Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Tioman: Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 2)

Hello yall!

I'm here to share about my weekend in Tioman when I got certified for my SSI Open Water Diver course! Boy, was it a tiring weekend. All went good though and I am now officially certified as a SSI Open Water Diver!

It was a very short weekend trip - We left Singapore via coach on Friday night, caught the boat from Mersing Jetty, arrived at Tioman around 3am and woke up at 8am to have breakfast and depart for the first dive.

We arrived for 6pm assembly on Friday evening at the dive shop at York Hill! These are the bags containing our dive gear - buoyancy suit, regulators, fins and wetsuit! You'll need to handle your own dive gear and they get real heavy especially by the end of the trip when they're all wet and waterlogged. Not fun, but noone ever said that diving was a glamorous hobby.

The coach ride was quite a nightmare honestly. Heavy traffic all along the way from Singapore through immigrations and all the way to Mersing. Expect a lot of jam braking and sudden acceleration because the driver was winding through and cutting lanes whenever he could.

We took a pit stop along the way to Mersing Jetty for dinner and I had some fish soup. Dinner is a must cos it would be 3am by the time we reached the resort and I'm sure everyone would be too tired to do anything else but go straight to bed!

We finally arrived at Mersing Harbour Center safely and got on the boat that would take us all the way to Tioman Island! It was a pretty rough ride, I would say. Most of us tried to sleep a little on the boat but it wasn't the most comfortable. Also, motion sickness pills highly recommended if you're prone to sea sickness.

When we arrived at the island, it was pitch dark with not a soul in sight. Went straight to our resort to crash for the night!

Inside our room for the weekend! The word "resort" is a bit of a stretch because Tioman is no luxury holiday island, so don't expect any four star accommodation - we were bunking in four to a room in a very basic, no-frills setting with two double beds. Apparently though, you can get better accomodation if you top up extra for the best resort on the island: Berjaya Tioman Resort.

For the basic accommodation package though, this is as good as it gets, two beds for four pax and one bathroom. No toiletries provided so please come prepared!

Obviously we were too tired to care much - None of us even took a shower and all of us went straight to sleep, as seeing how we only had five hours or so to rest up for the next day. I apparently slept so soundly that the morning prayers at 5am didn't even wake me up.

A short five hours later, we had to drag ourselves reluctantly out of bed to get breakfast and leave for our dives!

Sharing my oral sun protection - Heliocare Ultra. I am super anal about sun protection so I always take oral sunblock capsules and on top of that I still apply topical sunblock on the exposed areas of my body!

My advice is to go easy on the breakfast - Just have some food to fill up your tummy but don't overeat, because you might end up feeling sick on the sea or feel weird in the water because of all the weird gases expanding and compressing in your stomach lol.

The nasi lemak and beehoon soup were surprisingly yummy though! So I did overeat which serves me right because I ended up puking later.

These cute felines were all around the island!

Off to the jetty to get on our boat!

Usually, Tioman is a lot less crowded in November due to the start of the monsoon season, so there were only a few other dive groups apart from ours. IMO a good thing to have less people around but then again it also means poorer dive conditions and visibility underwater, so it's a trade off.

At least the sun didn't come bearing down so strongly on us, which means I didn't get too tanned!

We had rather cloudy weather with choppy waters, so I got really seasick on the first day and ended up puking into the sea. Urrrghhhh.

Thank goodness I felt much better from the third dive onwards and was able to enjoy myself so much more!

These compressed air tanks (bane of my life, it's so heavy oh my god) and buoyancy control suits - Suiting on these equipment and my fins are my most unfavourite part of diving.

The first time I jumped into the sea was quite a scary moment, but once I got over the initial wave of mild panic, everything felt a lot more comfortable, even when we had to remove our masks underwater and put them back on and clear them.

I also swallowed a fair share of sea water like the beginner that I am.

We did four dives on the first day, and a fifth dive on the second day - That's a total of 5 dives over the weekend.

During the dives, we were guided through the basic skills assessment we were taught in the pool session, like mask clearing, alternate air source (sharing a regulator with your buddy), and how to recognise and use hand signals underwater - All these are essential skills in diving so it's important to feel comfortable with the skills and techniques used to prevent any potentially life-threatening situations underwater.

By the end of a few dives, I was feeling so much more confident in the water! Most importantly, do not panick underwater and stay calm no matter what. Your instructor and dive master are there to take care of you and guide you.

