Scuba diving....(part 3)

[Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) is another level in PADI Scuba diving certification]

Dah jenuh kena racun dengan otai2...termakan jugak ler akhirnye!!!  So I decided to take up the AOWD at UiD and they told me that Man Kecik was to be my instructor. I have never met Man Kecik before because the last time (in April) I went to Perhentian, he was not around. He has to attend to some personal matters. So I was really looking forward to meet Man Kecik...my would be instructor...

We went to Perhentian again in late September 2012 as the diving season will be closing soon in October. As usual, Roznee arranged everything including buying the bus ticket and the accommodation. The divers who joined me were Roznee and her daughter Kak Long (the eldest), Lin, Man BD and his daughter Kakak. Our bus departed from Hentian Putra at 10pm and arrived early in Kuala Besut the next morning. Nothing really unusual during the journey other than chatting on whatever came to our minds. Linn told me earlier that a group of people from Iskandar Malaysia, Johor will be joining us at Kuala Besut and one of them is joining me to do AOWD. We met them at Kuala Besut and after a good breakfast we quickly left for Perhentian.

I was introduced to Man Kecik immediately after arriving at the dive centre. The description 'kecik' fits him. Not that he is small, but may be because there are too many 'Mans' around...so you have to pick up a nick name and kecik fits him well...actually he looks the same size as Man BD. I was excited to start the lessons when I found out that Man Kecik has to handle other things in the office and requested Linn to be the instructor....what!!! Linn jadi instructor??? Alah....macam mana nak belajar dengan perempuan cantik nie??? [I did not complained out loud, only in my heart ler... takut malu kalau tak boleh buat...hehe]

Without much fuss...she handed the Adventure in Diving manual to both Ayu and me and asked us to read 5 chapters....banyaknye... [1. Peak Performance Buoyancy 2. Underwater Navigator 3. Wreck diving. 4. Deep Diving and 5. Night Diving]. You have to have at least 5 of these skills before you can get the AOWD certification. Initially I thought 'bole kawtim' dengan Linn....no need to read the thick manual...just listen to her explanation cukup ler.... Oh dear!!! how wrong was I. Not only I have to read the manual chapter by chapter, but she also 'nicely requested' us to answer all the questions in every chapter and she personally autographed at the bottom of every tests... depa nie betoi2 ikut buku ler....tak kasi chance langsung...After a long struggle (because not enough sleep since I was sleeping in the bus last night....hehe...excuse... ler) I managed to complete the first chapter on Peak Performance Buoyancy. We stopped the classroom lesson and quickly gear up to learn the skill underwater....

Before boarding the boat Linn ran through the skills that she will be teaching us things like proper weight, breathing control, streamlining, visualisation and hovering....what hovering again???!!! Ini yang aku lemah nie...true enough I can do other skills as her expectation but not hovering....I have to do it many times....up...down...up...down...even trying to visualise macam jinn pun tak brapa nak jadi jugak....ini yang aku tak suka belajar dengan perempuan (cantik) nie...strict sangat!!! Either what I did was okay or dah lama sangat...she eventually let me off the hook (sebenarnya dia tak puas hati lagi...later when I dived with her in Lombok, in our first dive, the first thing she asked me to do after reaching the bottom was hovering again!!!...lemah aku...nasib baik current kuat...terlepas...hehehe).

The other skills were quite straight forward since I still remember the basic skills from the OWD training earlier and I have dived at Sugar Wreck before, so I already have the experience in wreck diving. The other skill that I still have to do is Night Diving...actually I was afraid to do night diving...takut jaws...tapi yang dok racun aku buat AOWD nie banyak otai2 perempuan...damn!!! malu ler kalau tak buat Night Diving... Ayu my course mate dia tak kisah sangat...pasal kawan dia pun ikut sama during the Night Dive...bole pegang-pegang tangan lagi during the dive...actually it was very dark underwater...the only way to see where other divers were, was by looking at the torchlights they were holding... we were afraid of hitting the stone or corals underwater....so everyone dived close to each other...takut hilang pun sama...then naturally everyone start bumping into each other...langgar sana...langgar sini...boleh dengar bunyi tank langgar...but one thing I really learned was how to identify your team mates/buddy that is by looking at one or two distinctive items that they normally wear such as fins or dive comp...at the end of the dive I realised that it was not so scary after all...tak ada jaws pun....Lega, finally I was a certified AOWD.

