We got picked up from our hotel to go to Vista Mar Hotel for our first day of hands-on training. We started off in the pool with basic skills for about one hour then walked down to the beach for my first ever dive in the sea. Everything was a new experience, including the basics of walking with fins (backwards).
This was followed by more in-pool skills training. The in-pool training was a bit distracting as there was a local party being held at the venue … lots of drinking (hard spirits) at breakfast time … Filipinos really know how to party … and then later kids, kids and more kids in the pool while we tried to do our training.
The sea was unseasonally rough and I really didn’t enjoy swimming back after our first dive … and the instructor said “You don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself”. I actually think diving is easier than the swimming and the walking around when fully-kitted out.
We spent the rest of the day continuing with the skills training in the pool. The skills are mainly related to emergency situations or when things go wrong … eg. how to clear water from your mask, how to find your regulator (mouthpiece) when you lose it. There was one which I really struggled with … how to take off your BCD (buoyancy control device, or basically a inflatable jacket) and re-don it while floating.It was a long day starting at 8:30 and finishing around 5:00 most of which was spent either in the pool or at sea.