ahead of me
But he kept popping up & hitting me
& I wondered what the hell was he doing
After that I overtook him & descended

I kept thinking:"Huh? He cant equalise his ears or what?"
Then Martin helped him to descend
While KC & I were at the bottom, Martin was pulling Jeffrey by his SPG
We swam towards the wreck
Damn, I sank & hit the bottom
Used my hands to push myself up
& then my hands stung!!!
I thought got microscopic organisms entered my skin & bloodstream biting me
& I kept looking & looking for openings
But then I tolerated the stung & continued my course

Many many batfishs!!!!
Got this particular batfish stopped in front of me
I looked at it, it looked at me
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTEEEEEEEEEEE!!
I put my hand out to reach it
It didnt escape until 3cm in reach!!
BWAHHAHA
Then I turned behind
2 batfishes were behind me
Both looking at me
LOL!!!!
If only I can communicate with them...

As we ascended to shallower depth
Jeffrey floated above me
Weird sia... why that fellow so buoyant this time?
Then I saw Martin picked up a very very very large brick
& asked him to carry

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
So funny I laughed underwater
KC laughed also
Jeffrey forgot to put on weightbelt
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Martin was pulling him as though he was a balloon
Buay tahan

We saw a large schools of ikan gudung(?)(species common name, please?)
& schools of damsels
It was really really really large
Which then reminded me why schooling fishes are prone to over-fishing
Ah, this is why...
Coz 1 net can catch thousands of them!!!

When we surfaced
We kept laughing & laughing & laughing
Jeffrey told me that my hands stung coz of hydroid
Yucks
But at least the stings were much better off than jellyfish stings
Then I saw Gene-jie strolling on the beach
I shouted for her
& snapped me
I gave her a OK hand signal
KC towed me back onto the boat
Coz I really very very tired to fin back liao

Dive 7 (Pulau Lang)
Our last dive
Also a fun dive
We tried our nagivation skills
KC led, I in middle, Jeffrey behind me
Swam & swam
Very tired
Coz KC's one kick cycle equals my two kick cycles
Nb
Had hard time catching up!!
Then KC turned & signalled a nudibranch signal to me
I thought:"Kaoz, nudibranch again. What's so nice to see sia.."
Then I swam slowly
Then Martin signalled to me, pointed at the rock in front

A GIANT GREEN TURTLE RESTING!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
The size was as big as the coffee-shop table
We looked at it, it looked at us
So cute so cute so cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I signalled for Jeffrey if he'd brought his camera
He shooked his hands replying 'no'
I pointed him the middle finger exclaiming 'fuck!'
He kok-ed me on my head & I sank 50cm deeper
Nb...
I went 'fuck!' coz we missed the chance of capturing a turtle pic!!

Martin signalled Clifford also, who was leading the leisure divers
So a group of 15 people came & flocked to see the turtle
Bwahha
If I were the turtle, I sure pai-seh & swam away

After that, we swam forward
Saw a lionfish
Woahhh~
& another moray eel

Did a safety stop at 5m
Good
I finally managed to hover
But i just hateeeeeeeeeeee the current
Grrrrr

Back on boat
Martin came to me
"Cynthia?"
"Yah?"
"Congratulations. You've passed the advanced course"
*SMILES BIG BIG*"Thhhhhhhhankkkkkkkkewwwwwwwww"

=DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Back on shore
Quick lunch
Packed
Took some many photos
Us doing the 'stingray' handsign while Kenneth covered his nipplesClifford, Martin & I did the Kawaii-pose. LOLTze-yau & I with Clifford peeping -_-
& left Pulau Dayang at 2pm

On the way
It started to rain
Reached Mersing at about 6pm
Still raining
Followed Gene-jie sat her friend's car all the way back SG
Stopped to have dinner near Tuas

Reached home at 930pm
Very tired
Gene hung out at my house for a while
Then headed for supper
Slept like pig at 12am

That ended my lovely weekend
I LOVE DIVING!!!
The next item investment for diving is... a pair of dive gloves
x_X

I was so glad that my equalization wasnt a problem
Thanks to Nasonex & Loratadine
Heehee
=D
A further few more dive practices & I can help out with WildFilms on underwater filming
Hiak hiak hiak

But best of all
I'D PASSED MY ADVANCED!!
*hops around in joy*


P/S: KC just called to tell me that someone stole my dive bag at Mersing. Dive bag was only realised to be lost at SG custom. God damn that asshole... A bloody $2k equipment lost!! SHOW YOURSELF QUICK!