Now having more knowledge and experience (in total I have made 15 dives to date), I can better control my buoyancy and breathing. That allows me to stay longer underwater...no more 30 minutes thingy underwater...I can stay up to 65 minutes under water and still have 50 bars to go....hehehe... confident maa! So I decided to have one last fun dive before going back to KL...

I joined the Iskandar Malaysia guys to dive at Batu Capeng...this dive site is quite fun since you have to dive through some boulders...going up and down through the boulders...in certain area the water is calm but at some places you really have to fight the current...

Kamil was the dive master and I was right behind him all the times.... Jimi followed us at the back of the pack... It was fun showing off to the Iskandar guys because some of them were just recently certified and they were having problems controlling buoyancy (and air as well)...At one point, I was really fighting the current and was holding on to some rocks...sort of climbing up and down the rocks....as I was about to hold on to one edge of the rock when suddenly Kamil pushed my hand off. I don't quite understand why he did that but ahh... never mind lah...

Later on the boat going back to the dive centre Kamil asked me..."tadi abang nampak tak stonefish?" What??? What stonefish I asked....then he told me that stonefish is one of the venomous fish and it can really hurts....Kamil saw the stonefish and pushed my hand away...Kamil went on jokingly saying..."kalau abang pegang stonefish tadi.... boleh balik Kuala Besut free...naik ambulance...hehehe"...I am really thankful to Kamil for looking after me...

I realised that I have a lot more to learn about diving...what is safe and what is not... how to handle currents, breathing, buoyancy, weight and many more things like to identify fire corals....and lots of tips... diving with Man BD and gang make me feel safe...both Man and Linn really take care of us....and they are a fun gang to dive with as well...


Bye for now....

Scuba diving...(part 2)

Now.... I am a certified OWD....but tak ada geng nak pergi diving...problem!!!

As I told before, I don't know many people who are into scuba diving. Anyway east coast diving season has not opened yet...relax saja la...ada lesen tapi tak boleh pergi diving...rasa rugi sangat. Only a few of my office mates knew I am a diver...one of them is Bad Tarha. Bad connected me to Roznee...I didn't really know her but sebab gian sangat nak pergi diving, I asked if I can join her diving trip. Bukan semua orang nak bagi outsiders to join their group but Roznee was accommodating. She was grinning when I told her that I would like to join her group...

Diving nie pun macam driving jugak ler...walaupun dah ada lesen tapi kena ada banyak experience baru la pandai...Nak banyak experience kena banyak practice ler...tapi nak pergi diving kena ada geng...pening jugak!!!...Kalau tak ada geng....macam jalan sorang2 kat London...tempat best tapi tak syok!!!...

Once the east coast season open in March 12, Roznee quickly arranged the diving trip together with the Urbanisland Divers or UiD. We went to Perhentian in April where UiD operate its dive centre.

Roznee arranged everything for me...including buying the bus ticket from Hentian Putra to Kuala Besut (in fact she bough the tickets for the whole gang).... I first met Man BD and Nurul Azlifah of UiD at Hentian Putra. There were quite a few other divers as well which I met for the first time like Jijoe, Yusof, Lan, Shikin and Spoket. Roznee came with her daughter Mimi and the last to arrive was Sharina. It was a bit of surprise to find out that she is also into scuba diving...she doesn't look like one in the office...Amin, my friend was to join us in Kuala Besut since he has to visit his project site somewhere in Kenyir. Then, suddenly a whole big group was going for the diving trip. I knew this is going to be fun but deep inside...these are otai compared to me a newbie....baru 5 kali dives...lets see how it goes....

We arrived early morning in Kuala Besut and after breakfast we took the boat to Pantai Teluk Dalam, Pulau Perhentian Besar where UiD operates its' dive centre. We stayed at Samudra Beach Chalet for 3D/2N... and the plan was to do 5 dives....Jimi and Kamil, the dive instructors at UiD were there to receive us...

