Well, after learning the entry point now its time to talk about (or rather write about) what we do underwater...
Basically, we learn how to dive and control our buoyancy. But we are also taught wat to do in case some unfortunate events take place in the water. For example:
When someone accidentally kick your mask away from your face. First thing is to not panic....your buddy will most probably help you look for your mask and return it to you. Therefore, we were made to take out our masks underwater and hold it in our hand...but let me tell you, once you take off the mask you will start to panic..even tho its very shallow in the pool once the cold water hit your face,a sense of dread will follow. Therefore, we learned how to keep calm and breathe normall inhaling and exhaling through your mouth...afterall you still have your regulator. ut without the mask your nose is exposed to the stream of bubbles coming out from you through exhalation. For the first few times some of us managed to breathe without our mask while others choke when the bubbles accidentally enter the nose. Our instructor made us hold our mask in our hands for roughly 30sec. Then we wore back our masks which of course were filled with water. but before that we already learned how to clear our masks underwater.
Next is what happens when someone kicks the regulator our from your mouth and away from you? Well, this trick to recover the regulator is rather simple....there are two ways to do it but the more common one is to tilt our body to the right,swing out right hand to the back and then to the front again. The regulator will be retrieved.
What happens if you run out of air when you are 12m or more underwater? This is where your buddy comes in handy. Signal your buddy and give him the out-of-air signal which is like a gesture made with your hand slicing your throat. Your buddy will give his consent with an OK hand signal. You will move to his right where an alternate air source or sometimes known as the octopus. Take it and breathe from it. this means you will be sharing air with your buddy. Then by linking your hands, reach for the surface and ascend slowly. There are others methods to use if you run out of air but all depends on the condition whether it is an emergency or not.
So roughly these are what happens of accidents like that happen underwater. Other than that what we also learnt are the hand signals and how to dive correctly so that you can minimise energy usage and not harm wild aquatic life. Kinda cool lar learning scuba diving...hehe especially when you go with friends.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Prawn Fishing!
Alrighty, i've been fishing b4 but never prawn fishing...anyway Alvin took my to somewhere in Gelugot area for that. We paid RM10 for an hour...where they provide us with rods and bait...after that you can catch as many prawns and you can take them all home. They were fresh water prawns and they have claws like crab only longer, skinnier and smaller of course.
Alright so we cast the rod waited for 10 mins and Alvin caught the first one...we cant actually feel the tug on the rod unlike fishing but there is a float which was used as an indicator. It will bob on the surface of the water and if it suddenly submerge means someone's taking the bait...
i know i know watching a tiny float might souund all too boring but the excitement when u catch a prawn makes it all woth while. We waited another 15 mins but still not a single one....then I got a little frustrated and impatient. I told Alvin ," Come change place with me...your feng shui is chasing the prawn away.....blocking my luck...and what do you know...2 mins after that i caught one! A beauty....and then after another 5 mins I caught another one....how's that for instinct I ask you? Lolz....Alvin swears its a fluke and I told him fine change back....and yea....20 mins without a prawn. He got up obediently changed back his place like I told him too and waited.
And Thank God.....after jiggling the rod a little we caught another one.....haha.....i smirked right to his face while he pretends that unhooking the prawn needs 100% attention and ignores me. Oh yeah, those prawns can sorta pinch you with the claws tho they are small it hurts just a tiny bit i am sure but Alvin being a guy well.....you know...
Anyway I was beaming ear to ear. Alright ppl, I know you're thinking just prawns lar wei...no need so happy kua...but really I was thrilled...and like a 6 year old kid I proudly showed my paretns and my grandparents and my sister the prawns which were still alive when i got back....obviously I relate the trip to them which oft course I made it slightly more dramatic by adding the scene where I wrestle with the prawns...how the rod almost snap.....til my dad shut me up by saying.... those shrimps cant bend the rod lah. SHRIMPS!!!!!!!! I was indignant.prawns..the ones you get in Lorong Selamat fried Koay teow at RM 5.50.
Well, thats my tale on last night. Hope you enjoyed reading.
