What to expect: PADI Scuba Diving Open Water Course

I’ve kept a bucket list for almost ten years now, and although I’ve tried to tick as much as I can off over the years, one thing that has always eluded me was learning to scuba dive. Towards the end of last year, I decided that that would be my next item to check off. However, it being Winter in London at the time, I thought it might be best to wait until I arrived on the sunny shores of Australia for a better experience. Read on for my experience of learning to scuba dive!

First things first was choosing a dive school to undertake my course with. I knew I wanted to do the PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Open Water Course, as this is the most widely used association for diving across the globe, and the Open Water Course the base level that you need to have to dive. I also wanted to make sure I was choosing a reputable, not crazy expensive school that was reasonably close to where I was staying, which ran courses on the days I was available, and would also cover transport to dive sites as I didn’t have a car.

With all these pre-requisites, my digging led me to Brisbane Dive Academy, which offers two day Open Water courses twice a week for the cost of $550. Most of the equipment (BCD, regulators, computer, wetsuit, tanks and weights) and transport were included, and it was an extra $80 to hire my mask, snorkel, fins and boots.

A couple of days before the course, I was sent through my e-learning modules which were to be completed before the course to prove I had a basic understanding of how to scuba dive, the different safety elements you need to know before you get in the water, and how all the equipment works. There was a lot of information to cover with each module containing about 14 sub-sections within it. The e-learning is supposed to take 10+ hours to complete, so my first tip is make sure that you have some time put aside for this. I found the videos most helpful as they summarised all the information on the page which was pretty hard to read since there didn’t seem to be a way to download the e-learning onto my computer, so I was reading this all off my phone screen.

At the end of each module, you complete two tests, one which seems formative, and one summative, the results of which are collated to be sent off to your instructors. At the end is a hefty final test which pulls together questions from the whole course, so doing the e-learning all in one day (whilst a pretty boring way to spend the day) was beneficial as I hadn’t forgotten as much info as I might have done if I’d done it over a few days.

Other things to sort out before the course began including getting my wetsuit fitted (which I would have preferred to have done on the morning of the course rather than trekking an hour there and back for a five minute fitting), filling in a medical questionnaire, and doing another ‘diving environment’ test which had some of the strangest questions I’d ever seen.

And so began the course itself. Day 1 had a horrendously early start of 6:45am, which meant waking up at 5am to catch the earliest train across the city to the dive HQ at Tingalpa. Things were a bit hectic as as well as our Open Water Diver group, there was a group of scouts also doing their PADI course, which meant we were a bit delayed in starting. Eventually, we headed upstairs to fill out some forms, sign our life away, and do one final test to prove we hadn’t cheated on the tests and actually knew our stuff. This was pretty good though as we went through the answers collectively, so if there was something you weren’t sure of, you could check it with the instructors.

Ready and raring to go, we piled in the van – 7 students to two instructors, which isn’t a bad ratio. Travelling an hour down the coast, we reached Palm Beach Aquatic Centre on the Gold Coast, which would be our base for much of the day.

Changing into swimwear, the first thing to do was a 200m swim to prove we (probably) weren’t going to die as soon as we hit the water. I actually found this pretty tough, probably a combination of not having swum for any reason than a relaxing hotel pool swim in about 8 years; and being exhausted from spending the day exploring the city the day before, followed by my 5am start.

Nonetheless, slow and steady won the race and after a quick breather, we then had to do a 10-min tread water. Again, not the most fun activity, but the instructors were able to take our minds off of the arduous task by going round the group and getting us to introduce ourselves and explain why we wanted to learn to dive, making the time pass by quickly.

Done and dusted, next up was to learn how to set up the equipment. We were each equipped with a BCD, which is the diving vest everything else is hooked up to; a tank of air; and our regulators and computers. It’s very important to get everything right (again, you don’t want to die), of course meaning it wasn’t the simplest of processes, so the instructors have a rule of getting you to do it four times to make sure you know what goes where and what everything is.

