Wigan, waves, and wiped-out divers!
Well, it’s been far too long since my last proper post on my blog so I should probably update you with what’s been happening in my life and the thoguhts that have been going through my head. The update might be a bit random and may jump around a bit, but so do the toughts in my head!
Firstly, it’s now 6 weeks until I go to Thailand for my IDC. I can’t believe it’s come around so quickly, especially since I started looking at doing this about 10 months ago. I’m in the right frame of mind for it though, and intend to make the very most of this opportunity I’ve got. I’m doing as much study as I can, and am slowly starting to understand the Gas Blender course. As long as I can remember the theory and not miss anything out when I’m demonstrating skills then I should be ok. But it’s going to be a lot of work, and I’m under no illusions about that. Before I go to Thailand though, I’ve got a couple of weekends away coming up. On June 22nd I’m going to Taiwan for 3 days, as we have a long weekend here in Okinawa. And then on July 7th I’m heading to Hiroshima for a couple of days. Hiroshima is probably one of the places you should visit in Japan while you’re here, just because of its historic value. They should be a couple of nice trips though, and will give me a bit of time to relax and clear my mind. That makes it sound like I’ve got problems here, which is certainly not the case. I love my life here, but it’s always good to get away and recharge the batteries every now and then.
So with my IDC on the horizon, my thoughts keep turning to my plans after my contract finishes here in August 2007. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to enter the dive industry as an instructor, and start my professional diving career. My 3 initial options for employment were Thailand, Australia and the USA (Florida). I was leaning towards the latter as I have a very good friend in Florida who is well connected in the dive industry and said she should be able to find me good work out there. But recently that bubble has been burst, with reports that getting a working visa in Florida as a dive instructor is harder than getting Gary Glitter a job as a kindergarten teacher! Apparently the number of illegal immigrants has made immigration tighten up on the amount of legal workers entering the country. So it looks like my best bet is to go to Mexico and then just jump the border or row across to the States! But as one door closes, another sometimes swings open. I’ve heard from a guy from the Yorkshire Divers forum who is working in Grand Cayman (for a company called Divetech). Hopefully he might be able to help me find work over there, if I decide that’s the place for me.
And then we have events on Sunday at Maeda. Nothing too exciting, but a lesson learnt for my dive buddy, and a very worrying moment for me. We were at Maeda and the sea was a little rough getting in. We managed it though without any big issues, but when we came back the water was a little rougher. The waves were coming in in sets, and it was just a case of timing your exit so you got out during the lull between the sets. When it calmed down I got out and my buddy followed me about 10m behind. So I got to the rocks and got out and looked back at my buddy. They were still getting up to their feet and I could see a wave building up behind them. As they stood the wave rose up behind them and then over their head - it must have been close to a 2m high wave. I saw this in Matrix-style slow motion and yelled out “Big wave!!!”, but about half a second after that it hit her. They must have flown forward about 10-12m in 1 second. I tried to grab them as they flew past but they went too quickly past me. Then the wave pulled back out and my buddy was almost scraped along the rocks at the bottom. To be honest they got away very luckily. They could have smashed the crown of their head into the rocks at the exit point, and then had their face removed when they got pulled back out. The moral of the story is this: NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THE WATER.
I thought I had a lot more to write, but can’t think of too much right now. Will hopefully be back soon with some more of my ramblings. Until then, stay safe in the water and remember your safety stops.
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