We recently spent 7 nights/8 days on a liveaboard dive boat in the Palawan Islands, Philippines.
Part of our goal in traveling the world is to visit all the extraordinary oceanic places we have heard and read about while we physically still can.
Last April, we were on an extraordinary boat on the Red Sea for a week.
This April we wanted to experience the Philippines. I found a relatively inexpensive boat, the Navis 1. It is a very ordinary boat. Not very comfortable (you get what you pay for) . The crew made up for it! And the experience during the dives made it SO worth it!
I also elected to get my Advanced Open Water certification. I have been a certified PADI diver since I was 15, 1973. But I had never gone for the Advanced cert because I didn’t think I could do it! The math calculations were really hard. Underwater navigation was incomprehensible to me. And I didn’t really need it! The rules were loose and I had never had a dive outfit turn me down because I didn’t have Advanced on my PADI card. Until last year. The divemaster on that boat actually held on to me so I would not join the other divers, going past the depth limit for my certification level. I felt like I was 3 years old. And I was not allowed on the night dive, even though I had done them several times before. Enough of that!
I am SOoooooo lucky that my dive instructor turned out to be Mark Frazier, a hilarious Scot relocated to Coron, Philippines. He was patient and encouraging every step of the way. Being a stunt person doesn’t mean you don’t have fears. It means you find a way to deal with it.
A huge reason I was able to deal with the claustrophobia that can creep up on me was Mark’s steadying and calm influence. I knew he could help me if I got into trouble.
All the divers on board were experienced and helpful.
We chose 5 trainings for my Advanced course: Deep, Night, Wreck, Navigation and Fish I.D.
Diving that deep (100 ft) means you can’t just bolt out of the water when something goes wrong like running out of air. Which happened to me! Thank goodness we had just started the dive and I was only 15 ft down. A fellow helpful diver had accidentally turn my air off, when I had already turned it on.
I should have just buddy breathed with Glenn and he could have turned my air back on. But I was confused and didn’t understand what happened, only that I couldn’t breathe!
On top of that, when I surfaced and put my snorkel in my mouth, it was jammed and I couldn’t breathe through it either!
The cool thing was my whole group surfaced and checked to make sure I was ok. Mark didn’t shame me, he only said in a jockular voice, ‘I bet you won’t do THAT again!’
I had that experience and it wasn’t so bad. I learned. And we went on to have a wonderful dive.
Doing deep dives is useful for wreck diving and for seeing different creatures who tend to stay in deeper water.
I had not been all that keen on going inside wrecks. Being in a wreck means you can get lost, and it is pitch black sometimes. I had to get over my trepidation. If I didn’t, I’d have regrets. Yet listening to the briefing about this dive actually had me going slightly into panic and I had tears springing up into my eyes that I couldn’t control.
I practiced what I teach.
I stayed kind to myself. I breathed gently and slowly. I looked at my fears. While the possibility of danger existed, the team dove these wrecks all the time and had never lost a soul. The rest of the group was excited. I knew Mark or any of the other divers could help me if something went wrong. Glenn, an experienced Advanced diver, would be right behind me.
The biggest danger was my own fear. If I panicked I’d endanger us all.
I breathed slowly, stayed close to Mark as we entered the wreck, watched for Glenn’s flashlight reassuringly behind, and let myself become fascinated. It is incredible to be inside these old massive ships. There were the bones of a sea turtle, the view outside the ship, and going into pitch blackness through sideways passageways. Visibility dropped to about 2 feet as our fins kicked up sediment in the tight enclosures.
In one wreck there was an air pocket Mark had us poke our heads into.
Looking around the massive holds of the ship, seeing the other divers lights beaming around exploring the room was like being in an Alien movie.
I breathed slowly and managed a slight claustrophobia.
Glenn was shooting footage. I hope to post some on my YouTube channel so please subscribe so you will be notified when I do! Link below.
Spoiler alert: We all survived without a problem.
We had several wreck dives, mostly WWII era ships.
And I got my Advanced certification!
I am very grateful to my gorgeous husband Glenn, all the divers on board, the fabulous dive masters J.J., Jasmine, and especially my instructor, the wonderful Mark Frazer.
Go for your dreams! You are not too old! Examine those old limiting beliefs. They do not have to be true anymore.
Keep adventuring!
You can visit Marks page here:
https://www.facebook.com/CoronWreckDiving
Subscribe to my YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@PatriciaTallmansMagicalLiving