Gearing up meant sliding (more like struggling) into our wetsuits and boots, slipping on a weight belt (they didn’t tell me it would be heavy), and then shrugging on our diving gear. By my estimation, the diving gear was about 20-25kg, the weight belt 9kg, and that’s not including the weight of mask, snorkel, fins, and wetsuit. Needless to say, I was carrying around over half my body weight, which was not an easy task!

Thankfully, getting into the water took some of the weight off, and so began our day of Confined Water Modules. Here we were learning everything we’d need to know in the ocean, but in the comfort of a swimming pool. Initially, it was just getting used to all the equipment – managing your buoyancy between the weight and air that you fill your BCD with, learning how to use fins, becoming comfortable with the fact that you can spend more time underwater than you would be able to holding your breath. It was quite the learning curve.

We also had to learn the different hand gestures (remember, you can’t speak underwater) for checking you’re okay and all the different skills we would need to know – including the ones you hope you don’t actually have to use, such as ‘out of air’ and ‘emergency ascent’. Once they’d been demonstrated, we practiced them – from losing or sharing your regulator, to removing or flooding your mask underwater (I hated that one). Lots and lots to remember – not the easiest thing to do when really all you want to do is sleep.

Once we’d passed all our Confined Water Modules, it was time to take it to the ocean. We hopped in the bus to travel down to Tweed Heads in NSW (new region, yay!) We set up our gear again, and then headed into the water. Here we were to practice what we’d learnt in the pool but in this new environment. Our group split into two, each group with a different instruction, and we descended into the depths.

To be honest, it was pretty grim. Visibility was utterly appalling that day, and you couldn’t really see more than a metre in front of your face, made even worse by the sand and silt we were kicking up when we got to the bottom; and believe me when I say not being able to see while you’re stuck at the bottom of the ocean is a pretty scary feeling. One of the girls in our group had an issue with her mask (which I’m sure would have made me panic – who wants things to go wrong at this point?) so our instructor headed back to the surface with her, leaving the three of us alone at the bottom.

Again, it’s a pretty scary feeling sitting on the ocean floor without anyone around to help if anything goes wrong, and not being able to talk to your buddies at all, just using the hand gestures that we were trying to remember from early. The best idea I had that day was to start playing rock, paper, scissors. Silly, I know, but focusing on something like that was so important in keeping us calm and collected before our instructor returned.

Then, it was time to do our drills. They were significantly less nice than they had been in the pool – ‘losing your regulator’ means getting icky saltwater in your eyes, and flooding your mask means burning your eyes with the salt which stings even after you’ve cleared it out. But good to know how to do it, worst comes to worst.

After about twenty minutes, we returned to the surface. Honestly, the worst part of the day was trying to get out of the water. It’s easy to forget about the weight on your body when the water’s holding it up, but it all came back as soon as I tried to pull myself out; and a few of us needed help to be hauled out of the water because the weight and exertion of the day had taken its toll.

Back in the bus, Day 1 was done. If you’d asked me how I felt about scuba diving after the first day, my response would have been something along the lines of ‘I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think it’s for me’. Having my first dive have been a pretty unpleasant one, due to the awful visibility and the nasty-but-essential drills we’d had to do, the fear that my mask would fill with water and I’d panic or my regulator would be pulled out of my mouth and I’d swallow a ton of seawater with no way to spit it out; it’s not the nicest feeling. I was going home saying ‘it’s only one more day, I’m sure I can get through it’, and was pleased to know I wasn’t the only one in our group thinking that.

Day 2 was even earlier, and I woke up ahead of schedule full of nervous energy about the day. Hiring an Uber to the dive academy as it was too early for trains to run, there was less chaos that morning and it was a simple case of jumping in the van and heading down south.

Tweed Heads was our only destination of the day, and we were to complete the other three of our four open water dives to be qualified. Thank the good Lord, because the visibility was far superior, and it’s amazing just how much of a difference this makes. It’s significantly less terrifying when you can actually see your surroundings, your buddies, your instructors!

