Day 158! Today’s the big day! It’s time to get back into the water. I’ll let the blog post speak for itself, but I’m still obsessed with this activity! I’m really looking forward to how this course goes and become certified in even more aspects of diving!

We’re back to diving!

I woke up this morning with a pep to my step and I got up definitely earlier than I needed to. But I was very excited for the day.

I made my way over to the Taco Shack lobby before 10am and ordered myself a muesli bowl as I waited for other divers and travelers to show up.

Another reason why I wanted to get out of my room early is the AC. I love it… but it also causes stuffiness, dry throat, etc. Not the best things to have when going diving.

But there was a remedy to this! The hostel dog Taco!

He was being super friendly this morning and made it a treat to sit outside in the humid heat.

I then got a text from my friend Immy that she was ready to be picked up. I had completely forgotten that I had agreed to give her a ride to her motorbike the night before. So I quickly hopped on my motorbike and made my way to echo hostel. After snagging her we made our way on a 10 minute drive to a beach I had never been to, but just for a quick stop as she hopped on her motorbike and we made our way back to Taco Shack.

I played some pool and enjoyed a free lunch while we waited for the taxi to come and take us to the pier.

Originally I was supposed to have my original diving instructor, Franco, for my advanced as well. But the schedule is always changing and he unfortunately got put with a group of open water divers. So instead, Emma, Immy, and I were placed with Teo, who’s from Chile!

I was a little disappointed at first, but I quickly realized that having a new instructor was probably a great thing. I’d get a new perspective on diving and no bias from my open water!

We hopped on the second taxi to the pier and got onto a very packed boat! We were all super stoked and ready to take on the day.

Our first stop was Mango Bay! This was a familiar spot for us as we dove here twice on our open water to do our skills and a bit of diving. Today though was all skills at the bay.

Our first dive focused on buoyancy. Teo taught us how to maintain proper buoyancy, move with only our fins, frog kicking, and more. We also had to repeat skills from our open water diving while floating horizontal, which we all smashed of course. The new skills were really tricky and in the end we got them down but at some points it was pretty frustrating when the skills weren’t clicking as easily as during the open water.

For the buoyancy training, we also brought down a square made out of PVC pipes. This was to simulate swimming through gaps and to make sure we were maintaining proper buoyancy.

At first we just swam through it… then we swam into it and then flipped onto our backs to swim backwards through it. Then we did a figure eight, weaving in and out of the square… and then out of nowhere Teo instructs us to swim up, over down, and through the square upside down.

This was the most challenging one yet and definitely was a bit complicated for our brains… all sense of direction was lost on the first attempt but on the second try I was able to do it!

The dive last 47 minutes and I felt like I had a better grasp on my breathing technique, even with focusing on the new skills.

The water today was super clear too and you could see straight through the beautiful blue water all the way to the ocean floor below!

We then sat on the top deck of the boat, discussing the dive, eating fruit, and planning our next dive.

Our second dive of the day was at Twin Pinnacle. This was a new dive site for me! Which made it perfect for our next skill dive of the day, navigation.

On this dive we were learning how to use a self drawn map and compass to lead us on our dive. Before the dive we all helped out drawing our little map and Teo taught us how to navigate underwater using our compass, landmarks, and beautiful map.

We descended down into the depths of the ocean, making our way down to 14.2 meters. Over the course of this 41 minute dive, we took turns leading using the knowledge we just learned. When it was my turn to lead, I had a pretty straight path to follow… but somehow managed to wind us up a couple meters off to the right of our destination, but we got there in the end!

After we all had a go, Teo took back over and we enjoyed the rest of the dive moseying around beautiful coral and spotting some spectacular fish! I even pointed out a white eyed eel that was messing with a pretty large grouper. Teo also spotted a spotted stingray that was sleeping under some coral.

I felt like, on this dive as well, that I used my oxygen much better than before. At 20 minutes in I’d be well below 100 bar but on this one I was pretty much on 100 around that time. Improving every dive! I also made a conscious effort to use all the skills we learned while diving around.

We wrapped up our dive and made our way back up to the surface, making a safety stop at the 5 meter mark to release as much of the nitrogen in our body as possible. Then we hopped back onto the boat and waited for the other divers to come back.

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed diving with friends. Immy, Emma, and I all struggled with different things. But even so, it was a blast to dive together. It made the tone much more light hearted and we were able to have some fun poking fun at each other or cheering each other on. I’m looking forward to having plenty more dives with friends!

Unfortunately, a storm was rolling in, which meant our night dive for tonight was going to be postponed till tomorrow. But at least we got two great dives in today!

We made our way back to the pier and then the hostel. I was already really hungry and after I showered, I met back up with Emma to go get dinner!

We went to Mama Tam’s (I know, I had it for dinner yesterday… but it’s soooo good) and I got a pad Thai and a mango smoothie. It was a perfect way to celebrate the successful dives!

While we were eating, the restaurant staff asked if it’d be okay if some people also sat at the table with us. We of course said yes and three very nice travelers from England sat with us! We ended up chatting with them for the rest of the meal. It was very much an “up my alley” moment… maybe not as much as letting someone sleep in the same bed as me in Vietnam.

I made my way back to the hostel after dinner. Tonight was karaoke night and I was just hanging around mingling and playing pool as I waited for people to start showing up.

We ended up having a full lobby and a lot of people who were excited to sing karaoke! At first I was able to get maybe 10 songs requested to sing, but halfway through these songs, people scrambling up to the bar to write down more! It’s honestly one of my favorite things to see. When people finally decide to not care what other people will think about them, it warms my heart. Karaoke is one of the best ways to get over this fear!

I then spent the rest of the night singing along with people who wanted a second singer, singing my own songs, and cheering people on while dancing my heart out.

I also decided to get a “snack.”

Diving made me work up an appetite! I devoured my quesadilla and then around 10pm I snuck off to my room to get an early night sleep for my morning dive tomorrow. Karaoke was still going on, but we were to a point where they really didn’t need me to facilitate any more.

Today was another incredible day of diving. Every time I jump in, I’m getting more and more into the sport and appreciating it more and more. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s dives hold in store for us and to continue advancing my diving skills!

– Elie