Malaysia - Yvonne's Discover Scuba Dive

If it didn't occur to you already, I have fallen in love with scuba diving. So when my sister decided to join me for my Christmas vacation, I knew I had to take her on a discover scuba dive. I was hoping that she too would enjoy it, but I also wanted her to experience the thing that has stolen my passion and shifted my life (more on this in a different post ... some other time!)

While she wasn't super excited, I'm sure partly due to me continually asking if she was nervous and partly because she wanted Mark, her boyfriend to be there to experience it with her, I think she still enjoyed it. I rented an underwater camera for the day so I could document her first scuba dive! This was the first time I have ever used an underwater camera, and used one while diving, so it was a learning experience for me. This is also another skill I can work towards to add to my diving profile. Although, I'm not sure I'll ever be really any good at taking pictures.

I must note that Yvonne bought us matching bikinis, so I made her wear it with me on this day. In Korea couple clothing is super popular (couples wear the same outfit), so I figured we had to show off our couple bikinis! I don't think she was too into it as she changed in the afternoon, but we still managed to capture it!

I was super happy that Deano was also her instructor for this as he took me on my first scuba dive and I knew she could trust and feel comfortable with him.

After going over some important things about diving...

 we set up our equipment...

suited up...

and got into the water!

After practicing some skills, we went on a dive to see some turtles! 

Deano and Yvonne with the Green Turtle

Yvonne's favourite - Nemo!

My favourite - Cuttlefish!

We were supposed to do three dives, but Yvonne was feeling tired after the first one. So after lunch, Deano and I went on the second dive together. I was jealous about not getting a picture with the turtle (or for getting pictures of me diving for that matter) so Deano took some shots which made me happier than I can describe. 

Dive #2 - All of these photos were taken by Deano, a much better photographer 

We found Mel underwater so we got to get a picture together!! <3

We did a boat dive for the third dive which meant Yvonne got to do her first backwards roll off the boat. The current was a bit stronger on this dive so we just drifted along.

While we were on this dive, we found Deano's favourite fish, the harlequin sweetlips (juvenile) so Yvonne and Deano wiggled just like it!

This was a great day of diving! I went to bed early that night as I had to be on the jetty at 630am to go diving at one of the number one spots in the world, Sipadan! <3