Our first dive was more drills, but even these were better as getting seawater in your eyes and mouth seemed a bit less horrible now we knew what to expect. We had to do emergency ascents, which do funny things to your ears; but then got to do a bit of an obstacle course around some of the things on the ocean floor (highlights including a barnacle encrusted trolley). I was having trouble with my buoyancy here, floating up and away no matter how hard I tried to come down; which added to the frustration of not being able to speak and say ‘how do I fix this?!’

Back on the surface, I was told this was probably due to my shallow breathing. I’d noticed I was using less air than my counterparts, probably because my natural reaction was to store that little bit of air that I’d entered the water with and thus only breathe in and out a little amount as I went along – more air in your body means more buoyancy, so my task was to try and fix that next time round.

For our second dive of the day, we learnt to navigate using our compass and scouted a route out to sea, as well as some buddy lifesaving skills and anything else we needed to cover off in the ocean. All our skills out of the way, and it was finally time to do something just for fun. This started off not-so-fun as we had to traipse up the road with all that weight on our backs to get to the beach, but we then scuba-ed downstream, which was actually very nice given the visibility. This was what scuba was meant to be – seeing fish, your fellow divers, and revelling in the fact that you are somewhere that humans are not supposed to be; rather than the icky conditions we’d had the day before. Honestly, I could’ve stayed there for even longer.

We did it! It was a half celebratory / half tired ride back to the dive academy where we were told it was ultimately our choice if we passed the Open Water Course. We’d passed all the drills, but the instructors left it up to us to decide whether we felt able to take that and use it on our own. I thought this was a good thing to do, as even though you may have been taught everything you need to know, of course you can still doubt whether you feel comfortable enough with it, and may be better off doing another course to cement it. However, after the day’s events, I felt confident in my ability, and was signed off as an official PADI diver! We finished up cleaning off our kit, and then it was up to us to take our new diving knowledge and use in the world.

I am indeed glad that I did the course, and hope to be able to use it to explore some of the amazing places around the world and see things that only a fraction of the population get to see. What I would hark to anyone thinking of doing the PADI Open Water Course is the knowledge that the first day of your course may suck! The drills are not the most fun thing to do, and depending on the water quality, your first dive might not be very nice – but this does not mean all dives will be like this! I’m glad I gave it a chance and look forward to using my skills more in the future. 

I hope you enjoyed today's blog! Are there any other experiences you think I should try during my time in Australia? Drop me a message in the comments below and be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to keep up to date on all the fun things I get up to - thanks for reading!

Concert Review: SEA N SOUND FESTIVAL, The Wharf, Mooloolaba, QLD, Australia

I’m a firm believer that one of the best ways to immerse yourself in a culture is to also immerse yourself in the music of that country, and what better way for me to do that than go and see some of the biggest names in Aussie music at Sea N Sound Festival in Mooloolaba.

The outdoor venue, The Wharf, was reasonably small given the good things I’d heard about some of the artists, but I like the intimate atmosphere it gave. I perched myself down on the kerb to wait for I Know Leopard, the next scheduled act, to appear, but realised pretty soon that there had been a scheduling issue when Kyle Lionhart appeared instead. Apparently flight delays had resulted in things needing to be moved around, but we sure didn’t mind.

Kyle and his long-haired band kicked off with So Close, Kyle’s latest single, a vibey number with a great drop in the middle. This seemed to be the case for most of Kyle’s songs, which started off quiet and then BAM! Big drop and energy increase. The Byron busker showed off his falsetto and deep tones on songs like Compromise and Heart Out First, a song written about being away from his wife for a long time.

His Byron roots showed loud and clear during the thought-provoking Keep Pushing, a plea to the people to continue focusing on conservation in Australia even when the politicians don’t seem to care too much. I very much enjoyed the next two tracks – Sweet Girl, written after a conversation where his father explained how much his daughter (Kyle’s sister) meant to him, and Sleep By Rivers, one of Kyle’s most popular tracks and the one I’d direct you to if you want to check him out.

Kyle finished with a snazzy guitar intro on Call Back Home, and plenty of screams from women in the crowd who’d crept forward to the front during his set. Obviously a man in demand, I think Sea N Sound made a good decision in choosing Kyle for the lineup.

