Takin' on the jellies.

On my 6^th month anniversary of arriving in Australia, I completed my PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) open water diving certification.  Because I completed the theory portion via eLearning beforehand, the practical portion was into two packed days.  We spent most of the first day in a pool, practicing our skills, before our first ocean dive (at Oak Park in Cronulla, south of Sydney) that afternoon.  All of our dives were shore dives, which meant we had to practice lugging around the heavy equipment.  On the second day, we completed three ocean dives around Bare Island in Botany Bay.  Here’s a photo of an alien me giving the okay signal.

It’s quite amazing to be able to breathe underwater, but I did find the two days to be exhausting.  As it was all new to me, it was both physically and mentally challenging.  However, I think that with more dives, it should become easier.  As I become more comfortable, I will be able to explore the underwater world more.  It certainly opens up plenty of adventures.  Based on my first dives, I know I want to learn how to better identify some of the species I see.  Our instructor did coax out three octopuses, which was very neat to see.  She also pointed out a stonefish and warned us not to step on it (see the post titled Things that could kill me…).

This past Saturday was Australia Day.  Plenty of events going on, but I decided to advantage of the free concerts.  I saw Ash Grunwald play in the park directly below the Harbour Bridge within view of the Sydney Opera House.  Excellent music in a beautiful location on a summer day – what more do you need?