into the blue
30 april
it's threatening rain today. the sky is filled with low-lying dark clouds, the air is thick and sweet. bliss.
i've been waking up at around 4:30 or 5 the past few days for some reason. maybe it's anticipation? restlessness? no idea. though waking up before sunrise has allowed me to try to reestablish my morning meditation schedule. plus swimming in the warm sea water under the stars before anyone else is up is just an awesome experience.
a funny thing happened on the way to this part of the world... chris, the friend of mine who introduced me to this meditation practice (as well as being my first flash/actionscript tutor), happened to be on the same flight with me all the way to singapore. he, his wife madhavi, their 2 month old son miles and about 15 others from the meditation group were on their way to india for a birthday celebration of one of their masters, i think. turns out they'll all be on the same flight with me when (if) i return home. there are no coincidences.
i became a certified open water diver last night (*fanfare*). i completed my deep water dive training course this morning at a place called three palms. dana, once again, was my instructor. it's nice to be able to have the same instructor for both courses. i'm familiar with her teaching style - and her thick austrian accent - and she's familiar with my knowledge base and my habits. i had to do a test during this course - both at the water surface and at depth - where you have to write your name and pick out in sequence a bunch of numbers that are scrambled on a chart. sounds easy but apparently at depths deeper than 20 meters the excess nitrogen in your bloodstream can cause you to go a little goofy. they call it nitrogen narcosis. you're basically high on nitrogen and this intoxication can cause all sorts of judgement errors - like not seeing numbers on a chart when they're there.
three palms was amazing. it's an enormous wall of coral that site about 2 meters below the surface and descends down to about 42 meters, then a small sandy shelf and then it just drops off into the deep blue. simply breathtaking. there were lots of big creatures down there today. a couple of spotted eagle rays, a couple of white tipped sharks trolling the bottom, a big black tipped reef shark accompanied by 5 or 6 tuna basically 2 meters below the surface, a huge napoleon wrasse, 2 different kinds of lion fish, a sea turtle, 2 big spotted moray eels, a couple of lobsters, the usual masses of triggers, parrotfish, moorish idols...
anyhow, i basically passed with flying colors. only took me 30 seconds more to do the test at 30m than it did at surface level. and eventhough it seemed to me like i was breathing harder, apparently i only used about half of the amount of air that most others use while taking the test at that depth which means that i was relaxed. to be honest, nothing feels more normal and natural now than being underwater or on a boat on my way to/from being underwater. strange that something so foreign only a week ago could now feel so commonplace - as common as getting up in the morning and brushing my teeth. and while my normal reaction to the commonplace is generally not to think about it and even to take it for granted, i'm acutely aware of how unique these opportunities are and how privileged i am. a completely different sensation altogether. commonplace yet unique. the challenge, and it's a big challenge, is to see if i can carry this with me into everyday life.
i'm continuing my training by picking up a nitrox certification. nitrox is a richer oxygen/nitrogen mixture. regular air is about 21%/78% oxygen/nitrogen. nitrox is 30-40% oxygen. this allows you to dive longer without being subject to prolonged decompression stops before you surface. anything that will allow me to stay under longer is ok by me. another book, another test, another certification.
went to the spa today and had a massage. a special ayurvedic (ancient indian healing arts tradition) treatment called shantiram which is a full body massage done with hands and feet. it was interesting but as a massage, only... eh. i think it was more the odd sensation of having a small south indian woman pour gallons of strange smelling oil all over my mostly naked body and then massage me neck to toe with her feet that threw me off. don't know what this says about any hangups i might have but you get the picture. they had me wear this hysterical spa underwear thing made of paper with an elastic waist - basically a speedo diaper or maybe an inedible version of edible undies. and no there are no nor will there ever be any pictures. the oddity of wearing it will be burned into my memory for a lifetime. no need for any other reminder.
looks like the dive at hammerhead point tomorrow isn't going to happen. i was the only one to sign up so they have to cancel it. kinda disappointing but it gives me a reason to come back here (like i need any more reasons). in fact, i already have an itinerary in mind for next february/march. what can i say? i'm a planner. so instead i'm doing 2 more dives - this time using nitrox. one new place and one i've been to before. looks to be some interesting diving. it'll be especially nice to not have the usual time constraints and be able to enjoy the dive a bit longer. more time to soak everything in and hopefully fire off more photos.
i can't believe i my time here is almost up. where did that week go?
