My First Time Scuba Diving!

Back in March 2025 — a week before Nyepi to be exact, I decided to try scuba diving for the first time ever with my friend, Mercy. It’s a nice thing to have a friend who’s down for an adventure like this. After mustering up all the courage to start and book the program, I found myself watching a lot of videos about Scuba Diving tips, what to do and not to do. I even read a lengthy article about Decompression Sickness or commonly known as “The Bends” and how to avoid it. Safe to say that I came prepared or so I thought……

Mind you, I did not take the Scuba Dive Open Water Course but rather the Discovery Scuba Dive (DSD) one. DSD is a short program, typically a one-day program that allows you to try and discover what it is like to scuba dive. I tried DSD at one of the dive centers in Tulamben, Bali.

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THE PREP

Here’s the things I prepared for prior to Scuba Diving:

Learn about the basic theory of Scuba Diving

• As mentioned before, prior to SD, I watched a bunch of videos about tips from SD Instructors as well as reading lengthy articles — from how to maintain buoyancy, use regulator, and most importantly how to avoid Decompression Sickness.
• Frankly speaking, that was the first time I’ve ever heard of the term Decompression Sickness (DCS). That did not help me with my mental preparation (I was even more nervous😵‍💫) but a very helpful information nonetheless because now I know that a Scuba Diver should NEVER ascend fast.
• Decompression Sickness (DCS) is commonly known as “The Bends” and it is a serious condition where dissolved gases (mostly nitrogen) form bubbles in the body due to rapid pressure drops, common after scuba diving which cause joint pain, numbness, fatigue, and potentially paralysis or death, requiring immediate recompression treatment. That’s why you should never ascend or return to the surface too fast and always do a safety stop!
• If you have seen one of those viral videos on IG/TikTok where this diver is in a hurry to take off suits and gears, it’s because they have to rush to go to the decompression chamber to help expel the excess of Nitrogen in their bodies.

Now that I have tried Scuba Diving and obtained a certification in Freediving, this one particular rule is what sets Freediving apart. In Freedive, you are able to immediately ascend to the surface, and there’s no safety stops, and the chance of getting the bends is very low (still at risk but very rare).

Freedivers hold breath underwater and we typically don’t absorb enough nitrogen to cause DCS, even after a fast swim back to the surface. Nevertheless, while it’s uncommon, it is possible for Freedivers to get the bends after diving, especially after repetitive, deep dives . And also that’s why we are taught not to Freedive after Scuba Dive because there may still a chance of Nitrogen inside of body which may cause DCS if we ascend fast.

Read more: https://blog.padi.com/what-are-the-bends-in-scuba-diving/

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THE DAY!

As soon as we arrived at the Dive Center, the Dive Masters walked us through the rundown for today, including explaining the dive plan for the day, and what theory we’re gonna learn prior to diving. Basic important rule in the diving world is: NEVER DIVE ALONE. That’s why me and my friend were accompanied by dive buddies. We then headed to the swimming pool where our Dive Buddy would teach us basic Scuba Dive — how to use regulator, how to clear mask underwater, what to do when you lose your regulator, hand signals, and many more. The session lasted for about 45 minutes.

Off we went to the first dive site: The Coral Garden

I told Mercy not to panic and everything’s gonna be fine. I felt some sort of moral obligation to keep the spirit high because I dragged her into this lol so I made sure she was okay and to get out of there in one piece lol. I honestly should have told myself the exact sentences to because WHAT?! My heart was pounding so fast, I thought I came prepared but boy was I wrong! No mater how much informations I’ve digested, everything went into abyss as soon as I put on the gears and saw the quiet, still ocean. It started raining when we arrived to the first dive site and I felt like throwing up ugh the drama haha.

I then prayed with Mercy so God help and guide us down there (we love you lord but we certainly ain’t ready to meet you just yet! So just bless us please haha).

