Life of a diver
Monday, March 5, 2007 - Phuket, Thailand
Diving near where they filmed ‘The Beach’ - photo by Lee Johnson
My new job - diving every day
I’ve been very busy these past few weeks. I started my Dive Master (DM) internship. Basically a DM is a step below a dive instructor. So I dive almost every day now. Sometimes I go out on boat trips and guide groups. Sometimes I assist in teaching courses. Mostly I just dive as much as I can.
I did a two-day trip to the Phi Phi islands recently and will do a few more in the next few weeks. We did 7 dives over those 2 days including a night dive and a ship wreak dive. The trip takes us overnight to a beautiful resort in Phi Phi then we work our way back the next day with 3 dives. Lately I’ve been doing day trips here and there. The water temperature is usually 29C and the marine life is amazing!
I’ve also been training a lot. Some days I do manage to get up in the morning (6:30am) and train for 2 hours then dive during the day (usually assisting a training course) then evening training for 2 or 3 hours.
Big fight coming soon
In fact, I was scheduled to fight on the 17th in Bangla stadium. The promoter came in and took pictures for the promotional posters and stuff. I was very nervous about it all because it only gave me 12 days to get ready for a very big fight. The stadium probably holds 300 to 400 people all shouting and yelling. I wasn’t nervous about the fight itself oddly enough, just about stepping into the ring with the bright lights and all those sounds and trying to stay calm and relaxed and focused. It’s five 3-minute rounds, and although I’ve seen a few people take some pretty nasty elbows to the head (usually splitting their face open) and some killer knees, the real issue for me is having enough stamina to maintain myself throughout the 5 rounds.
In any event, I had to cancel the fight because my visa expires on the 18th. I’m actually going to Singapore for a few days to renew my visa, shop and visit the local attractions. The flight is direct from Phuket to Singapore (2 hours) and costs $133.00 return.
