We started at 9.00am at Master Divers this morning, we went upstairs with Sarah and went through some of the homework that we had all already done. After this we went down to the kit room to try on wet suits etc. There wasn't a wet suit to fit James but she said if he had a t-shirt and swimming shorts he was happy to wear that would be fine. We were also all shown how to set up the air onto our jackets and make sure everything is working correctly. After this we had a lunch break and were told to be back for 12.00 when we would be getting on the boat for the confined session this afternoon, this is learning skills in shallow water. We went away nervous but excited about this afternoon, we got lunch then nipped back to the hotel to sort James's t-shirt etc then were back for 12.00. Our bags were packed and had already gone on the long tail boat to the big boat anchored close by, Sarah had also gone to the boat. We all went when the boat come to do the second pick up. The boat was busy with people all at different levels of diving. Once on the boat there was a boat briefing, do's and don't's etc then we set off for Mango Bay where we would be all afternoon. Once the boat had set off Sarah asked us all to set up our kit as she'd shown us earlier. But not to get into our wetsuits yet as we had our swim test to do first. Once anchored at Mango Bay everyone who was diving got off the boat and then we all got into the water to do twice round the boat and then float for 10 minutes. We all managed this easily so then the next thing to do was get our kit on starting with our wet suit, then a weight belt, then our set up BC's, our masks then our fins. The scary bit then came when Sarah said to get in the water we would be doing a giant stride. Which is pretty self explanatory, it's a giant stride off the side of the boat at height into the water! It was probably a good thing that I happened to be first because I had no time to think about it, holding the weight belt with one hand, the mask and the regulator which you were already breathing from held with your other hand, I stepped in! Once in you pressed a button on your BC which inflated and you just floated there until everyone was in the water. It felt so wierd to be breathing through the regulator in water!
We swam a little to shallow water where we went underneath the water onto our knees, Sarah packed us all with more weights so we would stay on our knees. We could see loads of little fish already! Here is where we were going to do some skills, Sarah had already explained what was going to happen and showed us above water, she would then show us below water and each of us would take it in turns to complete. These included, taking our regulator out and putting it back in then clearing it, taking it out again dropping it and using two ways to find it again, filling our mask with water half way and clearing it, fully take off mask and put back on and clear it. We also learnt what to do if one of you runs out of air and how to help. There were fish swimming around us at all times during this, some of them nibbling at legs, especially James' for some reason! We went a little deeper under water and did some more skills until it was time to get back in the boat. You had to take your fins off and pass them to the boat boy and I got to take my weight belt off before getting up too because it was really heavy!! Then you had to climb the ladder, my legs were like jelly when I got to the top because we had had an intense afternoon. We got out of the kit and started taking it apart and packing it in our bags. There was water, tea, coffee and biscuits on board which helped take the salt water taste away. When the boat got back the long tail came to get us from the boat and take us all to shore. At the kit room we were shown how to rinse all the equipment and where to put it then it was time to go. We went back to the hotel for a shower and to get changed and went out for tea. We found a great place which does lovely Thai food including a dish called vegetable and shrimp no-name. It was six battered shrimp and veg cakes with sweet chilli dipping sauce, lovely! When we got back in we had to complete the last three sections of homework then finally sleep! We were so tired after all we had done today!