The thing is, I agree with him. This misconception is not really a misconception. Diving IS a dangerous sport. I like a quote I found from a website that asks the same question:

Q: Is diving dangerous?

A: Asking the question is scuba diving dangerous is much like asking if driving an automobile is dangerous. There are times that it is and sometimes, despite every precaution taken, bad things can happen. However, when those precautions are taken, it increases the chances of a safe trip exponentially.

Any sport you take up involve certain risks inherent to the nature of that particular sport. If you play basketball, you may slip on the court and end up with a fractured ankle. If you play rugby, you may get squashed by 5 big players and end up getting your ribs broken. If you’re an equestrian, you may not just injure yourself but even your beloved horse in an accident.

If you ask the still-inexperienced me.. the main dangers most likely will come from a diver’s carelessness. So, never take a dive for granted. Never ignore your instructors’ teachings and directions. Never neglect any part of your equipment. Check and re-check everything before you take that plunge into the beyond.

If you’re a forgetful person (like me), it helps if you bring along a notebook and jot notes down so you can revise them afterward. Ask the senior divers lotsa questions if you want to. I’m not afraid to look like an idiot infront of them, because when it comes to diving.. I am one. There’re so many things for me to know, and due to my full time table during work/study days.. the only time for me to learn about diving is during diving trips.

DANGERS ZONE

According to the Wikianswer page, The British Sub Aquatic Club reported about the dangers to trained SCUBA divers:

• Equipment failure is rarely a fatal danger
• Heart attack is common in older divers with poor cardiovascular condition (my advice.. please stop smoking!)
• Lack of sufficient training/knowledge in this activity can be fatal
• Decompression sickness/bend – when a diver ascends too quickly to the surface. Always check your pressure gauge. Low pressure at a depth of 30 m is 70 psi, while at 20 m it’s 50 psi. Do NOT forget your safety stops!
• Nitrogen narcosis (relates to the above too) – Most divers experience symptoms of nitrogen narcosis at depths greater than 100 ft (30 m), but symptoms may occur in depths as little as 33 ft (10 m). For this reason, use of compressed air deeper than 120 ft (36 m) is not recommended. [source]
• Air embolism

I got scolded more often than I care to remember due to my negligence about safety stop. To avoid this, always dive with an experienced buddy. He/she’ll likely pull your forgetful leg down as you fin obliviously towards the light.

Safety stop for deep dive is different for shallow (5 m from the surface = stop for 3 min). Deep diving is explained in more detail here, so you can find your own category. The one applicable to me is the recreational one, i.e. 30 m. As you  go upwards, stop at 18 m from surface = 2 min followed by another stop 5 m from the surface = 3 min. And inflating the BC while surfacing is a mistake done by students during an open water course, not by beginner divers. Yes, I learnt that the hard way so am happy to still be alive and well.

Have I managed to scare you yet? Now do you understand why I need a long period of mental preparation before every trip? I doubt this state of nervousness will disappear even after my 100th dive. In fact, I don’t want it to. I’ll miss it very much. I look forward to the thrill of being actively involved in a dangerous sport in my otherwise thrill-less, mundane life.

Anyway, if you’re still worried about the level of danger recreational scuba diving activity presents, I’ll give you a link to more extreme sports than this. Makes me feel relatively very safe about diving just reading it. And I doubt I’ll ever be a professional diver, so I don’t have to worry about diving in raw sewage or nuclear juice yet.

Till next post, be safe!

I looked up some lists of the best dive locations in the world and the name of my country hasn’t popped up even once, but there are several mentions of Sipadan.

This is the same case as with tourists knowing about Penang, The Pearl of the Orient, or Langkawi, The Archipelago of 99 Tropical Islands, but having no clue as to them being situated in a country called Malaysia. At times I feel like a citizen of some mythical country that exists within an invisible Thailand-Indonesia-Singapore triangle.

Barracuda Point, South Point, Sipadan Drop Off, Turtle Tavern and Hanging Garden.. all dive sites in Sipadan.. are mentioned in the page of 100 Best Dive Sites of the World as if Sipadan is a country on its own, which it is not. Indonesia and Philippines both wanted it (and who can blame them?) but it was eventually awarded to Malaysia, along with another island I’m not familiar with called Ligitan, in 2002 (source: Sipadan wiki).

