Linden--Seda Lio/ Scuba certified too!

4/2/22 Linden Journal

So, we are now at the Seda Lio Hotel. It is a hotel that is right by if not in El Nido which is a small town in Palawan. To get there, you have to take a shady trail through the woods being pulled over by police asking if you have permission to be there or what your room number is. The irony of it is funny. Just about a 4 minute drive away, it is a jackpot for poverty and a very third world country town. But, just down the road, there is an amazing hotel where there are amazing buffets, clean water, and room service. Weird huh? Anyway, yesterday we finally got certified as PADI open water divers! To do that, we had to take multiple pool courses with Julie, who did not teach us much at all. After all of the “test” knowledge, we would have to do four open water dives. Our original plan was to do those in Colorado at the Aquarium. So much for that plan. Our reality was much different. Yesterday and the day before, we spent all day on a good sized banca which was the same type of boat I wrote about a few days ago. The loud one. Luckily this one was not bad at all which was very relieving. Each day we did 3 dives right off the coast of El Nido, which was very unexpected because of our original plan. Ultimately, we were on the opposite side of the Earth. Don’t ask me how that happened. Each morning, we would have 2 dives, and one in the afternoon. In the middle, would be an amazing lunch which consisted of lots of fish, pineapple, and watermelon. The first dive did not count as our open water dive because it was just reviewing all safety techniques along with just getting comfortable. Our last dive was just a fun one because our mandatory ones were done. Throughout the course of the dives, we saw 4 turtles, one being a baby, many pufferfish, many parrot fish, squids, an octopus, and a scorpion fish which completely would blend in with the coral, and many many others. We always were diving along a coral reef, so the place was booming with life. We only went about 11 meters down, which was supposedly shallow but it sure did not feel like it… You would just see the surface grow farther and farther away and see your depth gauge grow to bigger and bigger numbers. It was funny to see how people were moving and doing down there. Asher was completely calm, flowing with the current, Dad, was alert but enjoying the life, I was about the same, and Mom was completely wide eyed and being Grandma DeAnne watching over everyone. She said that she enjoyed being the caboose and being shallow so she could keep an eye on us but the guide would keep telling her to go deeper, but would always go back up. That worked really well that Asher and her were buddies, so were supposed to stay together, but Mom was slow and Asher was fast. On our last open water dive that was necessary to do before certification, at the turning point of the dive where we were deepest, also where we saw the baby turtle, our guide, Jok, started writing on his underwater board. When he showed it to us, it read, “Congratulations! New PADI open water divers!” After seeing that, we had an underwater party full of fist bumps, high fives, hand shakes, and hugs. Once we got back to shore on our way out, we each claimed a t-shirt and took pictures with our amazing coaches/guides, Jok and Ryan and dad wrote a nice message on their comments wall. We gave them a tip and were on our way. We are now open water divers!

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