Our PADI start course didn't start until 11am so we went for breakfast and I tried to get my head around dive tables. It must have worked because I completed the exam and got top marks! Matt and I did did get competetive for the role of class swot but I won fair and square(ish). Some of the questions really are quite silly though!
We had the usual rigmarole before getting out in the boat and moving from the small boat to the big one was challenging enough because of how rough the sea was.
We were meant to go to 'Twins' and 'Japanese Gardens' but instead did Shark Island (so named because it apparently looks like a shark, not because sharks are usually found there) and White Rock because it was simply too choppy to do the original sites.
My ears were awful! We descended using a boat rope for a guide and my ears were soon agony. When I tried to ascend a little bit to try and equalise it, it just seems to be getting worse and I couldn't stop myself from whimpering. Claire was really helpful and calm but kept trying to lead me away from the rope. I resisted because if I was in that much pain having something to hold on to that I couldn't imagine how bad it would get if I started to freefall. When my head hit a tangle of ropes, I started to realise that things were not quite as they should be but couldn't understand Claire's gestures.
After swimming around on a level for a bit, things improved and I really started to enjoy myself. I loved looking around all of the colourful corals and fish and it was really so beautiful and quite clear.
After our ascent, Claire explained that she was really annoyed because the boat we were using had known we were there but had chucked its rope anyway. I felt lots better knowing that this was why I kept sinking and didn't recognise all of the ropes above me.
Matt, on the other hand, was a bit bloody nosed and frustrated because his nose seems to bleed from the pressure and prevent him from being able to clear his mask properly. Every time I looked at him he always had half a mask full of water like something out of a cartoon. I was obviously concerned because of his contact lenses but couldn't help but giggle a little at the sight of it.
On our second dive my ears were much better and it was much more relaxing exploring the underwater world when I hadn't had the trauma of the pain first. We did a few skills and I learned how to to blow bubble rings. I was instantly quite good at it so that may be the talent that I have waited 31 years to discover! Know I just have to work out how to market it!
It took us a long while to get our land legs back once we were back on the island and we spent most of the evening rocking and reeling. Matt was also suffereing quite badly with his ears and I kept turning round to find him smacking his own tilted head to try and dislodge the water that he was convinced was still in there. Given that I'd seen how much seemed to collect in his nose and stay there until a really inopportune time, I would not have been at all surprised!
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