So now that I’ve got your attention, let me summarize and update on the progress of my various diving (and other) exploits over here in Hong Kong before I leave in about a week from now.
I came in early June and stayed with my uncle Keith–the one who introduced me to this whole SCUBA diving thing–in the Tseung Kwan O area for most of my time here (his the only place I’d call a second home for me). He’s been like a second father to me since I was small actually, and this is more obvious to me now than ever before. I used to think of him as a strangely, even fanatically nice uncle, but now he’s more like a half-dad.
And of course, me saying this isn’t motivated by any sort of negative feelings for my dad-dad, as if I needed a half-dad to make up for him. My own dad, I’ve realized in my absence from home, has also been a father through and through. He’s somewhat distant (and sterner than Keith), making him a little less accessible, but he provides the discipline figure that I think I’ve benefited from over all these years. And this I’ve learned while living so far from my father for so long–and I think I’ve managed to keep myself responsible to myself like he’s always caused me to be. That, and he’s always ready to help me out even when he has little reason to do so.
In any case, Keith paid in full for my PADI-O and PADI-A licenses and training (oh man, this is an expensive hobby/lover), both of which I’ve now completed in flying colours apparently, according to Instructor Joe. I finished my diving (for now, in 2008, HK) with a night dive–by then the fifth dive, if you’ll believe it, of the day–Saturday. I had planned on only doing only two or three dives that day (which is normal) but then Keith told me he paid an extra hundred dollars on top for unlimited dives so I pretty much maxed out my nitrogen intake for two days on that one trip. I’ve seen some cool things before, but nothing so far beats seeing a cuttlefish, large octopus, sino crabs, a sleeping tropical fish, hermit crabs, burrowing nocturnal octopi, and sleeping eels all on the same day. I’ve also done some cool things, but none has been quite like playing with an octopus half the size of your head at night under twenty feet of seawater.
Now that I’m a certified “advanced” diver (no huge difference other than the limitations of where I can dive), I am beginning to wonder about where I can go diving next. It’s quite a connundrum. For example, I could probably go diving in lakes back in Canada, but freshwater aquatic flora and fauna generally aren’t particularly plentiful or interesting to look at compared with their saltwater relatives. Another option would be to ice diving farther up north, but the costs of doing so plus the extra drysuit (as opposed to the standard wetsuit) and ice diving courses that I would have to take are problematic in terms of money and time. I do want to dive some shipwrecks sometime, along with caves. In the meantime, I’ll just have to play pretend with my stainless steel wire fasteners and charred stainless steel diving knife. Keith tells me “Forget coming back to Hong Kong when you finish school; when you do,, I’ll see you underwater, in Cebu! Or the Philipines! Or Malaysia! Or all of them!” I suppose I will have to wait patiently to breathe again years from now with my dear Uncle Keith (UK, aka: KY; yes, like the jelly).