Malaysia - Deep & Enriched Air Specialties at Scuba Junkie

Over the course of the next two days, I spent the day as follows: up early for breakfast to meet Deano on the jetty for 8am. We would go for a dive in the morning, spend the afternoon watching videos and discussing content of my courses, then go for another dive in the afternoon. Dinner, then drinks and log books afterwards. And repeat. Could it get any better?

While away I did my Deep Specialty and my Enriched Air Specialty (Nitrox). I was super happy to be able to learn from Deano again as he is an incredibly skilled diver and is so knowledgeable. I knew I could learn a lot from him and I did. By doing the Deep Specailty I am able to dive to 40 metres (which we did! Amazing!) and I learned a lot about special considerations you need to make when deep diving. There is so much I learned, I'm afraid I would bore you of my descriptions despite my passion. So to save you, I will tell you a few things that I thought were super cool. On one of the dives we were testing pressure sensitive items so we brought an egg down with us and cracked it underwater. Due to the pressure the egg stays intact and we were able to toss it back and forth. On another dive, Deano pulled an item out of his pocket when we got to our maximum depth. I had to look at it, and write down what the item was on the slate. I wrote down "acorn? nut?". When we got back on the boat, he revealed what it was - a tomato! What?! You really do have to remember how colour is altered underwater. We also practiced navigation underwater, something I'm not totally confident with. But, I succeeded nonetheless. At one point, despite following the compass, it truly felt like I was just making us swim in circles yet I brought us back to the wall! You must ALWAYS trust your compass!! I also got to practice using a dive computer which was really useful and practical. I am looking into buying a dive computer in the next few months. It really is an essential piece of diving equipment. AH! I could go on and on. Needless to say, it was amazing and we also saw some awesome things too, like cuttlefish, one of my favourites!

Now that I am also certified with Nitrox, I can dive with air that has a higher oxygen and lower nitrogen content. While we did not do any diving using nitrox tanks, I learned how to plan a dive using nitrox, how to analyze and label the tanks among other things. Here is Deano doing some tables with me!

Deano hard at work 

Yvonne was pretty jet-lagged so Saturday she spent a lot of time sleeping so I sat down with a couple for dinner that night. I spent the rest of the evening talking to one of the Divemaster Trainees, Valerie in the lounge. She was also a source of tons of information for me and we exchanged life stories which was cool. She worked for a year in Antarctica - how cool! Yvonne slept a lot of Sunday as well, but this was also the day that Mel and Noelia arrived on the island! I was super happy to be on the jetty when they arrived to greet them. I was also super excited that Yvonne was able to meet some of the best people I've met in Korea. Unfortunately Noelia ended up with a really bad food allergy rash which interrupted some of her dive plans. Mel and I stayed up and played cards with Fredrick. A hilarious night ensued. 

As you can tell, with the lack of Yvonne's presence these two days, there is also a lack of photos! One thing that I have learned from this trip is that I'm awful at taking pictures! 

These two days were filled with learning but I loved every moment of it. I cannot thank Deano enough for his patience and for putting up with my antics. Also for just taking the time to really make sure I understood everything that we went over, his advice and for helping me become a better diver. If I can say anything about Scuba Junkie, it's that they have a great staff and they really focus on the student. Everyone was always extremely helpful and it was cool that some even remembered Mel and I from July! 

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Malaysia - Day One on Mabul Island

Day two of the adventure! Yvonne and I were up early to take a cab to the airport, I was really impressed with how easily Yvonne was able to wake up! After checking in, and getting to the terminal we skyped Dad since it was Christmas Day for him.

Common themes of the trip: Yvonne making fun of me for sleeping almost any chance I got, and Yvonne struggling at life (I failed to mention in my previous post that Yvonne had trouble lifting her luggage down the steps at the subway station and even more trouble lifting her luggage up the intense flights of stairs at Reggae Mansion.)

I slept while Yvonne ate her coated green peas which I refused to try.

        

Arriving in Tawau was wonderful and warm. We made it through immigration (after leaving the line because Yvonne couldn't find her passport, then re-entered the line). We took turns changing in the bathroom as I was wearing my fleece outfit again as Air Asia flights are always super cold. This was Yvonne's first experience with squatter toilets which I found hilarious. I warned her before she went but I guess she didn't understand what I meant and she freaked out a little bit when she came back out. Leaving the airport we were greeted by a man from Scuba Junkie who led us to a van full of other people and off we went on the long drive to Semporna. Of course, I slept. 

                 

Arriving in Semporna at Scuba Junkie was so exciting. The best part of the trip was about to begin! We sorted everything out then went and had lunch with a lady named Joey (on vacation from teaching in China) as we had a few hours to spare until our boat transfer to Mabul.

Joey!

The following two photos are from the restaurant at Semporna Dive Lodge

Scuba Junkie on the Semporna side

When it was time to head to the boat, Yvonne's struggles continued as she tried to roll her luggage down a run down dock. There are gaps between the boards of the dock which her luggage wheels got caught in. I had to capture the moment.

And again on the island when she had to roll her luggage down a dirt path. 

And the time she had to lift her luggage up the stairs to our accommodation. 

Getting ahead of myself here though, let's back track to the boat ride over!

Probably sleeping! 

Then, we arrived! MABUL!!