And I’m planning to go diving there in June.. yeay! I’ve always wanted to go there for a vacation, but going there to dive is a wish I’ve never dreamed I’ll be able to fulfill. I have other dive locations in my wish list. Wonder when (or whether) I can tick them off in the future.

1. Diving Locations (list obtained from here)

I’ll bold the ones I’ve gone to at least once. I wonder when I’ll ever finish this list with the work/school schedule I have. Hmm.. ma ii ka. I’ll just write it down anyway and we’ll see how it goes.

Malaysia

• Sipadan
  • barracuda point
  • turtle cavern
  • the drop off
  • coral gardens
  • whitetip avenue
  • mid reef
  • turtle patch
  • south point
  • staghorn crest
  • lobster lair
  • hanging gardens
  • west ridge
  • north point

• Mabul
  • froggy lair
  • crocodile avenue
  • eel garden
  • sea venture oil rig

• Kapalai
  • mandarin valley
  • cleaning station
  • ray channel

• Layang Layang
  • gorgonian forest
  • dogtooth lair
  • wreck point
  • the tunnel
  • the runway
  • snapper ledge
  • D wall
  • shark’s cave
  • the valley
  • wrasse strip
  • crack reef
  • navigator lane

• Tunku Abdul Rahman Park
  • pulau gaya
  • pulau manukan pulau sulug

• Labuan Island
  • american wreck
  • australian wreck
  • blue water wreck
  • cement wreck

• Lankayan Island
  • jawfish lair
  • lankayan wreck
  • mosquito wreck
  • jetty wreck

• Perhentian Islands
  • tokong laut
  • pulau rawa
  • batu nisan
  • pasir tani wreck
  • sugar wreck
  • artificial reef
  • gua kambing
  • tanjung besi
  • terumbu tiga
  • rubix cube reef

• Redang Islands
  • pulau ekor tebu
  • chek isa
  • mak cantik
  • pulau lima
  • pulau kerengga
  • pulau ling
  • tanjung tokong
  • terumbu kili

• Tioman Island
  • chebeh island
  • tulai island – Seafan Garden
  • labas island
  • sepoi island
  • tiger reef
  • renggis island
  • soyak island
  • house reef
  • marine park wrecks
  • bahara rocks
  • tomok island

• Tech dive sites
  • seven skies wreck
  • hms repulse wreck

• Tiga Island

• Lang Tengah

• Bidong Islands

• Tenggol Island

• Aur Island

• Langkawi

• Sembilans

Indonesia

• Sumatra
  • pulau weh – SSS house reef, batee meuroron and taman pipa, rubiah seagarden, rubiah island, rubiah utara (north rubiah), rubiah selatan (south rubiah), arus balee (widow’s current), seulako’s drift, batee tokong (temple of the sea), shark plateau, pantee ideu, batee gla (slippery rock), pantee aneuk seuke (canyon), pantee peunateung, lhong angen and pantee gua, limbo gapang, hot springs, sabang wreck, sail rock, twin rock
  • padang
  • riau
• Kalimantan
  • sangalaki
  • kakaban
  • samama
  • maratua
  • derawan
• Java
  • krakatoa
  • ujung kulon
  • pulau seribu
  • karimunjawa

2. Books (list found here)

The Certified Diver’s Handbook: The Complete Guide to Your Own Underwater Adventures by Clay Coleman

This guide will help you create your own diving adventures “on any budget, on any schedule, in waters local or distant, and without the restrictions of group demands.”

DAN Pocket Guide to First Aid for Scuba Diving by Dan Orr and Bill Clendenen

A good book to keep in your dive bag. Easy reference for what to do in emergency situations.

Dive: The Ultimate Guide to 60 of the World’s Top Dive Locations by Monty Halls

A great resource for whenever your going to be trip planning. Includes an in depth rundown of the world’s best dive sites.

Footprint’s Diving the World by Beth Tierney and Shaun Tierney

Complete background on diving locations around the world. General information, location details, gear reviews and trip planning resources.

Lonely Planet Diving and Snorkeling Series

These are dozens of mini-guidebooks for dive areas. Written by various authors, this series from the world’s number one guidebook company covers the top dive and snorkel destinations around the world.

