Basically one line sums it all up on what we did over there. Beginning from the start of each day
Sleep, Eat (breakfast), Dive, Bum (required after each dive), Dive again, Eat (lunch), Bum, Dive, Eat(Teabreak), Wash equipment (for next day), Eat (Dinner), Bum, Slack the evening away, Sleep
Okay, that din end in ONE line. well, considering each dive is only about 50mins long and the required rest between dives is at least an hour (for the depth we went) so there's nothing much else we can do but juz stone on the beach chair and wait for time to pass before we head out for another again.
So here was where we stayed.
Not! Hehe... that was where L.Mist stayed when she was there. One of the higher end (read: expensive) resorts on the island.
Ours looked like this. Hey, but it was not too bad!
It was a relaxing week over on the island. Was something I was looking forward to and kinda needed the break from work once in a while.
My last dive was in May 2004, a good 2 year interval since then. The dive master was looking a little dubious when I said I still remember what to do. The main thing is to breathe slowly and don't panic. And of course the hand signals to your dive buddy(s) since you can't really talk to each other in the water (duh!) So the first dive was to assess our capabilities under the water. The others didn't have much problems as they have been diving recently and frequently. Ok, so i have to admit it took a little while for me to get used to the feeling again. Worse was that my new scuba mask wasn't tight enough and water was seeping in the moment I was in the water. My eyes turned red due to the saltwater and my divemaster thought it was due to the mask being too tight. (He had previously tried to loosen the mask strap in the water when he saw my eyes were bloodshot, hence allowing more water to enter) For a moment then, I did wanted to shoot up to the surface cause my eyes were stinging (which I thought was due to the pressure rather than the saltwater) which resulted in a little panicking and irregular breathing. Then the feeling of being in a confined space set in. More of feeling enclosed in the wetsuit, mask and breathing apparatus than trapped beneath the waters. Because of the seepage, I had to clear my mask often by blowing air into it. Thankfully, I got back the pace of breathing and "think out of my suit/breathing apparatus". That's where I felt im in a vast new environment rather than enclosed in my gear.
Things got better on subsequent dives, when I finally concluded that my mask wasn't tight enough rather than so tight as to cause bloodshot eyes (aka Mask squeeze in scuba terms) Well, i guess mask squeeze is an uncommon sight but still safer to assume the case rather than passed it off as saltwater in the eyes.
Then something interesting happened on the first night when we were there. It was a full moon that night, and Ansley was telling us about the fullmoon parties he experienced during his trip over to Thailand. So happened the week we were at RedangKalong, a large group of middle-aged (fun-loving sun-worshippers) were there as well. Seems easily like a group of 30-40 people. (We concluded it's a gathering for mates of the primary class of '69) Apparently they are all more happening and active than the 5 of us. We dive, rest/slack, eat and dive again and pretty much it. But the class of '69, they snorkelled, sang ktv, played beach games and even had a fancy dress competition and a disco all on the first day. (FYI, disco-ing to the music of canto pop and headbobbing like those teens on ecstsy pills) Those of us who witnessed it concluded that it definitely WAS a Fullmoon party of our own at Redang Island. 难道真的是月亮惹得祸？
The class of '69 was there from tues to thurs morning. And we were kinda sad to see them leave. Thursday night was a little quieter after they were gone. There came another group of young people, seemingly from china, but they were holed up in the KTV room all night and no one danced even though we turned on the music. (We? We are divers, not dancers.)
There's another thing about RedangKalong, the divemasters are reknown for teaching underwater digital photography. So I was glad our divemaster was able to pass us some tips on underwater photography. The techniques even work for general land pictures.
We left the island on friday morning, but had to wait til evening until the coach arrives to bring us back to Singapore. Being a friday, many shops on the mainland were closed. Redangkalong has a branch office just opposite the bus terminal, so lucky for that, we have a place to rest while waiting for our coach to arrive. And then it was another 10hr journey back home.
Underwater pictures taken by Ansley. See more of the trip's pics here.
My last dive was in May 2004, a good 2 year interval since then. The dive master was looking a little dubious when I said I still remember what to do. The main thing is to breathe slowly and don't panic. And of course the hand signals to your dive buddy(s) since you can't really talk to each other in the water (duh!) So the first dive was to assess our capabilities under the water. The others didn't have much problems as they have been diving recently and frequently. Ok, so i have to admit it took a little while for me to get used to the feeling again. Worse was that my new scuba mask wasn't tight enough and water was seeping in the moment I was in the water. My eyes turned red due to the saltwater and my divemaster thought it was due to the mask being too tight. (He had previously tried to loosen the mask strap in the water when he saw my eyes were bloodshot, hence allowing more water to enter) For a moment then, I did wanted to shoot up to the surface cause my eyes were stinging (which I thought was due to the pressure rather than the saltwater) which resulted in a little panicking and irregular breathing. Then the feeling of being in a confined space set in. More of feeling enclosed in the wetsuit, mask and breathing apparatus than trapped beneath the waters. Because of the seepage, I had to clear my mask often by blowing air into it. Thankfully, I got back the pace of breathing and "think out of my suit/breathing apparatus". That's where I felt im in a vast new environment rather than enclosed in my gear.
Things got better on subsequent dives, when I finally concluded that my mask wasn't tight enough rather than so tight as to cause bloodshot eyes (aka Mask squeeze in scuba terms) Well, i guess mask squeeze is an uncommon sight but still safer to assume the case rather than passed it off as saltwater in the eyes.
Then something interesting happened on the first night when we were there. It was a full moon that night, and Ansley was telling us about the fullmoon parties he experienced during his trip over to Thailand. So happened the week we were at RedangKalong, a large group of middle-aged (fun-loving sun-worshippers) were there as well. Seems easily like a group of 30-40 people. (We concluded it's a gathering for mates of the primary class of '69) Apparently they are all more happening and active than the 5 of us. We dive, rest/slack, eat and dive again and pretty much it. But the class of '69, they snorkelled, sang ktv, played beach games and even had a fancy dress competition and a disco all on the first day. (FYI, disco-ing to the music of canto pop and headbobbing like those teens on ecstsy pills) Those of us who witnessed it concluded that it definitely WAS a Fullmoon party of our own at Redang Island. 难道真的是月亮惹得祸？
The class of '69 was there from tues to thurs morning. And we were kinda sad to see them leave. Thursday night was a little quieter after they were gone. There came another group of young people, seemingly from china, but they were holed up in the KTV room all night and no one danced even though we turned on the music. (We? We are divers, not dancers.)
There's another thing about RedangKalong, the divemasters are reknown for teaching underwater digital photography. So I was glad our divemaster was able to pass us some tips on underwater photography. The techniques even work for general land pictures.
We left the island on friday morning, but had to wait til evening until the coach arrives to bring us back to Singapore. Being a friday, many shops on the mainland were closed. Redangkalong has a branch office just opposite the bus terminal, so lucky for that, we have a place to rest while waiting for our coach to arrive. And then it was another 10hr journey back home.
Underwater pictures taken by Ansley. See more of the trip's pics here.
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