perhentian 4

things are going swimmingly. erm…excuse the horrible pun.

scuba diving is very unique. it’s like being able to fly, and being on the moon, and snorkeling; it’s wonderful and terrifying. sometimes we soar over twisted, spiky orange forests like skeletal fingers with thousands of tiny movements from all the life living in them. fish eyes peer out at us curiously. other times it’s stretches of sand with mushroom-cloud shaped trees of coral growing upwards emerging from the gloom, surrounded by a teeming population. i’m finally getting used to equalizing (you know when you dive down in a swimming pool and your ears start to hurt? it’s easy to rectify by blowing out through your nose while plugging it: it fills the cavities in your ear with more air, because what was already in there is being compressed) and blowing through a regulator (it’s noisy, and there are loads of bubbles!). i’ve taken off my mask at ten metres below the surface, learned what to do if i run out of air, how to use a compass underwater, how to make myself neutrally buoyant…the list goes on.

tomorrow we go to 18 metres, our depth limit as open water divers. the pressure increases most the first 6-10 metres, so i’m not too worried: mostly just excited to see what kind of life exists at that depth. i can’t wait to take my advanced so that i can go to 30, and dive in wrecks (there are lots, apparently, in vancouver).

i am really enjoying myself, but i’m getting really homesick. it’s getting worse every day. it’s meaningful, missing a place i wanted to leave so badly even in a perfect place like this. i hope the olympics haven’t spoiled the good things about my city too much.

in six days, we leave for indonesia. i’ll miss this place, but i’m excited to move on as well.