it's threatening rain today. the sky is filled with low-lying dark clouds, the air is thick and sweet. bliss.
i've been waking up at around 4:30 or 5 the past few days for some reason. maybe it's anticipation? restlessness? no idea. though waking up before sunrise has allowed me to try to reestablish my morning meditation schedule. plus swimming in the warm sea water under the stars before anyone else is up is just an awesome experience.
a funny thing happened on the way to this part of the world... chris, the friend of mine who introduced me to this meditation practice (as well as being my first flash/actionscript tutor), happened to be on the same flight with me all the way to singapore. he, his wife madhavi, their 2 month old son miles and about 15 others from the meditation group were on their way to india for a birthday celebration of one of their masters, i think. turns out they'll all be on the same flight with me when (if) i return home. there are no coincidences.
i became a certified open water diver last night (*fanfare*). i completed my deep water dive training course this morning at a place called three palms. dana, once again, was my instructor. it's nice to be able to have the same instructor for both courses. i'm familiar with her teaching style - and her thick austrian accent - and she's familiar with my knowledge base and my habits. i had to do a test during this course - both at the water surface and at depth - where you have to write your name and pick out in sequence a bunch of numbers that are scrambled on a chart. sounds easy but apparently at depths deeper than 20 meters the excess nitrogen in your bloodstream can cause you to go a little goofy. they call it nitrogen narcosis. you're basically high on nitrogen and this intoxication can cause all sorts of judgement errors - like not seeing numbers on a chart when they're there.
three palms was amazing. it's an enormous wall of coral that site about 2 meters below the surface and descends down to about 42 meters, then a small sandy shelf and then it just drops off into the deep blue. simply breathtaking. there were lots of big creatures down there today. a couple of spotted eagle rays, a couple of white tipped sharks trolling the bottom, a big black tipped reef shark accompanied by 5 or 6 tuna basically 2 meters below the surface, a huge napoleon wrasse, 2 different kinds of lion fish, a sea turtle, 2 big spotted moray eels, a couple of lobsters, the usual masses of triggers, parrotfish, moorish idols...
anyhow, i basically passed with flying colors. only took me 30 seconds more to do the test at 30m than it did at surface level. and eventhough it seemed to me like i was breathing harder, apparently i only used about half of the amount of air that most others use while taking the test at that depth which means that i was relaxed. to be honest, nothing feels more normal and natural now than being underwater or on a boat on my way to/from being underwater. strange that something so foreign only a week ago could now feel so commonplace - as common as getting up in the morning and brushing my teeth. and while my normal reaction to the commonplace is generally not to think about it and even to take it for granted, i'm acutely aware of how unique these opportunities are and how privileged i am. a completely different sensation altogether. commonplace yet unique. the challenge, and it's a big challenge, is to see if i can carry this with me into everyday life.
i'm continuing my training by picking up a nitrox certification. nitrox is a richer oxygen/nitrogen mixture. regular air is about 21%/78% oxygen/nitrogen. nitrox is 30-40% oxygen. this allows you to dive longer without being subject to prolonged decompression stops before you surface. anything that will allow me to stay under longer is ok by me. another book, another test, another certification.
went to the spa today and had a massage. a special ayurvedic (ancient indian healing arts tradition) treatment called shantiram which is a full body massage done with hands and feet. it was interesting but as a massage, only... eh. i think it was more the odd sensation of having a small south indian woman pour gallons of strange smelling oil all over my mostly naked body and then massage me neck to toe with her feet that threw me off. don't know what this says about any hangups i might have but you get the picture. they had me wear this hysterical spa underwear thing made of paper with an elastic waist - basically a speedo diaper or maybe an inedible version of edible undies. and no there are no nor will there ever be any pictures. the oddity of wearing it will be burned into my memory for a lifetime. no need for any other reminder.
looks like the dive at hammerhead point tomorrow isn't going to happen. i was the only one to sign up so they have to cancel it. kinda disappointing but it gives me a reason to come back here (like i need any more reasons). in fact, i already have an itinerary in mind for next february/march. what can i say? i'm a planner. so instead i'm doing 2 more dives - this time using nitrox. one new place and one i've been to before. looks to be some interesting diving. it'll be especially nice to not have the usual time constraints and be able to enjoy the dive a bit longer. more time to soak everything in and hopefully fire off more photos.
i can't believe i my time here is almost up. where did that week go?
posted by michael | 5:41 PM
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