The lovely Renggis Island which is a popular dive spot for spotting black tipped sharks - We didn't get to see any sharks, but saw a huge turtle which totally made my day!!!!

I bought this rashguard swimwear set from Fiji more than a year ago and I'm glad I got to put it to good use while diving in Tioman!!!

Not sure about other dive companies but Gill Divers only provide a 3mm "shortie" aka a short sleeved wetsuit during our Open Waters course, and I wanted to avoid that horrid half sleeve/half thigh tan so I wore my own long sleeved rash guard AND a pair of long tights, which was probably my best purchase for this trip.

After completing four dives on Day 1. Whoop whoop!

One of my most dreaded moments is climbing up that ladder with what feels like ten tonnes of gear on me.

The diving itself was actually very enjoyable, especially when we swam right above and through the corals with all those tiny little fishes darting about around us, and even spotted stingrays, turtles and huge parrot fish and bat fish!

What I didn't enjoy was when I got seasick due to the choppy sea conditions and how difficult it was to equalise my ears on the first few tries.

Tioman Island has got a grand total of ONE convenience store - It's practically the only form of civilisation on the island and this place was a godsend for biscuits (to bring on board for snacking in between dives) and cold drinks after a long day of dives.

Apart from the convenience store, you musttttt have prata at this prata shop!!!

Damn solid prata bomb with condensed milk and sugar. It was SO good!

We retired around 10pm on Day 1 to wake up at 5.30am on Day 2 for one last dive before we had to head back to Singapore.

Can't believe I actually woke up at 5.30am just to dive.

This is the view as we were going towards Renggis Island again for our last dive - It was so early that the moon was still out in its full glory!

It rained twice that morning so visibility wasn't so good, unfortunately.

The multiple dive attempts really made me more confident and sure in the water, although I had a lot of trouble with trying to stay in the water because I'm SO NATURALLY BUOYANT I KEPT FLOATING UP TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE WATER. Whenever I took a deeper breath than usual, I started feeling myself drifting upwards hahahahahaha #fail

It was very enjoyable overall and I hope my future dives will be even better with more underwater discoveries! That moment when we chanced upon that giant sea turtle felt so magical.

Gonna share some of the images taken by my dive instructor from Gill Divers, Ephraim!

We surfaced from our last dive on Saturday to come up to a beautiful double rainbow after the rain ended. What a perfect end to our day!

Saw so many of these clownfish darting about amongst the anemone underwater. The tiniest one I saw was no bigger than the nail on my little finger, can you imagine? How adorable!

Always been partial to clownfish thanks to Finding Nemo. Hahahahaha. They are a pretty common sight but seeing them still brings a thrill to me.

Possibly one of my most exciting moments on Dive 3 was running into a lone blue spotted stingray!!!

It was camouflaging very well on the seabed as the visibility was quite poor that day. I spotted it swimming in front of Eph and gestured at Eph to take notice of the ray so that he could photograph it. This shot turned out really good!!!

That’s me underwater looking very happy, indeed I was but what you don’t see is my constant struggle to NOT stay afloat hahahaha it was like *takes in deep breath*..... *slowly starts floating upwards like a helium balloon*

Eph had to resort to tugging me downwards by my ankle whenever I inadvertently started drifting back up to the surface. Yikes.

A nudibranch! Or sea slug hehe. These are small little molluscs and come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, super cute!!

The one we saw was black with white spiky thorns all over.

Lastly...

We’ve been wanting to learn something together and this is what we decided on: Diving! Having someone by your side who’s willing to go on unknown adventures with you must be one of the best things in life. Our first underwater expedition and hopefully more to come!

I'm looking forward to getting my advanced open water certification soon, so that I'm able to explore more dive sites. Absolutely can't wait! :)

#YINAtheTUNA

Read about my diving adventures!
Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 1)
Tioman: Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 2)

I got certified with Gill Divers - Gill Divers website here.

Look for me on my other social media platforms here:

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Open Water Diving with Gill Divers! (Part 1)

I've been wanting to learn diving for the longest longest time and I finally got down to it!

*Disclaimer - Not a sponsored post*

SSI vs PADI

There are two different international diving organisations / dive companies that conducts dive courses - SSI and PADI. Apparently each one has their merits but there isn't a huge difference. You can dive no matter which company you choose to get certified with! There are companies in Singapore that offer either SSI or PADI - I picked Gill Divers (SSI) only because I have friends diving with Gill Divers previously haha. I didn't do that much research TBH.