Alright so we cast the rod waited for 10 mins and Alvin caught the first one...we cant actually feel the tug on the rod unlike fishing but there is a float which was used as an indicator. It will bob on the surface of the water and if it suddenly submerge means someone's taking the bait...
i know i know watching a tiny float might souund all too boring but the excitement when u catch a prawn makes it all woth while. We waited another 15 mins but still not a single one....then I got a little frustrated and impatient. I told Alvin ," Come change place with me...your feng shui is chasing the prawn away.....blocking my luck...and what do you know...2 mins after that i caught one! A beauty....and then after another 5 mins I caught another one....how's that for instinct I ask you? Lolz....Alvin swears its a fluke and I told him fine change back....and yea....20 mins without a prawn. He got up obediently changed back his place like I told him too and waited.
And Thank God.....after jiggling the rod a little we caught another one.....haha.....i smirked right to his face while he pretends that unhooking the prawn needs 100% attention and ignores me. Oh yeah, those prawns can sorta pinch you with the claws tho they are small it hurts just a tiny bit i am sure but Alvin being a guy well.....you know...
Anyway I was beaming ear to ear. Alright ppl, I know you're thinking just prawns lar wei...no need so happy kua...but really I was thrilled...and like a 6 year old kid I proudly showed my paretns and my grandparents and my sister the prawns which were still alive when i got back....obviously I relate the trip to them which oft course I made it slightly more dramatic by adding the scene where I wrestle with the prawns...how the rod almost snap.....til my dad shut me up by saying.... those shrimps cant bend the rod lah. SHRIMPS!!!!!!!! I was indignant.prawns..the ones you get in Lorong Selamat fried Koay teow at RM 5.50.
Well, thats my tale on last night. Hope you enjoyed reading.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Scuba Diving
Last month I started doing some confined water training in a golf club in Bukit Jambul. It was the first time I actually use a gas tank to breathe air from.LEts start from the beginning shall we?
It started with me driving Mei Chen and i up to BJ. I was looking forward to my very first session in the water...heck I even went out to Gurney to buy a 2 piece swimsuit. When i got there I was told to enter a small room near the pool where all the diving equipment were being kept in there. Because of my near-to-microscopic size my instructor had a hard time gearing me up....since practically everything I need has to be in the SS or S category. I was given a wet suit whish fits me ok but not as snug as i would like it to be.The sleeves were til my elbow and the suit covers from my neck til my thighs. Then I went to choose a mask from a basket...we were already trained on how to find one that fits that is through a simple method of suck and fit. Where you hold the mask to ur face,sniff and hold ur breath and wriggle ur head fr side to side. If the mask does not fall off,u r good to go.
After that, I went to pick a pair of flippers or fins.....got a pair that fits me...the smallest pair there.I grabbed my weight and head outside of the room to a bench to place my stuff. Then I went back inside to find a BCD (buoyancy control device) that would allow me to float on water. Then i had to drag my gas tank to the bench so that I can set up my diving gear. Its a misconception when ppl call the gas tank an xygen tank.Its not full of oxygen but actually noml air that we breathe which compose mainly of nitrogen ad oxygen.
When we have collected all the equipment needed, we went to defog our masks. Which is simply rubbing a type of lubricant on the eyepiece and rinsing off with water.
There are many steps to follow when setting up the gear...first we have to connect the BCD to the tank which is a little bit difficult at first.The proceudre is somewhat hard to write down here but if u r interested come and see me and I'll be glad to show you how.then the regulator piece is fixed onto the tank and BCD. The regulator piece consists of 2 stages where the first stage connects from the regulator and the low pressure inflator to the gas tank. The second stage is connected to the BCD. Each diver will have a buddy or a partner. On that particular day, Su Yee was my buddy. Since the gas tank was rather heavy, he suggested I help him suit up first so that he can hold my tank while I adjust my gear. Therefore, as we were taught, I placed one hand below the gas cylinder and on the count of three, helped him lift it up for him to wear his BCD.After clipping the buckles on it was his turn to assist me.
we heaved the BCD onto my back and I fasten the buckles...OMG! Its heavier than i expect...
