PADI IDC update - one week report
It’s been 7 days since I arrived in Koh Samui, and I have to say that the time has gone by quite quickly. I’ve never really felt bored, and my time has been pretty successful I would say. On Thursday I completed my EFR: Care For Children course, so that’s 2 exams taken and 2 exams passed. The EFR course was more of a practical course than an academic one, but I passed it and they all count. Met a few more people, including 3 guys who’ll be taking the IDC with me, and they seem like great guys. It is going to be a lot of work, but none of us are in any mood for making this course an unsuccessful one. I’ve also got to know a couple of the incumbent instructors here, and get on with them well. 3 of them are doing a visa run today (i.e. leaving the country and them coming straight back in, so that their visa is renewed), but I’ll probably catch up with one or two of them tomorrow.
I didn’t know what to expect of Koh Samui when I came here, but it probably isn’t what I expected. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but the number of westerners threw me a bit when I got here. I like to think I’m integrated pretty well into my work and community in Japan, and feel very at ease being surrounded by Japanese people. To be suddenly immersed into a place where it seems like there are as many foreigners as Thai people is a little daunting. In Japan, I unconsciously filter out a lot of the Japanese conversations going on around me, and my ears tend to prick up when I hear something said in English. Here it’s a bit of an overload on the senses. English conversations going on all around me and my head is trying to listen to and process them all. Plus just seeing and being around all these westerners is a really strange experience. I don’t think I felt like that when I came back from Maldives, even though I was more isolated from numbers of foreigners than I am in Japan. Maybe it’s just a combination of being in communities away from westerners for 3 out of the last 3 and a half years. Continue reading this entry »
First dive in Thailand… Smart Com computer failed… not a good day
Well, I got back from my first dive trip experience in Thailand, and all I can say is that I hope it gets a hell of a lot better over the forthcoming weeks. Murphy’s Law was definately in effect, whereby pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did.
The boat took just under 3 hours to get there and back and we had 2 dives planned. Geared up with the couple of guys I was diving with, and as soon as I hit the water my dive computer console went crazy. Telling me I had 350bar in my tank, and then the next second that I had 30. Had to abort the dive within seconds and watch everyone else (about 20 divers on the boat) go on their dive. I was told it was a very cool dive. After being on the boat a while I proceeded to feel seasick and throw up what little breakfast I’d had. Consequently, I was in no mood for lunch (again, I was told it was very nice). They didn’t have tools so that I could change to a backup console so I had to dive with a completely new BCD and reg set. I actually managed to get a dive in, but it wasn’t the greatest dive in the world by any stretch of the imagination. Visibility between 2 and 10m at best meant you were swimming blind quite a bit. The current had apparently picked up quite a bit between dives so at times it was tough to get anywhere. There were plenty of fish, but it wasn’t easy to see much. For you Okinawan divers, think of Sunabe’s Water Treatment Plant when the vis is pretty bad. The Keramas, this certainly wasn’t. So I got off the boat feeling pretty dejected about me free day of diving. At least I didn’t have to pay for that, and thank God I’ve brought reserve gauge set with me. I thought things were going too well…
So I’ve pretty much put today down as a bad day in the office. Tomorrow is a new day and with new prospects. I’ve got another couple of courses too tomorrow, which I’m looking forward to. I think I’ve got my EFR: Care For Children course in the morning, and then a Compressor Orientation course in the afternoon. I’ll report back when I can and let you all know how those courses went. Take care, and dive safely.
PADI IDC Update - Gas Blender course fully complete
Well, it’s currently 5pm on Tuesday 25th July, and I’ve just got back from the compressor area/workshop. Completed my Gas Blender course by filling 5 tanks and by cleaning a regulator first stage part so that it is oxygen clean. We couldn’t get any Simple Green (what the hell is that stuff, by the way?! Need to get to the PX on base and try to get some) but made do with oven cleaner and a white vinegar/water solution. The tank filling was pretty straightforward too. I didn’t manage to blow up half of Koh Samui, which was an initial fear I had when opening up the filling valves! I was aiming for a 32% blend of Nitrox and was hitting it pretty much, so was pretty pleased with that. One thing I didn’t know was that although you study trimix blending in the Gas Blender manual and get tested, I would not be certified as a trimix blender. That’s not a huge deal though as the number of DSAT Trimix facilities are rare, Trimix blender instructors even rarer, and Trimix blender instructor trainers… well if you find Lord Lucan and Nijinski, you might just find one of those too! Continue reading this entry »
PADI IDC Course update - Gas Blender passed! (problem with photos on the website at the moment. Will be fixed ASAP)
As I start to write this, it’s 18:40 on Sunday night. I’ve been in Koh Samui for 2 days now and I’ve a fair bit to report, so without further wait, I’ll get on with it. First things first, I passed my Gas Blender exam! I needed 80% and got 92% which I was very chuffed with as that had the potential to start my time here in Thailand on a very bad note. Tomorrow or Tuesday I’ll be doing the practical part of it, which I believe involves cleaning a part so that it is oxygen clean, and also filling a couple of tanks using a partial pressure blending method (apologies to the non-technical people who will probably be lost by now!) so they are a given blend. Looking forward to that as I don’t have any compression or gas blending experience. To get the instructor’s licence, I have to fill a couple more tanks once I’ve taken my IDC. Of course, I wouldn’t intend on teaching it to others until I’ve got a bit more experience of doing it. Not much chance of doing that in Okinawa though, due to the lack of Nitrox availability to non-military personnel. Maybe I should buy a Nitrox Stik and start doing it myself… Continue reading this entry »
Don’t take drugs!
A classic from the school festival this year. There were some posters the students had done about drug and alcohol awareness, but then there were posters from the government showing the dangers of taking drugs. Some of them are classics!