On the 28th of September, 2017, LMRT finally had a chance to begin the adventure of our first trip. It was the trip of we becoming certified divers. To be honest, before the arrival of Koh Seh island, I was feeling the butterflies in my stomach the whole time because I was super excited to become a diver, which was my dream since I was a young boy. I had never been to Koh Seh before, so that was my first time. I was picturing many things in my head about the island and the upcoming diving courses and tests. We had been studying the online diving courses, SSI for about two months for the final test. There were many aspects of the whole course: physical aspects, technical aspects, and emergency coping.
Once we arrived the island, the island people were gathering and welcoming us. We were sleeping in the tents for the whole first trip. Part of our budget expense, we were also planning to spend money on the construction of our own bungalow. The island food was well-cooked and delicious. We got to meet our amiable diving instructor, Christine. She is from New Zealand. For the first day until the end of the trip, we had to dive five times in order to be certified. To do so, we dove five times with Christine; we had many pool sessions with the focuses on our buoyancy, equipment setting, and other diving skills. Finding a neutral buoyancy was extremely challenging for me and I bet for the rest of the team. Neutral buoyancy is all about avoiding yourself from sinking to the seabed and floating to the surface. You have to adjust the air inside your BCD and simultaneously with your lungs followed by inhaling and exhale.
After, we required to do a paper test and pass it in order to demonstrate our knowledge after learning time-consuming SSI lessons. Everybody was passing the test. Speaking about diving, when I started diving with Christine and other LMRT members, it was phenomenal to see and observe all those marine lives again. Sadly, I saw many damaged and killed corals because mass-destructive fishing: trawling. I first remembered my first time diving with another instructor at Koh Song Saa islanding my Preventative Health exploration. Comparing both locations, it was an immense difference. I am sad, but it gives me the courage and optimism to fight those obstacles in order to rehabilitate those lives.
On the last day of the trip, Christine was announcing all of us to become a certified diver. We were proud all of our team’s effort and determination; it was a memorial time. We were allowed to plan our own dive with the divided teams. It was mind-blowing because I actually allowed to dive independently with our teammates. After that, we headed back to school with happy faces, proud, honor, and courage to pursue our goals. Overall, the whole trip was life-changing moments. It is deep down into our hearts and brains. Just imagine, five days ago, we were students who were non-certified, but look at us now, certified divers and change agents for future Cambodia.