One thing that I think is really awesome about Scuba Junkie is that they have a turtle hatchery. I learned the local community can earn money by selling eggs that are laid on the island. In order to protect these threatened animals, Scuba Junkie will pay locals five times the going price for illegal eggs if they inform the Scuba Junkie staff when turtles are laying eggs on the beach. The eggs are then relocated to the hatchery as you can see in the picture below. Later they are released back into the ocean. You can even adopt and name a turtle! Super cool.  

A shot of the locals living conditions. I did not take this picture and don't really advocate taking images of the locals as for me it seems more like 'entertainment' and it shouldn't be. But it does give you an idea of their living conditions. 

Some of the local children who would surround us as we played back videos on our cameras. 

After unpacking and getting settled, we headed to the beach to relax before dinner. 

The rest of the evening was spent up in the lounge. I was able to catch up with Deano, the instructor Mel and I had in July. The next day I would be starting my Deep Specialty with Deano and Yvonne would be off snorkelling.  

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Malaysia - Christmas Day in Kuala Lumpur

Christmas could not come soon enough for me. Not only was I looking forward to a break from the routine that work has become, I was looking forward to diving in warm water, and most of all, looking forward to seeing Yvonne.

After work on Christmas Eve, I headed over to Mel's house to get together with some friends for dinner and to skype with friends who had gone home this past year. It was so good to spend the beginning of my vacation with good friends. I eventually headed home and began my all-nighter (as I always do before a flight) of packing and getting ready. At some point in the early hours of Christmas Day I got to skype with my Dad until I left for the airport at 5am.

When I left Korea it was -10 degrees. This posed a serious question of what to wear on the way to the airport to stay warm, but also how to wear as little as possible to avoid lugging around clothes I would not wear for the duration of the trip. So I walked to the airport bus stop wearing a scarf, a long sleeve with a flannel fleece on top, fleece lined leggings and knee high socks with crocs. Luckily I did not have to wait more than a few minutes before the bus arrived and I promptly sat down and fell asleep. Upon arriving at the airport I found out that my flight had been delayed an hour. By this time Yvonne had landed in Taiwan for her layover so we chatted. I was a 7 hour flight away from being in the same city as my sister again after a year and a half. During this time, I advised her to make sure she didn't use all of her battery so we could connect easily in Kuala Lumpur as we were landing hours apart in different terminals. I also clarified that she brought an adapter for her phone charger. We also decided that she would send me a message to let me know where she would be so I could find her when I landed. Do you sense some foreshadowing here?

Seoul Sunrise at Incheon International Airport

My flight was less than memorable, I have become really good at sleeping at any given time, in any position (aside from normally in my bed this past week) so I did what I do best - slept! I was super excited when I landed in Kuala Lumpur knowing that Yvonne would already be there. This quickly diminished into annoyance when I turned on my phone and found that Yvonne had updated here Facebook status yet neglected to message me as to her whereabouts. The hunt begins. I spent some time calling and messaging her and looking around the arrival area at my terminal before deciding to head to the other terminal. I had to wait an agonizing ten minutes for the train but finally I was on my way and made my way with the help of airport staff who recognized my lost soul to the other arrival area. It was coming up to an hour after I had landed at this point. Walking into the arrivals area, I hear an "Ash" and there she is, the target has been found. Turns out, her phone did in fact die, and she didn't have an adapter. By adapter she thought I meant charger as she did not know what an adapter was.

What a relief! From here we headed back on the express train to head to KL Sentral on our way to Reggae Mansion, the hostel we would be spending our night at. On the train we met another traveller and fellow Canadian, Daniel who was on vacation from teaching in Taiwan. Turns out his hostel was in the same area as ours and since I already knew the way there, he tagged along with us. I love meeting new people while travelling. We made it to KL Sentral and I embraced the familiarity of the station and finding the LRT line. I think being in Kuala Lumpur in July really made this trip easier and less stressful than it could have been otherwise. 

It has always been somewhat of a tradition in my family to have lunch at McDonalds on Christmas Day. Ridiculous I know. But it all started way back when I was 15 and worked there. I would work Christmas Day every year which meant my sister and Dad coming for lunch to spend time together. Even when I left that job, we still continued to make McDonald runs for lunch every Christmas, and so the tradition continued. After getting acquainted at Reggae Mansion we met up with Daniel and the three of us enjoyed some McDonalds. Yvonne chose a spicy burger and was not let down by the spiciness of it, it was even too much for her to handle. 

Afterwards, we decided to go to the Petronas Towers. Unfortunately I didn't quite remember how Mel and I walked there the last time so at one point I stopped and asked for directions. It took quite a few locals to be able to decide on the direction and in the end we decided to walk back and take the subway as it was starting to rain. Hopefully Yvonne will post the footage of this wonderful encounter. Coming out of the subway, we walked in a full blown thunder storm. So unfortunately this is the best it got for Yvonne and the Petronas Towers. 

Trying to wait out the rain, Yvonne did some shopping and then the three of us grabbed a drink at a small bar attached to the mall. The rain did not let up so we headed back to Reggae Mansion to get a few hours of sleep before our early morning wake up call to catch our flight to Tawau at 7am. Yvonne and I did stay up for a few hours as she repacked her bag and displayed all of the swimsuits she brought for me (as only have two is unacceptable). It was nice spending time together! We were hoping for better weather on the island, and it did not disappoint! 

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