Week 9, SCUBA Beall

SCUBA BEALL
The ok sign when under water, wearing

my fashionable 7mm wetsuit

Relaxing on a boat in the Bay of Islands
A pirate ship in the distance
Cruising in the Bay of Islands

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to head north for two weeks to make the most of the end of summer and see a bit more of New Zealand. First on my tour - scuba certification at Goat Island Marine Reserve and then Bay of Islands, one of NZ's most visited locales. Well over Easter I had my own rebirth in my own way....

The premise for getting scuba certified was that I thought it would be fun and would allow me to go diving while I'm here in New Zealand, and that its something I wanted to tick off my list....well I was half right. I should also mention that I thought the course would be easy and was just a sort of run through and that during training you'd also get to dive and see some cool stuff. Now that you have the premise....

My first roadblock was that you need a doctor's note saying you're fit to dive. I looked forward to putting my FREE healthcare to use by visiting the doctor. She then refused to sign the form because I had childhood asthma and had a few fainting spells back in high school/college, so I had to see a diving doctor specialist. My Mom was thrilled at this extra vigilence. Well fine, more free healthcare. I will just note here that NZ offers free health insurance to all, even emergency medical for visitors, with a tax base about 1/10th the size of ours. And I'll leave it at that.

So cleared to dive, I made my way to beautiful little Leigh and Goat Island Reserve after a one night stop in Auckland for a meeting (see I'm working) and stayed with another Fulbrighter and shared stories of settling in. I arrived in Leigh, checked into my backpackers and got down to the books, since you have to complete five tests and read about 150 pages before you start the SCUBA course. Two things I'm good at are tests and reading so this was a breeze. In my backpackers was another Chinese girl, Jing, who was also enrolled in the PADI course. I can't imagine taking this course in another language....she soon became my hero for many reasons.

Most of the time the PADI course has two days in the pool to practice skills, but the pool was closed because it was Easter weekend so lucky us (I thought) we got to learn everything in the ocean. It also happened that there was an unusually high swell and current passing through. Now, while I love the ocean and big waves, this didn't prove ideal for a couple reasons.

To describe the course, it basically is four days of doing everything under water that you'd never want to do, and hopefully will never actually have to do while diving = not that fun and you don't see a ton of stuff cause you're focused on doing skills that are stressful (or seem to be). Like remove your air source and simulate having to ascend without air, which includes exhaling the whole way while not ascending too quickly. Or remove your mask and have to put it back on (I'm almost legally blind and don't like removing eyewear ever, hence I sleep in my glasses). Now while these sound simple (and actually are), when underwater at 18 meters all of your instincts tell you you don't want to do these things for all the reasons you can think of - water up your nose, choking at 40 feet down, rising too quickly, having your ears burst, etc. Added to that is carrying about 40lbs in equipment including a weight belt and wearing fins while trying to enter the water on a rocky shore with a 2ft swell trying to knock you over, then swimming for 15 minutes out to where you'll dive. I kept trying to equate it to something, and the closest I can come is imagine carrying all of your ski equipment while wearing your boots, with a foggy mask, and walking 100 yards up an icy hill and then someone telling you to jump off a cliff and that it would be okay and easy.

I'm sure some of you already certified out there found this course a breeze. I did not. Maybe it was the fact that I had to wear a prescription mask which meant I had to wear the mask to walk the 50 meters to the ocean, or maybe its that I'm not good at letting someone else or something else be in control (like my equipment). I had a few minor panic attacks and on the third day after two shore entries and two swims with high swells and strong current, I was ready to quit, until sweet little Jing encouraged me that I shouldn't give up. The instructor also had very little patience and kept saying it should be fun and relaxing, which didn't help because it wasn't and I kept trying to think why was I doing this again, until the last day. It was all worth it the fourth day, when you get to do the boat entry dives, so the equipment becomes less annoying and you realize that you can do all the skills without drowning/choking/bursting your ears. I would actually say the course was more of a lesson in meditation (keeping calm), trusting myself and the equipment, and realizing sometimes you have to do exactly the opposite of what your instincts are telling you. So now I can dive anywhere in the world and I know I can get over myself and do things that I think suck but payoff in the end.

Today I rewarded myself by spending the whole day on a sailboat in the Bay of Islands....I thought of diving the sunken Rainbow Warrior, but cost deterred me. However, I should dive again soon so I don't have to do the whole mind conquering all over again...anyone want to come dive with me??

In other news, my meeting in Auckland was with the dudes in charge of what I actually want to research and they're the only ones who can actually get me in with the iwi (tribes) that I want to work with. The upside is I think I convinced them to let me work with them, the downside is they said they want me in Auckland. I don't want to move and I don't want to move to Auckland! So I need to have a serious think...

Also, in traveling alone you tend to eavesdrop on a lot of conversations unintentionally. My latest info I've gathered from this new habit is that NZers have never heard of the Segway, at least they've been spared a few things. Additionally a new puzzle - The person who makes it doesn't want it, The person who buys it gives it away, and The person who receives it doesn't know they've got it. What is it?