oceanic feeling

the day I fell in love with scuba diving

After day one of choking on chlorinated pool water, I’m tentatively ready to set sail for my first dive in open water.

Being one of the most popular schools on the island, Big Blue Diving has a big blue two-storey boat that heads out to sea twice a day. Like a well-oiled machine, we pack our dive kits into numbered bags, plonk them into a wheelbarrow, and roll it 200 metres down to the beach. We, along with our kit, then board a small dinghy where a nervous young divemaster briefs the 25+ passengers for the day ahead.

We pull up to the dive boat and clamber aboard. Downstairs is the wet area — benches with circular stands holding tanks line the perimeter. We grab our kit and begin assembling our BCDs. Attach the reg to the tank, connect the reg to the BCD, turn on the air, check the pressure, inflate, deflate, taste the air, check the mask, and assemble the weight belt. I work through the mental checklist, hyper-aware that any silly ‘attention to detail’ mistake could cost me my life. Once complete, our OWC group heads upstairs for snacks and the briefing.

Dive site number one: Sail Rock.

As described on the SSI website…

Sail Rock is a pinnacle that rises to 15 metres above and 40 metres below the surface. It lies between Koh Phangan and Koh Tao. It’s famous for its natural underwater vertical swim-through, or “chimney”, which divers can enter at 6 metres and exit at 18.

Sail Rock is a visiting site for many larger pelagic fish, including chevron barracuda, big schools of mackerel, jacks, trevally, and batfish. You may even encounter a seasonal whale shark.

Whispers had been going around all morning that the ‘big guy’ was spotted the day before at this site. I could see a whale shark — the biggest fish in the ocean — on my first ever dive. Oh my god.

We kit up and watch each group jump into the flat ocean. Then it’s my turn. One big stride, and before I know it, I’m signalling OK and sinking beneath the surface.

The borderline panic that had been bubbling in my stomach pre-dive melts away.

It’s so quiet.

Despite the streaming towers of bubbles soaring up from below, hinting at hundreds of other divers, it was incredibly peaceful. Like London’s rush hour commute, swathes of people all heading in one direction: down. I cling to the rope and follow my fellow newbies as we inch towards the pinnacle. As one of the top dive destinations in the world, these sites get pretty busy, but looking around at all the other subaquatic explorers, I felt at ease. All these people gliding about, pointing at passing schools of fish and gesturing with alien hand signals, they weren’t scared; they were having the time of their lives.

As was I.

My breath found a comfortable rhythm.

In, out. Our instructor pointed at a barracuda. I spotted Nemo hiding in his anemone home. No sign of the big guy, but at this point, I couldn’t care less. This was the reward. This is what I’d been waiting for.

I didn’t expect such an emotional response. Is this what people describe when they perform on stage? Or find God? It soothed all of my senses. Floating freely through the ocean, not needing to speak or listen. The mind focused entirely on the breath, the body’s form, remaining neutral like an astronaut in space.

From that moment on, I knew I’d be hooked.

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