When we were all ready, we were told to the predive checkup..to put it in short, BWRAF or Blue Whales Really Are Fun where
B - BCD
W- weights
R -regulator
A -airway,gauge metre
F-Fins
we take turns breathing tru each others alternate air source to make sure they are working and are free fr contaminated air. The alternate air source of octopus as itis fondly called is another piece of regulator attached to a diver's chest in case ur buddy ran out of air and needs to share air with you.
We were taught how to enter the water. There are 4 different ways but the one most commonly used is the Big Straddle. It is where u stand near the water edge and take a big step forward with left hand holding the low pressure inflator hose and the right holding ur mask. Well, we were given time to swim with our gear. It was quite hard to breathe throught the regulator at first cause u sorta like have to suck so air can fill ur lungs....but after an hour or so we got quite used to it.
I thinks this is enough for now..i will write more about my lessons some other day. For now, ciao!
It started with me driving Mei Chen and i up to BJ. I was looking forward to my very first session in the water...heck I even went out to Gurney to buy a 2 piece swimsuit. When i got there I was told to enter a small room near the pool where all the diving equipment were being kept in there. Because of my near-to-microscopic size my instructor had a hard time gearing me up....since practically everything I need has to be in the SS or S category. I was given a wet suit whish fits me ok but not as snug as i would like it to be.The sleeves were til my elbow and the suit covers from my neck til my thighs. Then I went to choose a mask from a basket...we were already trained on how to find one that fits that is through a simple method of suck and fit. Where you hold the mask to ur face,sniff and hold ur breath and wriggle ur head fr side to side. If the mask does not fall off,u r good to go.
After that, I went to pick a pair of flippers or fins.....got a pair that fits me...the smallest pair there.I grabbed my weight and head outside of the room to a bench to place my stuff. Then I went back inside to find a BCD (buoyancy control device) that would allow me to float on water. Then i had to drag my gas tank to the bench so that I can set up my diving gear. Its a misconception when ppl call the gas tank an xygen tank.Its not full of oxygen but actually noml air that we breathe which compose mainly of nitrogen ad oxygen.
When we have collected all the equipment needed, we went to defog our masks. Which is simply rubbing a type of lubricant on the eyepiece and rinsing off with water.
There are many steps to follow when setting up the gear...first we have to connect the BCD to the tank which is a little bit difficult at first.The proceudre is somewhat hard to write down here but if u r interested come and see me and I'll be glad to show you how.then the regulator piece is fixed onto the tank and BCD. The regulator piece consists of 2 stages where the first stage connects from the regulator and the low pressure inflator to the gas tank. The second stage is connected to the BCD. Each diver will have a buddy or a partner. On that particular day, Su Yee was my buddy. Since the gas tank was rather heavy, he suggested I help him suit up first so that he can hold my tank while I adjust my gear. Therefore, as we were taught, I placed one hand below the gas cylinder and on the count of three, helped him lift it up for him to wear his BCD.After clipping the buckles on it was his turn to assist me.
we heaved the BCD onto my back and I fasten the buckles...OMG! Its heavier than i expect...
When we were all ready, we were told to the predive checkup..to put it in short, BWRAF or Blue Whales Really Are Fun where
B - BCD
W- weights
R -regulator
A -airway,gauge metre
F-Fins
we take turns breathing tru each others alternate air source to make sure they are working and are free fr contaminated air. The alternate air source of octopus as itis fondly called is another piece of regulator attached to a diver's chest in case ur buddy ran out of air and needs to share air with you.
We were taught how to enter the water. There are 4 different ways but the one most commonly used is the Big Straddle. It is where u stand near the water edge and take a big step forward with left hand holding the low pressure inflator hose and the right holding ur mask. Well, we were given time to swim with our gear. It was quite hard to breathe throught the regulator at first cause u sorta like have to suck so air can fill ur lungs....but after an hour or so we got quite used to it.
I thinks this is enough for now..i will write more about my lessons some other day. For now, ciao!
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