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Diving Into the Wreck

First having read the book of myths,
and loaded the camera,
and checked the edge of the knife-blade,
I put on
the body-armor of black rubber
the absurd flippers
the grave and awkward mask.
I am having to do this
not like Cousteau with his
assiduous team
aboard the sun-flooded schooner
but here alone.

There is a ladder.
The ladder is always there
hanging innocently
close to the side of the schooner.
We know what it is for,
we who have used it.
Otherwise
it is a piece of maritime floss
some sundry equipment.

I go down.
Rung after rung and still
the oxygen immerses me
the blue light
the clear atoms
of our human air.
I go down.
My flippers cripple me,
I crawl like an insect down the ladder
and there is no one
to tell me when the ocean
will begin.

First the air is blue and then
it is bluer and then green and then
black I am blacking out and yet
my mask is powerful
it pumps my blood with power
the sea is another story
the sea is not a question of power
I have to learn alone
to turn my body without force
in the deep element.

And now: it is easy to forget
what I came for
among so many who have always
lived here
swaying their crenellated fans
between the reefs
and besides
you breathe differently down here.

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent
than fish or weed

the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and away into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.

This is the place.
And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
streams black, the merman in his armored body.
We circle silently
about the wreck
we dive into the hold.
I am she: I am he

whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
whose breasts still bear the stress
whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies
obscurely inside barrels
half-wedged and left to rot
we are the half-destroyed instruments
that once held to a course
the water-eaten log
the fouled compass

We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage
the one who find our way
back to this scene
carrying a knife, a camera
a book of myths
in which
our names do not appear.

~Adrienne Rich

Screw you guys. I'm going diving. (Part 2)

I wonder if diving has an addictive effect. Exactly one week after the first dive experience of my life, I set off for an impromptu dive trip to Dayang with the Deep Blue crew. 10 of us set off on Friday evening from Hong Kong Street - YP, Mindy, Daniel, Mathias, Karan, Pauline, Mel, Charlene, Alex and myself. The journey to Dayang was long and painful. Not only were we greeted with the worst van driver ever, we had choppy weather to accompany us as we set sail for Dayang.

In this trip alone, I'm proud to say I've clocked eight dives! (3 more than last week's!) And we attempted some 'stunts' such as diving across the Dayang-Aur channel at a max depth of 30m, amidst raging currents. I knew I was sure to be washed away if I ever stopped finning. No one expected the current to be that strong. And besides, many of us were low on air. Pauline even had to CESA her way up to shore. This is one experience even YP said he wouldn't attempt again - but we were all glad we overcame it!
It was after this experience that I decided to go for the advance diving certification, which YP was glad to convert (from my original intention to embark on the trip as a leisure diver). And so off we went for night diving, point navigation etc. And today, I'm glad to say, I'm an advanced diver! Woohoo!



And other highlights included Alex and myself getting lost from the main group cos the surface current brought us too far out at Rayner's Rock. We set our sights on some beautiful corals as we attempted to make our way back to the group. Thank God we found them about 15 minutes later. I also got my left hand cut at the jetty! But it was well worth it, considering the huge school of fish in sight, and not forgetting the moray eels!


And this shall conclude the entertainment for the season. Thank you all for the fantastic moments above and under water! And thank you Alex, for being my indispensable buddy throughout the trip!

5 minutes of fame

Opportunities like these don't come by (as) often. So I shall not feign modesty. Click and read.

STB: Synergising Passion With Fun | JobsCentral Community - your friendly hangout for career topics and more!

Dot's dive photos

Dorothy's dive photos are up! Kudos to her cool robot-like underwater camera which managed to capture our moments under the sea. Fun under pressure, so to speak!

Bad pose! But who cares. haha

With my buddy Geraldine and myself ;)

Mr. YP Soh, my dive instructor aka the ah beng you'd only want to mess with underwater - cos that's when he can't speak!

Chilling on the boat as we sail back to Mersing
=================

I'm sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea
I've got to be free, free to face the life that's ahead of me
On board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard
Well search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had
We live happily forever, so the story goes
But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

Screw you guys. I'm going diving.

And so it is! I am a certified diver! (I roll my eyes at more certifications that await.) But this 2 day 2 night trip to Tioman Sun Beach turned out way cooler than expected. Over the course of 2 days, we completed 5 dives. I return with an aching body, a mind that's a spinning mess of waves and with ears that block and hurt intermittently. I am relieved to hear that these are all expected by-products of first diving experiences. And I'm overwhelmed with a sweet sense of achievement that we all open divers survived through the 5 first dives of our lives together.

All this wouldn't have been possible if not for the stellar tutelage of the Deep Blue Crew - YP, Alex and Gabriel - who brought much joy to the experience under and above water! I am still hanging on to the hope that Dorothy would upload her underwater pictures soon! So I shall stay tuned to that for the time being. Cheers to more diving adventures!

Underwater World

Being piscean, I'd like to think I have a natural affinity to the underwater world. My favourite cartoon movie as a kid was The Little Mermaid. Throughout my kindergarten days, I'd watch this movie every day without fail. I'd sing all the songs; I could mouth most parts of the script; and I was secretly jealous of her abilities to survive underwater with such finesse.

I suppose then, the closest a human being can get to being mermaid-ish would be to scuba dive! Albeit, a diver underwater would always look 500 times less attractive than Miss Ariel. Yours truly is in the process of getting her Open Water Diving Licence with PADI. This weekend, I'm off to Tioman for my dive. Don't forget me when you plan your next dive!