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling for Dummies by John Newman.

You know who you are. All around info for the complete idiot to the expert that needs a refresher.

Scuba Divers Sign Language Manual by James P. Smith

Communication under water is made much easier with sign language and this

World Atlas of Coral Reefs by Mark D. Spalding

The most colorful and unusual aquatic life often is found nearby coral reefs and this atlas lists them all.

Let me list down my biggest gripes:

• Matters of the bucks, or ringgit, as we have it here:

1. It really bugs me when someone tells me that they’ve bought theirs at a discounted price just a few days after I bought mine. Those few extra ringgit is precious to a poor student like me.

I wish I have an ESP that warns me of impending discounted offers by airlines coz I don’t have the patience to browse through the gajillion ‘special offer’ promos I’m randomly pummeled with online.

But I guess there’s no escaping the promo announcements. If you wanna get the best deals, you have to sign up for them. Thanks to the competitive spirit between Malaysian Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia,  us customers are reaping the benefits. Or you can ask your senior diving buddies about their travel plan and go with.

2. An overloaded luggage spells more money at the counter when you check in. MAS and Air Asia have a free baggage allowance limit up to 20kg and 15 kg, respectively. The extra kg can cost you up to RM20.

However, when it comes to extra charges.. an airline can come up with the most banal and disruptive calculations that can take you by surprise at the counter.. like, individual bookings can’t check in together, which means: to each passenger his/her own luggage, i.e. luggage weight-sharing is NOT allowed. This annoying regulation is courtesy of our low-cost carrier champion, AirAsia.

So, make sure you’ve read their terms and conditions before you buy that ticket. Otherwise, you may find yourself sweating at the counter when you’re asked to pay an extra RM300 you can ill-afford. This one is from AirAsia and a download-able one from MAS.

Avoid headache from staring at the long and wordy pages by using Ctrl-F > ‘kg’ to find out the specifics on luggage weights.

• Browsing the flight information board

No matter how many times I fly.. I still can’t master the art of finding the right info board, never mind the right flight, for the airline I’m boarding. I get dizzy just looking at the same logos lining up the monitor and keep forgetting to just get on with finding the flight number so I can move my confused body pronto to the counter.

• At the counter

I know that flying is nothing to some people, but it’s a big deal to me.. especially if it’s to oversea. So I wish the staff at the counter shows kind consideration to bewildered passengers (e.g. moi) and present to us a more cheerful face.

When they give me such a cool, unfriendly, professional face.. I get the urge to turn in the performance of an arrogant, jaded, super-spoiled brat. Either that, or I become this meek, clueless, extra-conscientious kid with lotsa stupid questions to ask (unless there’s a long queue behind me, then I relent a bit). I amuse myself with foolish games, I know.

Just make sure you have all the travel documentations you need, and remember to check the validity of your passport a few months before your traveling date, not at the counter a few moments before you check-in.

• Queuing to board

I know discrimination is a way of life in this world, but I do hate being relegated to that last category to be admitted into the flight. Can’t do anything much about that, so I usually ignore the VIP announcements by doing some completely useless things on my laptop or listening to crappy music on my mp3 player.

• Rushing to get good seats

This was my predicament in AirAsia flights before. But this gripe has disappeared, thanks to the online seat reservation system. I don’t mind the extra RM5 for the pleasure of telling some obnoxious, fierce-looking guy… “Excuse me, mister. That’s my seat.”

• The long walk home

Why must the plane park so far away from the airport?? I wish I could hitch a ride on one of those airport baggage trailers. Think they’ll let me?

Oh, and the seemingly never-ending journey from the entrance gate to the immigration counter to the baggage claim area to the arrival hall… arrrgh! Give me small domestic or STOL airports any day.

Sorry for the month-long absence. Too many things to read + write and so little time.

Good news is, I’ll be going on my 3rd diving trip next week on the 23rd – 25th. Am still mentally preparing myself for it. Thing about me & diving is, the mental preparation usually takes a longer time than the diving activity itself. Usually I come back from these trips thinking… it’s finished??

