Finally DIVING again!One thing I’d been sort of dreading to do since I got back home is go diving, which is strange because it's something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I was dreading it, first, because I had not done it in two years and so needed to adjust to being in the water again; and second, diving has a lot of emotional connotations for me. Diving had always been my special thing with Caye. After all, I did meet him during my first ever open water dive. Caye had always been my dive buddy, and except for the time he lived in Bacolod, he was usually around to look out for me underwater. I used to tell some friends that I often felt closest to him when we went diving.
So, my friend and climbing partner Angel told me that her brother Jan, a dive instructor, is now working for Oceana, a resort in Puerto Galera. She said he was inviting us to try the place and also resume our diving career. After some major coordination, we finalized plans for the trip. The cast of characters- Angel, Mars, and their baby Tykey, Anjou and Anton, Jan and his new (at least new to me) girlfriend Jules, and me. I felt like the seventh wheel, unless I could consider Tykey my date.
Jan, Jules, Anjou, Anton and I left for Galera on a Friday afternoon. Apparently there was a storm of some sort, so the boat trip from Batangas pier to Galera was pretty rough (there were ten-foot waves). We finally got there in the evening, and we tried to call it an early night (after a few Margaritas) so we could dive early.
The next morning, Angel, Mars, and Tykey arrived, and after a huge breakfast, we all set out to dive (except for the baby, of course. Tykey's only one year old). After another rocky boat ride, we arrived at the dive site. As the group started to descend into the water, I panicked because my mask started to flood. I went back up to the surface to try to fix the problem, but because the waves were so strong, I just couldn't calm myself down. Also, I started to have doubts about my equipment because I did not have it serviced before the dive. To top that all off I started to get pissed off at Caye because I was thinking that he should've returned my dive gear when I asked for it back in February and not just when he sensed that I was back in the country (but that's another looong story).
Anyway, with all those things happening while I was being thrown about by the waves, I told Jan to proceed with the dive without me. But, being the good dive master that he is, he told me to go down with them to fifteen feet first, then if I still felt uneasy, I could just come back up. I agreed, and sure enough, being in the water calmed me down. I continued and finished the dive without mishap, and I felt comfortable in the water again.
I went on four more dives after that, and I really had a lot of fun in and out of the water during that entire weekend. The resort was nice, diving in Galera was great, and I enjoyed all the eating that I did. Being near the sea, and spending time with my friends doing things I love doing, were all reminders of what I like about being in the Philippines. Diving does hold a lot of memories for me, but it's time to move on and make new ones.
