Put Another Dollar In
Put Another Dollar In, or PADI is it's more widely known is the large diving organisation many of you will have seen on your travels. Last year bored at weekends Alain and I decided to learn how to Scuba Dive. I'd done a few try before you buy dives in the past, but this was virgin territory for his nibs. So in chilly February, armed with a fist full of dollars (now the alternative name makes sense eh?) and our cozzies, we headed to Al Boom diving. There in the very cold and not so clean pool, we completed our swim tests and the first of our dives. In the warmer classroom we watched the DVDs and completed the written tests. Then we were allowed into the big wide blue....
Off to the Russian beach here in Dubai, aptly named as it's full of Russians - not, where along with several of our fellow trainees we waded into the sea carrying the weight of a small man on our backs. Scuba gear is obviously necessary to breathe underwater and it's almost weightless when in the water, but it's bleeding heavy when on dry land! Not much to see on the seabed here either; Dubai's obsession with turning the sea into land by building the various palm and world islands has turned the sea into sand soup. Even if there are a few urchins and fish around you'd not notice one until it's inches away. Not a good idea to get so close to a sea-urchin, they have very long sharp spines - ouch!
Our next dive is over on the East Cost at Fujairah, much better "viz" here as we divers say ;-) This time we can actually see the fish and avoid spiky sea-urchins, and there's even a small coral reef. As I said I'd dived before, one of those dives was back 1996 in the Maldives. You can snorkel in 3 feet of water there and see the most amazing coral, so this reef was something of a letdown, well for me at any rate. His nibs being a virgin diver was much more impressed, but you'd never know it; he must maintain a cool persona at all times you see! Anyway as this was the final dive of our course all we had to do now was complete the written exam. Back to the classroom at Al Boom and 50 questions later we're both certified Open Water divers. Just for the record, and much to my relief, we both got one question wrong, and it was NOT the same question - no cheating here thank you very much! I dread to think how his nibs would've reacted if I'd scored more than him or vice-versa; he's soooooo competitive!
There's something you need to know about my man; his nibs is one of the most driven and determined people I've ever met. If he's says he'll do something, you'd better believe he will. A side effect of this drive is that he can be a bit 'gung-ho' as they say; no half measures for Alain, no siree. So the minute he has his diving certification, and not even the real one - just the temporary paper card, he wants all the dive gear. He's been in the water 5 times with Scuba and now he wants to spend a small fortune kitting himself (and me) out. Now I've seen this kinda thing before.... you know, man plays 2 rounds of golf then mortgages his home to buy a set of Pings. His shiny new toys get half a dozen outings being drooled over by his mates, before languishing at the back of the garage for 5 years, then sold for 50p at a car boot sale. Now I must admit - I'd not seen his nibs do that (he hates golf with a passion by the way) but it's my responsibility to be the voice on reason. So I managed to convince him, to wait and get some dives in his log book before splashing out (sorry for the pun!). This lasted until our trip to Egypt's red sea, there all our new dive friends had there own kit, and any sway I had left was promptly sleeping with the fishes.... Urgh, more puns ;-)
Upon our return to Dubai, his nibs researched the net until finally finding his dream kit; this I might add took several weeks. A week or so later a huge box was delivered from New York containing Alain's gear (mine would wait a few more months) and finally the cool persona was dropped.....
Off to the Russian beach here in Dubai, aptly named as it's full of Russians - not, where along with several of our fellow trainees we waded into the sea carrying the weight of a small man on our backs. Scuba gear is obviously necessary to breathe underwater and it's almost weightless when in the water, but it's bleeding heavy when on dry land! Not much to see on the seabed here either; Dubai's obsession with turning the sea into land by building the various palm and world islands has turned the sea into sand soup. Even if there are a few urchins and fish around you'd not notice one until it's inches away. Not a good idea to get so close to a sea-urchin, they have very long sharp spines - ouch!
Our next dive is over on the East Cost at Fujairah, much better "viz" here as we divers say ;-) This time we can actually see the fish and avoid spiky sea-urchins, and there's even a small coral reef. As I said I'd dived before, one of those dives was back 1996 in the Maldives. You can snorkel in 3 feet of water there and see the most amazing coral, so this reef was something of a letdown, well for me at any rate. His nibs being a virgin diver was much more impressed, but you'd never know it; he must maintain a cool persona at all times you see! Anyway as this was the final dive of our course all we had to do now was complete the written exam. Back to the classroom at Al Boom and 50 questions later we're both certified Open Water divers. Just for the record, and much to my relief, we both got one question wrong, and it was NOT the same question - no cheating here thank you very much! I dread to think how his nibs would've reacted if I'd scored more than him or vice-versa; he's soooooo competitive!
There's something you need to know about my man; his nibs is one of the most driven and determined people I've ever met. If he's says he'll do something, you'd better believe he will. A side effect of this drive is that he can be a bit 'gung-ho' as they say; no half measures for Alain, no siree. So the minute he has his diving certification, and not even the real one - just the temporary paper card, he wants all the dive gear. He's been in the water 5 times with Scuba and now he wants to spend a small fortune kitting himself (and me) out. Now I've seen this kinda thing before.... you know, man plays 2 rounds of golf then mortgages his home to buy a set of Pings. His shiny new toys get half a dozen outings being drooled over by his mates, before languishing at the back of the garage for 5 years, then sold for 50p at a car boot sale. Now I must admit - I'd not seen his nibs do that (he hates golf with a passion by the way) but it's my responsibility to be the voice on reason. So I managed to convince him, to wait and get some dives in his log book before splashing out (sorry for the pun!). This lasted until our trip to Egypt's red sea, there all our new dive friends had there own kit, and any sway I had left was promptly sleeping with the fishes.... Urgh, more puns ;-)
Upon our return to Dubai, his nibs researched the net until finally finding his dream kit; this I might add took several weeks. A week or so later a huge box was delivered from New York containing Alain's gear (mine would wait a few more months) and finally the cool persona was dropped.....
posted by Bev @ 10:06 am
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