Open Water Diver Course

This globally-recognized certification program is the best way to begin your life-long adventure as a certified scuba diver. Personalized training is combined with in-water practice sessions to ensure you have the skills and experience required to become truly comfortable underwater. You will earn the SSI Open Water Diver certification.

To get certified for Open Water Diving, you simply go through the following:
1. Online learning (six chapters)
2. Theory session with test at the end (3.5h)
3. Pool session (7h)
4. Weekend Trip (Bintan/Tioman - I chose Tioman!)

Price: $ 599

Includes: Theory Session, Pool Session, Weekend Trip - Transport, Accommodation, Meals, Equipment Rental
Does not include: Travel Insurance / Marine Park Fee (If applicable) / VISA on Arrival (If applicable)

Online Learning / Theory Session

Let's start with the Online Learning / Theory session!

You basically log into a website where there are some learning materials to go through - From the history of scuba diving to some physics and theory science behind diving (like water pressure, weight of water etc....)

There are quizzes at the end of every chapter which you have to complete and score at least 8/10. During the theory session, an instructor will run you through the material briefly, and then you do a test at the end.

The class was conducted in the evening at Gill Divers at Hong Kong Street - After work hours so no worries for those working office hours!

The passing mark is actually 45/50 - But even if you score slightly lesser, it's ok! The instructor personally will run through the questions you flunked and you're good to go.

Pool Session

Pool session was on a Sunday, reporting time at 9am! Way too early for a Sunday.

Received this reminder email in my inbox with information for pool sesh and obviously my eyes glazed over all the important parts cos the only things I picked out from from this email was "bring your own lunch and water" LOL.

Smart ass me happily appeared for pool session without my swimwear. What a bimbotic moment! I thought that perhaps we would slip into our wetsuits straight away and not have to wear swimwear maybe.

Thankfully I had a set of sportswear in the car so HAHAHA I ended up wearing my sports bra and exercise tights into the pool!

In order to pass the pool session, you have to be able to swim 200m / snorkel 300m and tread / float for 10 minutes!

It was a SUPER hot day goodness!

Please remember to spam on the sunblock like crazy!!! Waterproof sunblock alright. And take oral sunblock too (Like Heliocare) if you have it! I put on sunblock on my face, sprayed sunblock on my arms and even took my IDS Lyco-white pills.... But...

Those tan lines after an entire day in the pool SIGH. On the bright side, I didn't get sunburnt, just extremely tanned.

Lunch break!! Got my priorities so right. I woke up early in the morning just to prep lunch! Toasted hot dogs, prepared buns and even brought condiments along HAHAHAHAHAHA. What a picnic!

Shiok!!

During the course of the day, we were taught how to put on/take off our gear, how to control our buoyancy and other stuff like clearing our masks while underwater and how to do emergency ascends.

The gear was super heavy man. The oxygen tank weighs about 10kg and putting on the buoyancy control device with the tank was a huge weight on the shoulders and restricted my movement so much. It took a bit of practice to get used to breathing through my mouth, as well as get used to staying in the water for such an extended period.

I hated climbing out of the pool most because the gear was so heavy that my knees were nearly buckling under the weight as I struggled up the pool ladder!

So far so good, I've cleared the theory and pool session and what's remaining is the weekend trip to Tioman for the actual open water diving! I hope I won't panic in the water or accidentally do something wrong with my gear. The pool session also made me realise what a hassle diving is! The gear and all that are really no joke.

About the equipment

Basically, Gill Divers provides all the equipment you'll need on a rental basis, but the wetsuits, buoyancy vests and regulators aren't in new condition so some of the gear like the regulators (breathing apparatus) might have really worn out parts like mouth pieces that are grimy or a bit chewed off and stuff lol. Sounds quite gross but oh well it's rental equipment so be prepared!

I also had issues with water entering my mask and I'm considering if I should get my own personal mask!

I think I may also get a full body rash guard because the company only provides us with the short sleeved ones which I don't prefer cos... TAN LINES hahaha. Plus full body ones give more protection!

Generally though, I feel that $600 is a great price to learn a new life skill - Covering everything from theory to pool to the cost of the entire trip!

Even if I don't fall in love with diving and want to go on dive trips all the time, I'm sure I'll enjoy the fact that I CAN dive and will be able to if I happen to visit places with great diving sites such as Fiji or Philippines or even Maldives!!

Can't wait to get fully certified real soon, stay tuned for my Tioman update!