Immediately after arriving we gear up and raring to go....happy...lama tak kene air masin...hehe...After 2 dives my diving hasn't really improved...breathing, equalisation and buoyancy are still the main problem...I listened to advice and tips from other divers after each dives. Man BD was very supporting...he kept saying everyone goes through the same thing...One thing though, Man was very good at taking photos. Even though he uses a compact camera which he called "kamera tikam" but he is very artistic...I really like his photos.

I like this photo a lot - my laptop screen background

Sugar Wreck was a very interesting place...from the surface one can see a big ship lie underwater....one of the place that I will remember for a long time...immediately after descend, I started coughing and my eyes were really painful...damn!!! I didn't clean my mask before descend...I put some shampoo inside the mask earlier and forgot to clean it...Jimi saw me suffering and came to me. At first I thought I had to abort the dive and signalled to him that I want to ascend...so both of us ascended slowly.... however I began to catch my breath again...once I was comfortable again I signalled to him that I was okay and like to continue diving....so he took me down again...lega....

Sugar Wreck was a beautiful place where you can see lots of fishes...I really like this place...There are many more exciting places in Perhentian like Tokong Laut and Terumbu Tiga but the most important thing was my diving continued to improve...happy!!!...

A few advice that I still remember until today were from Lan who told me to be the first one to backroll and stay calm in the sea whilst waiting for others to gear up in the boat. This will make me calm whilst waiting for others to gear up. Sharina told me to keep my hands in the BCD pockets. I was using my hands to move underwater where one should just use the fins and control the buoyancy to move places. Easier said than done but I continued to improve...However many of them suggested that I took Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) license to further improve my diving....that will be in part 3 hehe...[really interesting learning from Nurul Azlifah or better known as Ipah...opps...Linn actually]

Bye for now...

Scuba diving....(part 1)

WHAT??? Scuba diving!!!

That was the first question popped out from my missus (a.k.a Home Minister) when I told her that I want to do scuba diving. I told her that I really appreciate the beautiful corals and fishes and I have to see them before they become extinct!!! [At the rate of the global warming now, not quite sure how long all these beautiful and delicate things will last] Actually I wanted to take up scuba diving much earlier but due to work and family commitment, I had to defer my dream. Despite her worries about the whole thing, I think she wasn't quite sure what type of fishes I really want to see...and 'curious' whether actually I am interested to see the two legged type or the real fish....hehehe....[Note: Home Minister is not the sun sea and beach type of person. Her skin will turn red like boiled prawn if exposed a bit too long in the sun...just my luck!]

Back then in August 2011, I didn't know a soul who was into scuba diving...so the best guide was the internet. I got a few dive centres name but when I called up no one answered except .... Tristan Low of Marine Monkees. I called my friend Amin Badawi whether he is interested to join and he said ok. Amin is a fanatic in photography...

I took my wife to see Tristan so that he can answers all the questions she might have...Tristan was a pro and very convincing and she was okay after that. I realised that there were lots of paperwork to fill up before Tristan agrees to take me and Amin as his students. The one that I cannot forget is that he insisted that we get a doctor to certify that we are fit to do scuba diving....reason...both of us are above 45. Tak guna betoi!!! apa orang tua tak boleh scuba diving ke? Anyway both of us got the doctor's okay and we started our classroom sessions immediately...Tristan really put us through the whole thing...tengok video....baca buku...jawab soalan....chapter after chapter....semua kena buat....lepas tu dia suruh buat exam pulak...passing mark like 80%. Tak guna betoi!!!...initially I thought it was all fun and easy going...tough!!!

Tapi disebabkan oleh nak dapat PADI Open Water Diver certification, semua tu kira masalah kecik...both of us got through the lessons and the tests....next... the confined water session. Interesting!!!!

Shonny Loh trained us both during the confined water session. That was the first time I assembled the diving gears, looked at the every detail of the equipments that will be my lifeline underwater....but opps...before gearing up... Shonny without mercy asked me to swim 200m in the pool...damn!!! lagi sekali terkena...mana larat nak berenang 200m...nasib baik dia bagi pakai fin...no jokes la these fellas...betoi2 ikut buku...