I didn’t intend to go at first. The diving club I join holds regular diving trips but I was out of bucks due to my recent diving-gear spending and the upcoming trip to Sipadan. However, the cost sounds so reasonable and this few months will be the last I’m spending as a lazy student coz I’ll have to report duty at work next semester. That finally decided it.

Pulau Tenggol, here I come!

1. Casual clothes (…duh)

• You’re not going to be underwater 24-7 so make sure you stock up. Diving trips usually take up to 4-5 days to complete and dives can be 3-4 times per day, depending on your team’s schedule. Chances are you’ll be in a new town and you’ll want to explore the place, so keep that in mind when you pack but don’t go over the top and overload your luggage. One t-shirt can last you for the whole trip if you’re careful not to spill anything permanent on it while you’re out partying and painting the town red. Remember to include a sweater in your list if you suspect the nights will be chilly at the place where you’re going.

2. Diving gear: fins, booties, wetsuit, gloves, BCD, regulator, mask + snorkel, weight belt, swimming suit + cap, other individually important accesories

• This is not a priority for those who still haven’t got their full equipment coz your team leaders will usually ensure that you have all you need. For those who’ve got them, lemme advise you to keep them in one place throughout the year to save you the anguish of last-minute rummaging and turning your house upside down to find that elusive snorkel clip. Also, make sure that the storage place is not a favourite jaunt for your house pets, rats and other unmentionable insects… you don’t want to find out that your favourite mask has rat teeth marks or smell like cat piss (and I don’t mean the marijuana variety) a day before you’re going for a trip.

3. Multipurpose cloth: like a towel or rag or ‘kain batik’ (as we prefer to call it in Malaysia)

• You’ll understand why this is needed when you’ve been holed up for a few days in a beach cottage with sea water perpetually pooling on the wooden floor and no means of drying it coz nobody in her right mind wants to sacrifice any of her precious article of clothing for the comfort of all. That’s just one purpose it can serve. You’ll find its other purposes later on your own.

4. Reading material

• It can get pretty boring for an insomniac who’s used to surfing the internet all night and sleeping at 3am on a regular basis to find herself in a modemless place out in the back country, where some of the most beautiful diving sites are situated in. If you’re like me, it’s pretty useful to bring some books along. Preferably something that can get you to sleep early so you can wake up fresh in the morning (like some diving textbooks full of text and minimal pictures… hehe). Senior divers are used to sleeping late and waking up fresh as a daisy, ready to take on the underwater world the next day. If you’re a newbie like me, I suggest you take things at your own pace first… however slow it is. You’ll find your own footing after going for a few more trips in the future.

5. Log book

• Forget this and you die. According to my instructor anyway, or what I interpreted from his expressionless face when I told him I’ve never had mine signed by him since my first trip. My book is getting rough around the edges courtesy of my senseless attachment to it by bringing it everywhere, including on the boat. One dip in the ocean and my log book turned into soup ingredient. I need to replace it, and fast, before I get murdered: Death By Lecture (haha.. ok, it’s not that funny.. I know)

6. Electronics

• I’m a 21st century gal, ok. So I need my mobile phone, digital camera, mp3 player, laptop, and external hard drive full of my anime goodies. With gadgets comes responsibility, in the form of all manners of chargers, which represent extra baggage count… hmmph. If you travel outside of Malaysia, never never ever forget to bring your trusty international adapter with you. And I would recommend bringing extension plug, the more sockets the better. That way you don’t have to camp for hours near the lone power point, waiting in queue to charge your mobile.

7. Travel documents

• I cannot stress enough the importance of checking and re-checking your travel documents. Make sure they’re all there: flight ticket, identification card, yada yada yada… and if you’re traveling out of Malaysia – passport, foreign currency, etc. On the topic of foreign currency, please make time to change it at a place that offers a good rate. And believe me, that place ain’t the airport. You’ll lose money! But hey, if you don’t mind losing “just a bit o’ money”, it’s up to you. It’s your money.
• One important reminder regarding your passport: Make sure that the validity of your passport is not even a day less than 6 months, or you’d be the only one left on the tarmac staring at your diver buddies’ backs while they wave you goodbye. In some countries, like Indonesia, you’ll flat-out be denied entry. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

8. Toiletteries

• This deserves a number of its own, owing to the many times I forgot my toothbrush and deodorant. I can stand forgetting my facial cleanser and shampoo, but not the essentials. I guess I’ve been living in the city for too long. Anyway, other items that may fit the bill are sunblock lotion (make it the 75, at least) and cotton bud. Oh, and aloe vera/gamat cream or ointment for minor injuries. Errrm, don’t know about you but dead corals + gloveless newbie diver + high current = shredded fingers/palms with me. That, and unsuitable fins (I still have the scars… wanna see?)

