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It was time for the one part of my PADI Open Water Scuba Diving course I'd been quietly dreading... At a depth of 18m in the big blue sea, I had to take my face-mask all the way off, briefly exposing my nose to the water and running the risk of breathing some in. This may sound easy enough to avoid, but practising this skill in the shallow section of the pool the day before, that's exactly what I'd done. Despite concentrating hard on breathing only through the regulator in my mouth, I'd taken a bit of water into my nose too and had had to rise, spluttering and coughing, to the surface. There'd be no chance of that here - you have to rise slowly from that depth or run the fairly serious risks of decompression sickness, ('the bends'). Focusing hard, I took a couple of deep breaths, gathered my thoughts and then pulled the mask slowly away from my face. Cold seawater rushed in, and I had to close my eyes against the stinging saltiness. So far so good - but as I pulled the face-mask all the way off my head, I somehow knocked the regulator
you breathe with) out of my mouth. So there I was, my nose and mouth both exposed to the water, eyes tightly closed against the salt, clutching my face-mask in one hand, feeling around for my regulator with the other, 18 metres down...

Scuba Diving with Bruce Lee

Michael Meadows
2006-10-23 12:57:11

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and reminisced & laughed about some of the best times over one last Beer Chang - but before we knew it, it was time to leave for the airport. A combination of the big night out and a general lack of sleep probably contributed to the emotion of the farewells, but we all seemed to find it hard to say good-bye that morning, knowing that we'd probably never see each other again. On a much happier note, Jen made
Jen, Jaime, Naphat & Leti on our last night out all together
the practically last-minute decision to try and extend her flight a little more. After a frantic search for the right number, we finally tracked down someone who could help us, and were able to change Jen's flight again, (no cost this time!). It was an indescribable relief not to have to say good-bye to Jen as well that day, and I felt so happy that we could be together for at least a little while longer.

The next few days were spent showing Jason around the Rangsit area and then downtown Bangkok - shopping centres, markets, temples, and all the usual BKK destinations. I'm sorry to admit that I did neglect Jason a little (that's probably putting it very lightly to be honest), as Jen & I enjoyed a bit of time to ourselves, (after a month of doing just about everything with the group). Jason is a seasoned traveller though, and seemed happy to do some exploring on his own occasionally. I hope it all worked out and that you still enjoyed your time here Bruce!

Koh Tao
Booking a PADI Open Water course on Khao San one night, (with Asia Divers- a great outfit I'd recommend to others), we caught the usual overnight bus & boat combo and reached beautiful little Koh Tao island the next morning. Checking into our room, (included in the very reasonable cost), we all got started straight away. Jen had already done the basic Open Water course in Australia, so she opted for the Advanced course, (diving to 30m, going on ...