Day 186! Today was a mixed bag of fun, a little stress, and learning. I started my day off with some diving, had a class about diving, and then enjoyed my evening and night out with my friends! It ended up being an all around great day.

I was back on the morning boat this morning so it was a 6:30am wake up today. Today also marked a week straight of diving without a day off and I was definitely feeling the effects.

But nonetheless, I was really excited for my dives this morning because I was fun diving with Chelsea and Till (instructor and fellow DMT).

We boarded Dove Point for a nice 45 minute boat ride to Chumphon! I was super pumped to be heading to this dive site again since I’ve only had the chance to dive here one time.

But I wasn’t expecting this to happen.

Chelsea, Till, and I entered the water and decided to do an underwater swim/descent to the buoy line we wanted to descend on. We started off fine and then out of no where I started having a panicked breathing… just like on my day one of my DMT.

I was able to work my breathing back under control but then a minute later it came right back… I worked it back down but it again came back. So I ended up deciding to end this dive for me.

Since it was a fun dive… I wanted it to be fun. Could I have pushed through for the rest of the dive? Maybe, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Luckily I also have the privilege of diving every day, so one missed dive wasn’t the end of the world for me, especially if it meant feeling safer about the dive.

The frustrating thing is I have no clue what triggered this “panic.” Unlike my first day of my DMT with new fins and a new experience with current, this little bout of anxiety came out of nowhere.

I ended up chatting with my mentor, Chris, and dive manager, Iris, about it later in the day and we set up a plan to help push me a little harder in a safe depth of water to hopefully help me learn how to fully overcome this anxiety or help me figure out what might cause it. The last thing I’d want is to be leading a group and for this to happen.

BUT I’m excited to push myself and work through this. I’ve never really been an anxious person and to find something that makes me feel uncomfortable and pushes me to my limits is something I want to dive in head first on and get better at!

So back to the morning of diving…

I went back to the boat and waited for everyone to return. I was frustrated that it happened, but I was glad I listened to my body.

When everyone did return, they said it wasn’t a great day at Chumphon. Usually this means not many things to see, not the best visibility, etc. So I didn’t end up missing much thankfully!

But just like my first round with anxiety in the deep ocean, I didn’t let it hold me back from jumping back in the water and trying again!

The second dive was at my favorite dive site, White Rock! I asked Chelsea and Till if I could lead the dive and they were more than happy to. I wanted to prove to myself I could keep diving, lead the dive, and also give my mind something else to think about on the dive.

We jumped into the water and had an absolutely amazing 53 minute dive!

Everything was fine… I have no clue what happened the first dive. We descended down easily and made our way around a crystal clear dive site and saw some incredible wildlife!

We immediately saw a very large pufferfish with a remora on it and we saw some mega long face fish and some other huge fish that is a variety of the sweet lip fish. Later on in the dive I spotted a moray eel helping groupers hunt, it was super cool to watch it dive deep into the coral to force the fish out.

We also saw a fairly large blue spotted stingray near the end of our dive too! White Rock is gorgeous and I was not only happy to be diving here, but also happy to prove to my brain that everything is okay under the sea. And an almost hour long dive?! Come on!

Not only did I have my GoPro, but Chelsea had her professional camera. So sometime soon, after she edits them, I’ll have some very cool pictures to share!

We came back to Taco Shack and I had lunch with Kit and Till.

I decided to switch it up from my usual quesadilla and enjoyed 2 large chicken tacos. I will say, they’ve started rivaling my love for the quesadilla.

I then went back to my room for an hour long nap. I woke up very disoriented from it and thought I was late for my class I was going to today. But turns out I just misread the clock.

I got over to the lobby of Taco and this is when I had my chat with Chris and Iris. They were both of course concerned, but also very kind, caring, and helpful. The conversation could have turned into “maybe diving isn’t for you” but instead it was “let’s help you work through this and push you to be a better diver.” I’m really happy with the team I’m on and their commitment to helping us enjoy and grow in this amazing activity.

Kit, Lydia, and I then had our first lecture about the Science of Diving. Chris, our mentor, was teaching us section one today and we’d be working through it section by section to break up the length of the classes.

Today’s lecture was all about gas laws: Boyles Law (which shows how at a constant temperature, pressure and volume are inversely related), Charles Law (if pressure or volume is constant, the other is directly proportional to temperature), Henry’s Law (dealing with the dissolving of a gas and its partial pressures), and Dalton’s Law (which is the partial pressures of the gas solution equal the total pressure of the solution).

All of these principles I actually learned in my engineering degree, but they are all SUPER practical for diving since we’re taking high pressured concentrated gas down into the pressurized depth of the ocean.

It was a nice couple of hours of lecture that included some practice questions to use the formulas for each law. It really felt like I was back in college working on the white boards and solving in class problems.

Chris, Kit, and I decided to go get a beer afterwards… which turned into us going to secret bar and staying until the sun fully set. Eventually Chris’s girlfriend joined us and so did our former DMT (now official DM) Albert.

It was a very lovely number of hours chatting and really getting to know Chris which was nice. We also of course talked about diving and future life plans and random other things. It was a really nice time and it had been a bit since I’d sat down to watch the sunset, which is one of my favorite activities in SE Asia.

While I was at the bar, I snuck off for 20 minutes to FaceTime a high school friend of mine, Adam! He’s getting married in September and I’m unfortunately missing it, so while he was moving his belongings across the country, we chatted and caught up! It was so nice to talk with him and his fiancé, Sam. I’m very excited for them and sad I’ll be missing their wedding. But maybe they’ll honeymoon to Australia 😉

Kit and I then ventured back to Sairee and went to Mama Tam’s for dinner.

I decided to switch it up and got a pad Thai, which they easily have one of the best pad Thai’s on the island.

The night didn’t end there, as Kit and I both had the day off tomorrow. So we went to Taco Shack to enjoy a night of Karaoke.

This was an exceptionally fun night of karaoke with lots of people dancing and singing. But after having a lot of fun, Kit wanted to head to one of the bars around 10:30pm to watch an important football match.

It was the quarterfinals of the Euro football tournament and England was playing Switzerland.

The environment was electric with a ton of English and Swiss supporters. There were definitely more English than Swiss, but the first goal went to Switzerland and there was a sizable uproar in the bar. But England then came back to equalize the score which pushed the game into extra time and then a penalty shootout.

England ended up clinching the shootout and the crowd went nuts! It felt like I was back in Kansas City watching the Super Bowl playoffs at Power and Light.

After the game, we called it a night. It was a long day but a fun one! Even with the first dive of the day being a bit of a mishap, it just gives me something to work on and train harder for!

I’m looking forward to a day off and the getting back on the boat and working on my diving!

– Elie