A testing morning
Mat and I both had to get up early today, and with good reason. Today would be our first day at the scuba diving centre, we couldn’t wait! On the way to the centre, we both had a Banh Mi for breakfast. Quite spicy again, but very delicious. Once we got to the scuba diving centre, we were greeted by our mentor and the top dog, Khuong. We had to fill out some medical forms and other application forms, nothing to shout about. It’d be wise not to lie on these forms either, just in the event an accident were to happen.
This was the beginner open water course, and would last for 3 days. The first half of today would be watching some videos which contained the theory side of scuba diving. At the end of each video, we had an end of section test. You have to pass a certain threshold to be able to do the actual scuba diving practical later on. Unsurprisingly, everything went fine with the tests. To be honest, it was pretty informal. Mat and I were able to talk about the answers. There aren’t any exam conditions.
We chose Sailing Divers Club in Nha Trang for our first scuba dive. It’s known that the diving in Vietnam isn’t as good as other places, such as Thailand or the Philippines. However, our instructor, Khuong, and the other instructors were absolutely mint. I couldn’t have imagined getting instructed by someone better, and the whole experience was ace. I’d highly recommend them. Check them out here.
Working up an appetite
At around half 11 we took a break and headed for some lunch. We found a nice café styled restaurant down one of the streets. I had sautéed beef with morning glory (a popular Vietnamese vegetable), which is basically spinach. It was delicious, and very filling. They’re not afraid to give you large portions of food here!
Once we’d finished our lunch, we headed back to the scuba diving centre. We were told we were going to be doing some practical scuba diving in a swimming pool. I thought this was fine, no problem at all. We had to take a taxi to the equipment storage. Whilst we were there, we had to try on wet suits, fins, and the BCD (large inflatable jacket). Once we’d got our sizes sorted, we piled it all into the taxi, and drove to the pool. To be honest, I thought the pool would be dedicated for the scuba diving company. It turned out to be a swimming pool at a tourist resort. So there were kids with inflatable rings in the pool and everything. Looks like we had an audience!
First breath under water
The first test we had to pass, was swimming 200 metres, by any means. I’m quite a confident swimmer, and am used to doing lengths in the local gym pool. I had no problem doing 8 lengths of the pool. Mat isn’t as strong of a swimmer as I am, and we’d done some practicing at the gym pool. I didn’t worry about it at all though, I knew he’d smash it anyway. After this swimming test, we had to float or tread water for 10 minutes without touching the floor. Again, this was simple for both of us. I just laid on the surface of the water, and before I knew it the time was up.
After we passed these tests, we donned all of our scuba gear, this wasn’t as easy as first thought. It’s pretty tight fitting, so wasn’t the easiest thing to get on. After a few minutes, we were both suited and booted. Khuong showed us the basics of how to inflate our gear, what to do in emergencies, cleaning our masks etc. Then, the moment we’d all been waiting for. We put our mouthpieces in, went under the water, and breathed for the first time. It was a very surreal feeling, and I think I’ll remember this forever.
Breathing isn't easy
We had several hours of doing different tricks, and getting used to life under the water in general. First of all were the basics, such as maintaining buoyancy under water, so we didn’t sink or float to the surface. Then we had to clean our masks under water, this wasn’t easy as it sounds. As soon as you take the mask off, your basically blind and you begin to panic. Here’s a tip, don’t try to breathe in through your nose, you’ll just inhale a load of water! Eventually I became confident enough not to panic and die. Basically, we just took everything we did in theory, and did it in practice. It was a proper good experience. Can’t wait to get into the ocean and dive!
Once we’d finished, we took all of our gear off. Again, this isn’t as easy as it sounds! We took all the gear back to the road where the taxi would pick it up. Mat and I walked back to the scuba diving centre, to wait for Khuong. We spoke to the receptionist called Nina, she’s actually a dive master too. Khuong rolled up and told us that apparently there’s going to be a typhoon hitting tomorrow, so the harbour will be closed tomorrow. It seems we may be in Nha Trang a little longer than expected.
Landlubbers
Now we were back on land, we roamed around for a bit and grabbed some food. Once we’d had this, we returned to the pancake stall for a triple chocolate and banana pancake. Absolutely amazing. I don’t know where these pancakes have been all my life! After we’d finished pudding, we picked up some fruit: pineapple, mango, grapes, and Mat tried a dragon fruit too. This fruit will help to stave off the impending scurvy. It was late after this, so we returned back to base and called it a day.