Semangat tengah kuat!!!...nak dapat OWD license jugak....so apa instructors cakap... ikut saja...the most difficult part was to do hovering...floating like a jinn underwater...up... down...up...down... jenuh nak control breathing...buat sampai steady....finally after 2 days of training we acquired the confined water skills....now we are ready to do the skills in the open water...now really over excited!!!...[pinjam favourite word kawan]  

We have to be quick before the season close in late Oct. We haven't got much time and quickly agreed to do our Open Water in Pulau Tenggol, Terengganu. [Earlier Tristan said it could be in Pulau Sibu somewhere off Mersing.] We drove from KL to Kuala Dungun at night and arrived there in the early morning. Tristan and Shonny and the rest of the team were already there. We had a quick breakfast in the kampong and the boat took us about 45 minutes to reach Pulau Tenggol. Once we reached Pulau Tenggol, I realised that there wasn't much to do there except diving. The only plus thing there was the food was good though....

We had to do 4 Open Water dives before we can get the certification. I had the first taste of the real thing when we did the first open water dive....1. descend wasn't that easy...I don't understand why I couldn't descend fast enough like other people...and 2. equalisation wasn't that easy for me...blowing air inside my head was not working fast enough. The right ear was really painful. I had to go up a bit, equalised before going down...bit by bit...even 1 meter difference was painful. Everything was real slow....descend and equalisation....but once I leveled up... I will be okay....The other problem was foggy mask...but I can just clear it by letting in a bit of water inside the mask and blow it out. Even though we didn't dive very deep...around 12 - 15 meters but the air ran out in less than 45 minutes [Otai can lasts more than 1.5 hours at this depth]. Lots of thing were not quite right la....one of them was hovering [another story in part 3]...

Finally, both Amin and I were certified...I was really pleased with myself that even though I started late, Alhamdulillah... finally I got to swim with the fishes and see the corals...Thanks to both Tristan and Shonny for opening a new window to the world...and my wife for her support and understanding....


Bye for now...

I started jogging again...

Hi all,

It has been quite a while since I last wrote down anything on this blog. To be exact more than one year. Of course there are lots of things happened during the last one year but somehow it doesn't ticked to write down anything then....

Now I am in the writing mood again....hihihi...don't know how long it will last though....

Well, I started jogging again today....bought myself a new running shoes....Brooks ....the young man at the Al-Ikhsan store told me that this is a good running shoes. Actually I have never heard about this brand before.... I am used to Reebok, Adidas and Nike but not.....Brooks. To my surprise it is very comfortable. Well, the shape is a bit odd but it feels very comfortable.

I stopped jogging for almost 6 months. The reason was due to my right foot was aching every morning when I took my first step. I thought the pain will go away after a few weeks, but it did not. I tried homeopathy medicine but it didn't work as well. So I stopped jogging for a bit longer.

The side effect of stopping jogging is my waist line start to increase and I started to feel lethargic. The system is not functioning well...I have to do something URGENT!!!

I picked up the courage to go see a real doctor. [I am really afraid of real doctors - twice I went to see them for simple problems but end up in the operating theatre, I will write later when I feel like it hehehe] She told me I had Plantar Fasciitis. Well, actually is is the most common condition that causes heel pain. Plantar fasciitis is due to irritation and inflammation of the right tissue that forms the arch of the foot. Common symptoms of plantar fasciitis include heel pain with prolonged walking and standing.

The panel doctor that I went to refer me to the foot and ankle specialist at the Pantai Hospital, Dr Khairul Faizi. Dr Khairul explained that this is quite a common problem and his solution is to inject steroid at the inflamed area. I asked him how he intends to inject the medication since I am scared of long needle. I thought he will use some anesthetic before injecting the steroid but he told me it is going to be painful anyway even if he injects the anesthetic first, then might as well inject both in one go....damn!!! it was painful. Tapi kena control macho ler....

But the medicine really worked. I can run again now and I am taking it slowly. After stopping for almost 6 months, I better go slow and build up and peak before Ramadhan.

I planned to do executive screening test (full medical checkup) at IJN sometime in May this year. The last time I did that was in 2011 and everything was okay then. I hope I will get the all okay again this time....so until then, I will do the regular exercise....piously.

Bye for now....