Unforgettable Night Diving in Cebu, Philippines
For today's final dive, Instructor Eric and I went night diving after the sun went down. Since it was my first time doing a night dive where you can't see anything, I was pretty nervous. But as it turned out, the tide had gone out, so we had to swim—not dive—about 200 meters just to reach the entry point. I was so exhausted that my legs were about to give out, which made me completely forget my nerves. Once we actually got underwater, it felt so much more comfortable. Night diving is so incredibly fascinating that it's a real shame I couldn't bring my camera. The fish are asleep, so unlike during the day, they stay perfectly still even when you get close. Because of this, you can get a really close look at some fairly large fish, and since everything is so quiet, it even feels peaceful. The best part is when you turn off all your dive lights and make air bubbles with your hands—they look just like fireflies. Words really can't do it justice. You honestly have to see it for yourself to understand why I'm rambling on about how amazing it is. Again, the only bummer is that I have no photos to show for it. I think I'll end up going diving again just for the night dives. (Well, that's exactly why I came all the way here and paid good money to learn again anyway.)
After the night dive, I grabbed a little something to eat by myself, and I started feeling sleepy. Just as I was about to drool and drift off, it started to rain. To be more precise, the sky was dumping water. In Korea, it usually drizzles all day long, but here, they say it pours down in buckets for three or four hours and then just stops.
Even so, when I opened the window, it looked like a showerhead turned on full blast. A literal curtain of water formed right in front of my eyes, and the ground shook whenever thunder struck. It reminded me of those coffee commercials where someone sips coffee while softly listening to classical music along with the sound of rain. If they filmed that here, they'd have to swap the classical music for heavy metal, and the actress (was it Lee Na-young?) would have to take a mouthful of coffee and spit it out like the wrestler Triple H. I definitely got a proper taste of a Southeast Asian rainstorm. (And thanks to that, I couldn't sleep...)