August 9th Philippines

First day of Scuba Lessons and Moved to Hiltey's Hideout

The others had to get up at 4am for their dive so I woke up alone and still nervous, but I don’t want to be scare-die cat my whole life so there no way I could cancel. I went to get breakfast at Dano Restaurant as it was right next to the bungalow we were staying at. There was a sign outside with pancakes and bananas so I assumed they would sell pancakes with bananas. NO! It is Asia. Be ready for false advertising. Sadly! Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, white bread toast with butter and jam, instant coffee, and ham or bacon (sadly the ham or bacon is really really small pieces!)

I felt like a kid going to the first day of class. What if I forget my pants. Haha! Thats funny, because you wear a swimsuit. haha! Dor my dive instructor showed up a little late, which was good so I had time to calm myself. He was tall with long brown dreads and spuriously he was from the states. I don’t meet a lot of people from the states sense I have been traveling. He was very chill and relaxed. Which is what I need in a teacher for learning something I’m nervous about. He went through my homework with detail. Making sure I understood everything.

He found scuba gear for me and took a boat to a part of the island with a good sandy inlet beach. We jumped in the water from off the boat. I felt like Scuba Steve, well a girl version anyway. We swam away from the boat a little. The first time going under water with the regulator I felt I was not getting enough air. I tried a couple times, but couldn’t stay under long enough for any training. Dor was really patient with me. He was good at keeping me calm. If I was my instructor I would have said this isn’t for you, stay on shore, but he finally was able to make it where I could get more air. My mask was the worst I couldn’t get it to stay on my face so I had a hard time keeping water out. It made it hard to concentrate on my training. When I did complete my training for the day we took a boat about mile further out. There was a strong current that day and visibility was poor. We went under and it took me a little to learn how to equalize. I had to hold my mask to my face the whole time… soooo annoying! I decided then and there I was going to buy myself a mask when we got back. Dor held on to my gear to get back to the boat, sense the current was so bad. I know it is lame to others, but I was so proud of myself for doing something that scared me. I did have a fun experience and wanted to learn more.

That night the four of us moved to Hiltey’s Hideout to save money and shared a room with double beds. And all read chapters out of our class books before falling asleep.

Don’t Mind Rebecca! We all got to be really close (literally and emotionally) the whole time. She is like a little sister to me. The four of us will always be life long friends even if we don’t see each other for a long while.

I have been attempting to learn Swedish and it seems hopeless right now. We will see by the end of the trip! haha!