Wouldn’t exactly say it was the most exciting day ever, but it did get me going. Today was my first day in diver training school. Got up this morning at a very reasonable 8am, with time to spare before my 8:45 class in town. Took my sweet time getting up too, snoozed a few times more than what I would have liked to.
At 8:40 I arrived at Borneo Diver’s training headquarters in Menara Jubili. For ease of reference, people always call it the Stamford building, even though they’re just a tenant there. Most visible tenant I guess.
Anyway, Borneo Divers is located on the entire 9th floor, and the offices seem modern enough. The training room is basic, equipment with training room like things. Mandatory white board, a TV and DVD set for playing training videos on, a computer, and table littered with thick files and Scuba gear. The walls are adorned with dated pictures of underwater life, and even more dated PADI Chart, but features damn strong coffee, Milo and tea in the corner of the training room.
Classroom Days
I was ushered into the room with about 8 other students. An English group under Raleigh International here to get certified too, so that they can go and plant corals as part of a community outreach type of programme.
I didn’t talk much, just went straight to my seat. Didn’t feel like meeting new people, didn’t feel like reaching out or connecting. I got the manual and started reading before they played instructional video. There are 5 chapters in total, and we were aiming to make it through 1 to 4 today, because we have to go do something diving in order to complete the last.
Last night, before I came home, I had some time to kill, waiting for traffic to die off a little. It’s school holidays, so I knew it wouldn’t take too long. I browsed a bit on Scuba diving, and read a lot of the theory we covered today. So, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, which made it easier to absorb.
There’s always pressure when there’s a fun determining test on the other side of an activity. You have to pass the test with a reasonable mark otherwise you have to resit, and if you fail that, no license. Aspiring to high standards as I do, I’d like to score perfect on the test of course. Ha. I like acing tests, because I never did in school, although I knew I had the ability. School just wasn’t for me, but real life is easier.
Potential Diving Instructor?
At intervals, coffee breaks and the like, I imagined myself going on to become a diving instructor. Not a bad job ya. But I had to curb my enthusiasm, because i need to see how it goes first. There was some questions about nasal passages, allergies, hay fever and the like, which I denied having because then you have to go for a medical.
I do sometimes suffer from them, but to be fair, here in Borneo I don’t. Don’t take me to Cape Town though, the place where I was born and raised. Unbelievably hayfeverish there.
Anyway, I’ll have to see how it goes with equalising the pressure when you submerge, because it’s then when your lying ways will be brought to light in the most painfullest of ways. I’ll get excited about where I can take this if I do well under water.
My most favourite part of the entire course was when we were introduced to the diving tables where you have to work out how much nitrogen you’ve got in your system, which affects your subsequent dives. It was a little technical, logical and fun to get my head around.
I mis-calculated one, only because my finger went along the wrong row, and the other 4 I managed to work out quickly. I pledge to go over the things again at some stage tonight, so that I’m all rearing to go come tomorrow. We’ll be departing from the Sutera Harbour Marina at 8.45 tomorrow.
I’ll be there early.