After a short break, four piece band I Know Leopard took to the stage in red and white outfits which already made them seem pretty cool, and this was before they’d even started playing! The electronic keyboards used throughout the set on songs like Heather and Blame It On Me gave them a very 70s/80s vibe harking back to the likes of Wham! or the Stranger Things soundtrack. I’ve noticed a resurgence in this style of music so if you’re a fan of Mac DeMarco or Rex Orange County, I think you might like these guys too.

Frontman Luke provided most of the vocals on 70 Lies, Evergreen and personal favourite 1991, backed by Jenny and Rosie on electronic keyboard and bass. They ended their set with the catchy Everything Goes With You and the earworm Landmine which was stuck in my head for the rest of the night. Out of all of the artists playing the festival, this band were definitely my favourite, and I look forward to seeing them perform around Australia again in the future.

Ali Barter was up next with a set full of angsty punk rock that brought me back to Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne as she jammed on tracks like Please Stay and Ur A Piece Of. Ali was certainly a step apart from the previous act but I appreciate the variety that the festival had chosen to include, to show us the best of Australian talent, no matter the genre.

Ali was followed by Oka, who again were completely different from anything we’d heard so far. The band, who describe themselves as ‘Australian earth music with sublime dimensions’ led the didgeridoo do the talking with instrumental songs that contained very few lyrics. I found myself thinking of them as music you might hear at a spa mixed with dubstep as they took fairly relaxing sounds and turned them into dance music.

I liked the mix of traditional and modern that they brought to the festival in the way that changed the tone to more of a club atmosphere as people began to dance and let loose. If you’re looking for a band that encapsulates the old and new of Australian music, you really don’t need to look any further.

Next up was Didirri, who started his set in quite an unusual manner by just singing by himself with no backing instruments. I wasn’t sure that this was the best way to start as it didn’t really give us an indication of what was come, and the rest of his set was actually pretty different from this. The young artist, who could easily have passed for a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, had a style akin to James Bay, writing punchy songs about his ex, ‘not complicating stuff’, and ‘taking care of each other’.

He did show his humorous side in explaining the meaning behind Worth The Wait, written following a trip to a Maccas drivethru where one of the servers said ‘Sorry for the wait’, or what Didirri interpreted as ‘Sorry for the weight’ he’d gain as a result of going to Maccas.

The penultimate act of the day was Busby Marou a duo whose music was full of melodic guitar and harmony. I found it difficult to find a genre to fit them into, as they blurred the lines between indie, blues and a kind of Americana-roots style. Their songs like All of You, 5 Rocks and Getaway Car were all incredibly wholesome and the crowd certainly seemed to be lapping it as they cheered and sang along to the words.

They had obviously been a big pull for some people to show up to the festival, and I was again surprised at the small size of the festival given some of the acts they’d managed to draw, with fans more than willing to stick it out in the rain to see their favourite acts.

If there was one person I was sure most people were excited to see, it was definitely Amy Shark, whose music is consistently played on Aussie radio stations. Keeping with the theme of weird intros, Amy’s set started with an excerpt from Do You Hear The People Sing?  from Les Miserables (yes, you’re as confused as I am) before Amy traipsed onstage in front of her name in huge letters.

She began with Blood Brothers and I Got You, her voice a mix between singing and talking, giving herself quite an edgy vibe. She went on to introduce herself to the crowd (“I love you, Sunny Coast!”) and explain that she has always been a big fan of Blink 182, and got the opportunity to write a song with B182 vocalist Mark Hoppus, which turned into Psycho which, in spite of its name, was actually one of the slower and more heartfelt songs in her set.

She continued with Don’t Turn Around and a song ‘for the OG Amy Shark fans’, Spits On Girls. I liked her interaction with the crowd, constantly stopping to shout out positive thoughts to festival-goers and prefacing Mess Her Up with “I feel like we are already close friends and I could tell you anything, even if it was bad,” and indeed, Mess Her Up has a pretty bad subject matter when you realise it’s about a woman cheating with her best friends boyfriend. Regardless, it is a very catchy song and I was one of the many singing it at the top of my lungs with her.

