Hap Working The World

The day I have been working towards the past 5 weeks and also treading, finally came. It was time for my snorkel test, the last test I had to pass to become a dive master. I have explained the snorkel test in a previous post, but I will explain it again.

The snorkel test involves the dive master to wear a slightly modified mask and snorkel. The modification involves a plastic bottle taped to the end of the snorkel to act as a funnel. Once donned, the dive masters instructor pours a bucket (cocktails in Thailand are served in mini buckets) of Thailands flagship whiskey Sangsom mixed with foreign juices into the snorkel. The problem for the poor dive master is that due to wearing the mask you are unable to breathe through your nose as it’s enclosed. Then the dive master takes one big breath and drinks until he finishes, spews or sprays it everywhere.

Some people would call this peer pressure and binge drinking, others would call it tradition. Imagine trying to explain this ceremony to an alien who is new to earth. You could imagine their response “OK, so your telling me that you pour perfectly good alcohol into a snorkel funnel and the person has to drink it down until they spew up. And once finished the person is so completely drunk that if they don’t spew up they will probably be so drunk that they will wake up in the morning having with a sore bottom, only 1 flip flop, no wallet and sleeping beside a lady boy, and not remembering how they have got themselves in this situation”. And you would have to reply “ummmmm, well yeah, that’s about it, except maybe you would lose both flip flops”.

So in the name of dive master tradition, myself and 3 fellow dive masters, Luke, Shannon and Mika had our snorkel tests. Those of you who were at my 21^st birthday for my yardie (a New Zealand traditional that see the birthday boy being timed to see how long it takes him to skull a yard glass of beer) will already know how it went. In short it went, drink, spray, spew and not waking up beside a lady boy.

But my good friends, I am now a dive master, woop woop. Always feels good to achieve something that you have set out to do. You’re probably asking will I work as a dive master? I led my first group of divers the other day and will hopefully pick up some more work over the coming 3 weeks. Then in June I will be leaving Thailand for a couple of weeks in New Zealand before heading to Argentina. So I have no plans to work as a dive master long term or go on to be an instructor. As for me working the world has to involve an array of different jobs. For me completing my dive masters was about the lifestyle, the experience and learning skills and knowledge that I can apply in other areas. I loved every minute of it.

So yeah, I’m a dive master, sweet.

It’s funny, here I am in Thailand, living on a beautiful island, diving everyday. To the people reading my blog it may seem all very exotic, but like anything it just becomes a reality. I sometimes just take it for granted. Well not so much that I take it for granted, but more that I don’t really take in what I’m doing and where I am, as it becomes routine.

But then I have times where I have a brain fart and snap out of it and realise where I am, I realise that my current reality was only a dream a couple of months ago. It’s so funny how a dream can become a reality so quickly.

Yesterday I had one of these brain farts. I had taken the afternoon off diving, was laying in the hammock with Mandy, trying to rummage the energy in the afternoon heat to get up and take the bike for a little adventure over to one of the more remote beaches.

While we were lying on the beach sipping cheap red wine from plastic yoghurt containers looking out at the solitary rock rising out of the shallow clear water, I thought to myself, ‘wow, this is pretty cool, I’m lucky’.

So I decided to write a post about it. To let people sit back and take a minute to be happy with what you have. OK, so you may not be lying on a beach in Thailand, but you will have many things that you just take for granted, friends, family, cool job, nice house, or maybe your just content.

And if your not happy with what your got, just be happy for all the things you don’t want and don’t have.

OK, I’ve done my good deed, I’m going to heaven, enjoy.

By the way if you send this message on to 10 people your day will be full of happiness,

if you send this message onto 50 people you life will be full of happiness,

if you send this message onto 100 people, you’re just a bloody fool, and if your going to do that then you may as well send your credit card details to hapworkingtheworld@gmail.com because I just won the lottery and want to give half the money to you.

Nuthin but love Hap

The day is always different; obviously we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. But also, as a DMT (Dive Master Trainee) your day is never the same, you may be assisting on courses, attending lectures, studying, writing exams or just going diving for the fun of it. In this post I want to try and portray what my day has consisted of the past month here in Thailand.

My day starts with the rising of the cock, yep you guessed it, cock a doodle do, natures alarm clock our good friend the rooster. Or if the cock sleeps in then I can rely on my AA battery powered beep beep to bring me back to reality, and a hard reality it is, haha. I get dressed which involves putting on my boardies (swimming wear). I have my cornflakes on the porch and watch the gerbil creatures jumping between the branches and low hanging power lines surrounding our bungalow. Then it’s on my island Harley and off to the sunshine, Sunshine Divers that is, the name of my dive school.

I get ready for the day ahead, either going fun diving or assisting on courses. After packing the dive equipment we hop into the long tail boat at 7.15am that takes us through the shallow water out to the big Sunshine boat.

Then morning consists of going for a 40 – 50 min dive then coming up for an hour break –surface interval if you want to use diving terms. During the surface interval you have a debrief with the students about the dive, and enjoy a cup of coffee and fresh pineapple while on the top deck in the sun.

After the hour surface interval has elapsed, its back down into the underwater world for another dive. Diving really is a fat man’s sport, I love it. It’s so relaxing, it’s not physical, but you are out and about, exploring, being one with nature, you have a feeling of getting out and achieving something, really is a great way to spend a morning or a day.

After the second dive it’s back to shore and wash the gear. If I’m feeling like it I can go out diving in the afternoon for another 2 dives. But since I’m such a good student, I usually dedicate my afternoons to study, attending lectures or completing skills circuits.

After an academic afternoon, its sunset time. This involves settling down and quenching your thirst with a cold beverage while catching up on everyone’s day. Then it’s dinner time, either we cook at home or eat out.

Then it’s bed time, which these days it usually early. I have to admit that I’ve been lying in bed totally exhausted and look at the clock and it’s been before 9pm! Phew, life’s hard! Then it’s up in the morning and repeat the cycle.

Howdy folks,

Get a coffee, grab your lunch or just put off doing that report and check out some of my photos from Ko Tao, where I have been living the past 5 weeks doing my Dive Masters. Click here to view the photo album.

PS the best way to view the photos is to click on the first photo and then you can flick through them with the arrow key. This is a better than trying to do a slideshow as in the slideshow the captions cover the photos and become annoying.

PPS Rands, G, Puke, Code’s, Tom and Lauren, this is what you have to look forward to, can’t wait to see you guys.

Here’s the video tour of our bungalow in Ko Tao that I promised you a couple of posts ago.

Ko Tao bungalow video tour