Tioman Diving, Fun and so little time!

So have been busy last few days Diving and Travelling.

Saturday

Was awake at 08:30 ish and crashed out till 09:00 before getting up and having breakfast. We had 3 dives to do on Saturday.

First dive was out in the local bay area in front of the dive centre. This was to practise some techniques and also had us swimming around the coral which was nice to see all the plant life there. Our Second dive was out to a local Island called Renggis and was much more exciting as got to get down to 12m depths and saw much more wildlife including our first turtle.

We headed of for lunch after this and found a local place that also did awesome milkshakes so naturally had to try the strawberry, banana and vanilla, which was also the best as they were all freshly made. On the way back from lunch I was inquisitive and ask one of the local guys what the fruit was he was collecting from the tree, it turned out to be mango’s and he share one with us before giving us 2 and telling us that in 2/3 days they would be ripe and perfect to eat.

After lunch we had our 3rd dive and last of that day which was back out in the local bay to do underwater navigation. Well needless to say this was rather easy to complete and didn’t get lost. After this we had the joy of watching a theory video which we were struggling to stay awake to watch.

So dinner we headed of to Cabana a local bar on the beach and set about on the ‘famous’ burgers which were really good! This washed down with a couple of Skol made for a good evening. This followed by Chris and Xiao headed of while Thomas, Winnie and I took photo’s on the beach. Some which came out really well. see below.

Sunday

Up a little late this morning but still got to the breakfast at 09:20, breakfast being served from 08:00-09:30, which to my surprise was closed. I found the owner and said why was it closed I’m here for breakfast. The response was that I was late and breakfast had finished. Well I pointed out I was there at 09:20 and was told that she had seen me there at 09.25. Fine I said, Ok 09:25 but breakfast is still till 09:30 so I would like my breakfast! They con-seeded and let me in to get some breakfast.

So after that fun we had 3 dives to do. First was a boat dive entry and got down to 16m 🙂 great visibility and a great time. Second dive was out in the marina park and we got to swim around some wrecks, 2 old fishing boats, I got down to a depth of 20.8m 🙂 I’m only meant to get down to 18m but oh well it was fun.

For lunch we headed back to the cabana as we weren’t sure what to go for and had fresh fruit juice and another burger. They really are good!

Last Dive of the day and we were back of to Renggis Island, we got in and down quick as it was raining and windy. Once we were in and down then the weather had little effect on us. We saw another turtle and also a Shark! thankfully it was more scared of us and within a second of seeing us it was gone, very quickly. It was on this dive I had a run on the treadmill, see pic below.

After our last dive we then had our written exam to complete. 75 Multiple questions, ahhh I hate exams, but then this was the best exam ever as my instructor gave us a load of beer in the exam how cool is that! well the beer didn’t help really as I just got more and more drunk in the exam but finally I finished it, hoping I had got the 75% needed to pass.

So the plan was to go to the pizza place but It was closed so we all head to… yeh cabana to celebrate! We had dinner and all agreed that a 6 can beerymid would be built. Then after dinner they said That to be a proper diver I had to beer through snorkel, ok let do it so 2 beers later I was in the club. The rest of the evening involved lots of beer and laughter and chilling out on the beach enjoying life, of and a 7 can beerymid was completed. Oh and a very drunk Skype call at around 2am, which apparently I was very amusing to talk to 😉  before I interrupted Chris and Xiao as I went to bed, sorry guys!

Monday

Well breakfast was not seen this morning even though Chris had got me some. All I wanted was water as I was not a pretty state at all! Well yep I had one hell of a good hangover. We went and found that we had passed and were all celebrating with photos all round 🙂

We then got ready and headed for the boat for 11am I was trying to get as much water in me with out throwing up any more as I did twice in total. Got a flat coke in before getting on the 2hr boat journey. I have never been sea sick but I came close on this occasion. 2hrs of watching the horizon and trying to relax listen to The XX. So lesson learnt don’t go on a bender after diving in a hot climate I will end up a mess. After the boat we grabbed some lunch before getting our 2hr coach journey back to the Singapore boarder, most of which I spent sleeping. Through the board without issue this time and then on  the MRT back to PGP [where Chris lives].

We got back and caught up with Winnie and headed for dinner. I was given a ‘Bubble Tea’, well its disgusting, basically cold hot chocolate with ice and then small balls that are a bit like liquorish. Well a skype  home and that was the day over.