Amy’s next song was about her ex, the aptly titled The Idiot, followed by a song yearning for a Sunday sesh, Weekends; and one bursting with emotion, Drive You Mad, which you could hear ripping through her voice. We got a huge treat next as she performed a cover of Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag which certainly made anyone who wasn’t raving already start dancing.

She finished with the song that started it all – Adore – and a song to all those who said she’d never make it – I Said Hi – with people jumping on others shoulders and waving their arms about wildly. A great end to a great introduction to Aussie music. Having entered the festival with very little knowledge about what this vast country has to offer in terms of talented musicians, I feel like I left with a much better understanding of who to keep my eyes open for, and certainly a few new artists I’ll be adding to my playlist.

I hope you enjoyed today’s review! If you’d like to read more reviews and interviews, make sure you follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to stay up to date. Were you at Sea N Sound, or wish you were? I’d love to know your thoughts – drop me a message in the comments below!

TRAVEL: Fraser Island Camping, Queensland, Australia

Noosa is certainly one of the most beautiful places in the world to live, but to say that it has a lot going on would not be the truth. Having lived here for a month and a half now, I feel like I’ve pretty much seen the best of what the town has to offer, and it was about time for me to venture further afield.

The most enticing option in the surrounding areas is definitely Fraser Island, so after a bit of research, I opted for Sunrover’s 2 Day 1 Night camping trip, firstly because it fit nicely into my schedule being just a weekend trip, and secondly because the whole tour was guided, and no way in hell was I going to do a self-drive tour (Me, in a car, on foreign lands? No thank you…)

Bright and early on Saturday morning, I headed down to the Visitor Information Centre on Hastings Street to be collected. Our guide for the two days, Mick, walked us over to the van which was to be our home for the next two days. On first glance, it looked a bit like prison transport – eight seats facing each other in the back of a van that seemed to have seen better days. But hey, this was all part of the experience, so I hopped right in alongside my travel mates – two Americans, two Swedes, and a French girl.

We set off, driving through Tewantin and onto the ferry which took us across to Noosa North Shore. Almost immediately, we began driving on the beach, which was super fun. The beach here acts like a road, so you obey the same road rules, meaning we were tearing down the beach at highway type speeds, dodging in and out of the waves as they rolled in. I thought this was all part of the fun, but realise now that staying so close to the waves meant staying on the most compacted sand, ergo the safest to drive on. The more you know!

About an hour and a half later, we arrived in Rainbow Beach where we had fifteen minutes to grab something to eat and admire the beautiful scenery. If I thought this was nice, I didn’t know anything yet. Connecting with another car which was bringing other adventurers up from Brisbane, we carried on until we got to Inskip Point, where the ferry would cart us across to Fraser Island. There wasn’t much talking throughout the drive, but Mick gave us a Bluetooth speaker to blast whatever we wanted as loud as we wanted, and the excellent music selection coupled with the stunning beaches we drove along made for a very enjoyable ride.

Waiting a short while at Inskip, we joined other cars for the short ferry ride across, and then the island was ours. Vast swathes of beach, sun and blue skies to cruise along. We drove first to our campsite for a quick sandwich. The campsite was actually better than I had anticipated, with fairly large tents and a good covered cooking area. Hypothetically, I should have been sharing a tent with another of the adventurers, but we had enough tents to have them individually if we wanted to – even if mine didn’t come with a mosquito net, but this didn’t turn out to be a problem.

 

Fed and watered, we jumped back in the car to head further up the coast, passing a dingo en route (oooh) before turning in to Wabby Lake. Reaching the lake itself involved a forty minute walk through the forest, and then down a very steep sand dune to reach the hidden lake itself. The sun was shining, so we headed in for a nice warm dip, only to discover the water was pretty freezing. Nonetheless, who knew if I’d ever return to Fraser (I hope I will!) so I jumped straight in.