Off we went diving…. at first, I had a major issue with my mask; the water kept coming in which made me uncomfortable as I had to repeatedly clear it up. I kind of panicked as we got deeper. I realized that my panic stemmed from my thoughts —negative thoughts —”What if something bad happens down there and I can’t ascend fast cos I’ll get DCS? What if the water keeps coming in? And endless of What Ifs”

It was not dark at all, there was still light coming in, so I was fine, but still ahhh lol. Few minutes in, I finally got the hang of it. It felt so fun! (Finally!) We then saw Nemo and his family at their houses, I met other friendly faces as well but I forgot their names. To be frank, there was not really much diversity in this site, or maybe because I have been to Bajo and their underwater world is unmatched (no, seriously!) so I had higher expectations.

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Off to the second dive site: USAT Liberty Shipwreck

We then went to the second dive site — the legendary USAT Liberty Shipwreck — and took a break there. Grabbed some snacks and told each other fishes we saw down there even though we had zero ideas what they’re called. After that, our dive buddies signaled us to start gearing up for the final dive. A moment before I went in, the rain started pouring down, ugh so dramatic this nature laaa. After a few finning, I was able to see this giant of a shipwreck that looked like a freaking Godzilla from afar. No jokes, that literally what went through my head when I first saw it. Nope, it was not helping with my anxiety at all. In fact, I got even more nervous. After diving closer to the shipwreck, I felt so much more at ease. It felt so much more fun, my mask finally behaved lol, I had no issues with the equalization, everything seemed to be working well (oh my anxiety be like hold my beer). I even dove to 14 meters deep! I truly enjoyed this dive.

I got to see many beautiful corals and fishes who made a home out of this shipwreck. This site was obviously a lot more beautiful than the first one. The fishes and corals were diverse and they were healthy! I was exploring some parts of the shipwreck when this thought came across my mind “why do I feel like running out of breath”. Do you know the feeling when you are out for a run and feels like running out of breath. Yes, it’s pretty much the same. And then I began to worry about my oxygen level, I thought “what if I’m running out of oxygen, I cannot ascend fast.”

It got even worse when my dive buddy kept signaling me something that I could not decipher. He kept telling me to do something but my brain split into two open tabs — trying to understand what he meant and rationalizing my anxiety. That’s when I began to hyperventilate and breathe uncontrollably, and by that I meant fast uncontrolled breathing which doesn’t help with my anxiety. I began to panic, like I-want-to-get-tf-out-of-this type of panic. I signaled my buddy to ascend and that I felt there’s something wrong with me. He then signaled me to slowly breathe. I kid you not, the second I shut my eyes and began to slowly breathe, I felt INSTANTLY better. Yes, so so so much better.

Quoting from Scuba Lovin “When you breathe fast or shallow (we call this hyperventilate), a lot of that CO2 is left behind in your dead airspaces upon breathing out. With the next breath in, you mostly get CO2, and not the fresh O2 from your scuba tank.Shallow breathing and a lack of O2 (or too much CO2) will eventually trigger your brain into a situation of “what the hell is going on, I don’t wanna be here”, and might make you wanna bolt to the surface. ” THIS!! That exactly what happened to me. That was exactly what my brain told me. It told me to fook off and abandon the mission lol. My buddy then helped me went to the surface. We did safety stop, obviously.

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It’s a Mind Game, baby

On the surface, I told my buddy about whatever is wrong with me during the last part of the dive; that I hyperventilated and got panicked. I then told Mercy that this whole thing is a Mind Game. Nothing’s really wrong until your mind tells you that it is. I was fine until I was not. I did not know that I should not breathe fast and that it would trigger hyperventilation which cause panic.

The whole thing got me learn something — your mind will trick you into believing that the worst case scenario may happen and that you have no options but to run. It’s as if your fight or flight mode is activated but this time there’s no fight mode, only flight. Your mind also makes you a list of endless What-If scenarios that do not help your confidence nor does it calm yourself. It will trick you into believing that you should address all these scenarios before you start so you feel a lot more confident, bu in reality, you just have to figure things out as you go. Just like when I thought about the what-if scenario that I got water inside my mask and I can’t solve it ASAP. In reality, that scenario did happen to me, but then I figured out the easy and effective way to clear it up as I encountered more and more of such cases during my first dive. You don’t have to feel ready to start because you’ll figure out along the way.

I can’t wait for more future dives! I honestly am thinking of taking Open Water Dive Course and can’t wait to catch a glimpse of those beautiful Nudis

See you underwater,

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