I fear-factored myself when I said yes to Erdman who wanted to go scuba diving last weekend. Erdman, by the way, is one of my favorite persons in the whole world. He is undergoing this phase between determining whether he will be a priest in 5 years or not. So far, that regency has earned him the best job that could bring him thousands of moolah a month (and he doesn’t even have any need for it), trips to God knows where with me and the Breakfast Club and of course, our Fridays spent in church.
No, I didn’t enthrall him with my charms but friendship with Erdman has been one of my highlights of 2008. It pays to have friends who give you good influence.
“I feel bad if we have fun without putting God as the center of our day.” He’d always say that everytime we take him to bars, or places of sin as he calls it.
We did. We prayed all the way to Punta Engaño, Lapu Lapu and we prayed hard before plunging deep into this island.
Andrea, Erdman and moi.
Hilton beside Punta Engaño – one of the dive spots in Cebu.
There was a twenty-minute crash course, of course, on scuba diving and a full ten-minute discussion on what not to touch and what to touch by Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).
“If I signal (crosses both of his hands), it means do not touch.” Earl, the instructor said. His gaze turned to me and added, “But you can touch whoever you want to touch.”
I started to lose respect for that Earl after.
Look at that big fish swimming!
That’s Earl. He is sneaky. He is the only one among the lot who was wearing a hooded wet suit.
“What’s the hood for?” Erdman asked.
“Sometimes, there are fishes that bite your ear off. We even have one guy last time whose ear was practically chewed off from the head.”
He’s officially on my hate list now.
Diving is perhaps not advised for people who have asthma *coughmecough* because for one, ventricles are already constricted and diving requires more effort to breathe no matter what that Earl guy keeps on saying. “Breathe normally… Neutralize…” But I don’t see how that can be applied when I will panic down under and by the time you surface from a twenty feet dive – you are as futile as a koi fish on dry land.
U-koi?
Everytime he resurfaces, he sings, “Rainbow connection…”
I felt like singing, “Part of your World…” yeah, yeah, feeling Ariel with ugly fins and a dorky excuse for shades.
FYI: I have never felt so ugly in my life wearing this. Yuck, my belly.
Perhaps next time when my mermaid scales are sharpened and my fins are fully exercised, diving could be my sport. Second to that is parasailing. But that’s another lifetime.
post-scuba. Till next 