A short while later, we soaked up the sun on the sand before making the trek back through the forest to the car. We continued along up the coast, tearing past slower 4 wheel drives and up to the Maheno Shipwreck. This cruise liner has been resting at this spot since the 1940s and photos don’t do the size of it justice. It was really impressive to see up close, and I wondered what would be left of it in a couple of decades time.

Two minutes away lay Eli Creek, one of the largest of the creeks that we had splashed through throughout the day. It has basically turned into a lazy river now, meaning you can float your way right down to the sea. Somehow this was even colder than Lake Wabby had been, but you can’t say no to an experience like this, so I braved hypothermia and pushed my way down the creek. Technically you could’ve just walked along it too, but where’s the fun in that?

By the time we were finished at Eli Creek, the sun was beginning to set, casting beautiful colours in the clouds and over the ocean. We raced back along the beach, but evidently more carefully than others, passing an overturned 4WD which had flipped onto its roof thanks to some unstable sand. With the tide approaching at quickly, this is the last position you’d want to be in. We even had a bit of a hairy situation ourselves, getting briefly caught in a bay as the water rushed in, but thankfully Mick knew what he was doing and got us safely out.

We reached the campsite as the heavens opened and took the last remaining glimpse of light to set up our tents with sleeping bags. With nothing better to do, I then went to watch the meal prep for dinner, before chowing down on yummy burgers and hot dogs. I headed off to play cards with my new American pals before we caught wind that a campfire had somehow been built in spite of the wet weather, so of course had to head outside to roast marshmallows over the fire and stare up at the stars before the rain came down again.

The following morning was definitely the earliest of any during my time in Australia, arising at 6am to walk down to the beach and watch the sunrise. This really was something quite special though and I was so glad I’d woken up early to see it, sitting in silence on the beach as the rays began to shine through.

Back at camp, we had a yummy breakfast of pancakes before hopping back into our beloved prison car to head into the centre of the island. Unlike the beaches, whose sand was flattened every day by the sea, the ground here was super uneven, making for a very, very bumpy ride, which at times felt like we were on a Disneyland simulator. Again though, great tunes and an appreciation for life made me think that there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

Thoroughly shaken and stirred, we arrived at the Central Station rainforest which, given all the scenery we’d seen prior, seemed quite out of place on the island. We wandered off for a walk through the tall Satinay trees, making it back to the car just in time for the rain to start again.

A short drive made longer by the bumpy road later, and we arrived at the beautiful Lake Mackenzie and its beautiful light blue waters stretching back into deep blue. As we headed down to the shore, the intermittent rain started yet again, and didn’t look like it was going to let up any time soon. Figuring that I was going to get wet anyway, I stripped down to my bikini and made a run for the water. Better to be intentionally wet than just walking around in saturated clothing, right?

Once in, it was actually really pleasant, and the rest of the group eventually joined me as the sun began to show its face again. We spent a happy hour playing in the shallows before the dreary clouds started rolling in, signalling it was time to go. Yes, there was a bit of rain during our time in Fraser, but not enough to impede any of our activities.

With that, it was time to bid farewell to Fraser, most of my companions taking the long ride back as an opportunity to nap. We drove back to Rainbow Beach, stopping here for lunch. I opted to try Brent’s Burgers, sampling an utterly delicious Cajun Cauliflower burger with the coolest fries ever – a must if you’re ever in Rainbow Beach. We parted ways with the Brisbane car, and then took the spontaneous decision to drive back along the beach up here, where we’d had to turn off before on the way up.

This was a great decision, as we got the chance to say goodbye to the beach, and also pass right by the Coloured Sands, cliffs of reds and oranges and yellows, making a perfect backdrop for a group photo and to cement the memories of what had been my favourite weekend of my time in Australia so far.

I don’t think I can fault this tour at all – I saw the best of Fraser Island, had a very competent driver and guide, and had the added benefit of doing it with a great group of people. I can only hope that my upcoming travels around this beautiful country will be just as good!

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog – be sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for all future travel blogs, and drop me a message in the comments below with your thoughts on Fraser Island, or indeed anywhere I must visit while I’m in Australia – thanks for reading!