I stayed on MAgnetic Island for five nights in total to allow myself time to do my SSI Open Water SCUBA diving course. I've never really been into diving, but since I've been on Heron Island it had interested me and I even got one dive in there. The course that I did on Magnetic Island allowed me to go SCUBA diving on my own without an instructor giving me a helping hand, and that's I spent those four days doing.
We had Thursday (the 11th) morning off, so Alison - another trainee diver - and I went down to the supermarket in the island's town to buy some food. I haven't really been cooking much since I've been away, but it makes a lot of sense when you stay anywhere for more than a couple of nights. The kitchen at Base Backpackers was pretty, well, basic, but it did us well for the time that we were there.
So that afternoon we went to the pool and met each other, with there being eight of us in total. I was the only guy there which I found a bit suprising, but that's something I don't really mind! After a few introductions we went through a bit of theory - most of which I'd covered at Heron Island - and then went into the pool for the first of our two 'confined water' sessions. I found it pretty easy to begin with because I'd already done several of the skills, but it was nice to go over them again.
Taking it in turns, we showed our instructor Scott that we could take of our mask, replace it and then clear it, become neutrally bouyant and so on. It was a lot of fun, but of course nothing like 'the real thing' out in the ocean where there are sea conditions and wildlife waiting for you.
On Friday we had a full day ahead of us, first starting with the rest of our theory, covering emergency procedures and the effects of going deep underwater on our body, amongst other things. We then got back in the pool for our final theory pool session, practicing various skills including emergency ascents, diver tows and taking our equipment off before putting it back on. We finished up the day with a written exam, which everyone passed since it was common sense once you'd read the reference material that we were given the previous day.
The next day we had the first two of our ocean dives, which involved doing exactly the same skills that we'd done in the pool, but out at sea. The visibility was pretty shocking, but we coped with it and if you can dive in that, you can dive in anything!
On Sunday we had our third and fourth ocean dives in the morning, again repeating skills in sea conditions, this time with even worse visibility. It certainly was an 'interesting' experience; not being able to see everyone in your group as you swim around holding a rope so that you don't disappear into the murky unknown!
Once those two final dives were completed, we became qualified SSI Open Water SCUBA divers, allowing us to dive anywhere in the world down to a depth of 18 metres. Those four days were a great experience and one that I'll be sure to remember. It was like going back to school, having to learn bits and pieces of physics although it was more applied this time around. I'm definitely glad I did the course, because I could now go and see the Great Barrier Reef how it's meant to be seen and explore an underwater world that most people never see.