9. Random seemingly useless stuff that suddenly become important when you’re in a recreational resort with everything overpriced and above your budget

• Sling/carrier bag, sandal, stationaries + note books, 3 in 1 drink packets, instant noodles, headphone, etc.

10. This item in the list applies to muslim divers

• Prayer mat – get one with a plastic layer at the back that can fold like a bag coz you may need to spread it on all manners of surfaces and it’s easier to wash later on.
• ‘Telekung’ or any type of clean clothes you usually use to pray – I suggest you include baggy pants in the list, just in case you have to pray in a less than calm environment. 
• Prayer compass – test it in your own own house where you know the direction you’re facing during prayer before you go into the wild and find out you don’t know how it works ^^;
• Prayer schedule – Print out and bring with you the prayer schedule of the locality you’re gonna be in. I find the e-Solat site most useful. You can get a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly schedule for a place in Malaysia or any other country in the world
• 1-litre size plastic bottle – I was in this situation where the cottage we were in regulated our water supply so there were times when I couldn’t perform the ablution in the comfort of the cottage bathroom. I solved the problem by stocking up on water coz I couldn’t face going down to the edge of the ocean in the early morning darkness every day. Too creepy, dude. All that calm, dark ocean surface made me think of Godzilla.
• Digital al-quran – It’s difficult to bring a regular printed one with you, I know. Since I always bring my laptop to my diving trips, I decided to grab the one my husband has on his comp and save it to mine.. ha! I’m such a grabber. This is it, if you wanna grab too. Grab it! Grab it! Pretty neat, huh? 

That’s it! Oh… and don’t forget your wallet! WALLET!! Put that in blinking florescent red font in your list.

I MUST NOT FORGET MY WALLET. I MUST NOT FORGET MY WALLET. I MUST NOT FORGET MY WALLET.

Wetsuits are designed to protect divers from the cold underwater environment because heat is absorbed by water 25% faster than by air. I’ve dived with friends who wore a skimpy miniskirt/short and I have no idea how they could stand being frozen to death. I wore a wetsuit and by the time we surfaced 30 minutes later, I felt like I just got out of an ice box.

However, I do have an aversion to wearing tight clothes… even one that can save my life. So I settled the problem by wearing a t-shirt and a bermuda on top of my wetsuit. Yes, you are allowed to wear a t-shirt and a bermuda when diving. The ocean is not a swimming pool with a guard to tell you what you can or can’t wear.

You can wear any article of clothing and as many layers as you want under and over your wetsuit as long as they don’t hamper your movement when you’re underwater. Except a dress maybe, coz it can hurt underwater creatures if it gets stuck in a coral or if it traps some unfortunate fishes while you’re flapping around oblivious to your surrounding. Take care of the underwater lives even if you don’t care about your own, please.

A senior diver hinted that I have a tendency to overdress when diving, but what can I say? I love my fashion sense and I’m keeping my style.

‘You need a license to dive?’… I remember asking this question silently to myself as the conversation continued around me. What a concept, I thought. Being unsocial and poor, of course I did not ask her later how she obtained it. I just assumed that there was no way I could get this ‘diving license’ with my limited budget. I was also one of those students who think that studying means hitting the books to the detriment of all out-of-school activities… and I had an exam to ace. So that was that.

But through the years I have never forgotten the ‘diving license’ story despite sitting on my arse and not doing anything whatsoever about it. In my university years, I moved in a circle where extreme sports and women just don’t mix. I was a spineless bookworm who didn’t feel like fighting societal conventions because it’s tiresomely tedious to get into arguments with people, so I never told any of my then friends that I would love to roller blade/skate, skydive, wall climb, bungee jump, parachute, horse ride, play basketball, and yes… dive some day. When I have time. And money. And a spine.