I'm now a qualified diver!

Well I've done it, I've passed my diving course and I'm not qualified to dive up to 18 metres.  I was diving in a place called Sodwana bay near the Mozambique border.  There were miles and miles of coral reefs there, having seen tropical fish tanks in aquariums I always assumed that they put far too many fish in there because there isn't enough space to build a bigger tank.  But no, there really are that many fish on a reef and they are so colourful and vivid.  As are all the corals themselves, which I tended to overlook to start off with.

So my course included teaching sessions in the classroom, exams, some time in the swimming pool, four dives, and accommodation in a safari tent.  Needless to say after the first night in the tent I upgraded to a cabin, which was definitely the right thing to do.  I know I'm supposed to be on a budget but after spending all that money on the course I at least wanted a good nights sleep!  I was also lucky enough to be the only student in the class so had the teacher all to myself.

You may or may not want to know the ins and outs of the course, but as I have been a bit lax with posting recently I thought I'd make this one a long one.  Those of you who don't want to read skip to the next paragraph now!  So for those of you who are still left the main gist of the course was practicing all the things that could go wrong (but never do I'm assured) so you know what to do if it happens for real.  And also making sure you can control your bouyancy so you don't sink like a stone or pop up to the surface like a rubber duck.  Well that's probably oversimplifying it a little bit, but I don't want to loose the rest of you still reading as well.  So I went through things like taking my mask off to show I can cope without it, filling and clearing my mask of water, having my air turned of so I know what it feels like to have no air, an emergency ascent without air called the CESA where I have to say ahhh all the way up to the surface.  And much more, but I think that will do.

Welcome back everyone else, so to my first dive.  I was so amazing to see so many colourful fish and coral when I got down there, although on my first dive I spent most of the time trying to stop myself popping back up to the surface to get too much of a look at things.  My second dive was so much better as I was starting to get to grips with it all.  Then it just got better and better one dive after the next.  I needed to complete four dives to pass the course, which I did, and then promptly went straight out again as a newly qualified diver for the first time without an instructor.  I suppose to probably similar to going out on your first drive by you self after passing your test, you no longer have to worry about are you going to pass and can just enjoy it.  I went for my sixth dive yesterday morning and then came up to Swaziland in the afternoon.  I'm off to Mozambique tomorrow to do yet more diving.

So the next thing to decide is weather or not to invest in my own diving gear, or just hire.  I haven't cosen a cheap pass time here!  Also my qualification only allows me to dive up to 18m, I have to do another course to be able to extend that to 30m.  Which I am cosidering doing in Sodwana again on the way bay to Cape Town from Mozambique.

It was also good staying five days in Sodwana as it isn't a backpackers so wasn't full of people who just want to drink all night and sleep all day (mild exaggeration but not too far from the truth!).  So while I wasn't diving I was relaxing and reading a lot.

Well I'm off now to find somthing for dinner, oh and if you're wandering why I haven't said anything about Swaziland it's because I can't really think of anything to say.  Well I suppose it is another stamp in the passport, but in hindsight I would have just headed strainght to Mozambique.  It just feels like South Africa, but not quite as nice, or spectacular.

Oh and I'll let you know how my bus trip to Maputo goes tomorrow, I'm hoping for uneventful!