It’s official. Getting my open water diving certificate has been the best decision I made on this travels. It started with a panic attack and not willing to get out of the boat and ended with me not wanting to leave Labuan Bajo, so I could do never-ending diving with mantas, turtles and sharks. And this is how it all started.

We arrived in Labuan Bajo (one of the main port entries in Flores and a hub for diving and Komodo tours) with a group of travellers we met on the ferry. We all ended up staying in a lovely guesthouse, Chez Felix that had some beautiful views overlooking the bay. Each night we treated ourselves to some amazing dinners, including delicious pizzas, pastas and fresh fish. Apart from eating we had few other things on our agenda too. The initial plan was to do some snorkeling, visit Komodo island, where we could come face to face with the world’s biggest lizard, the Komodo Dragon and move inland to discover the island and find out what Flores has got to offer. But as usual the plan changed.

The day after we arrived, together with Chris we strolled down the main street of Bajo and walked in to Komodo Diving Centre wanting to find out about their diving and snorkeling options. We were given information about the prices, boat and Komodo’s strong currents (at certain dive sites) and then the question was thrown.

So, how many divers?

Me and Tim exchanged looks, only because we briefly spoke about me learing how to dive and as we were discussing what to do, someone had said ‘if you want to learn how to dive, you may as well do it at one of the world’s bests diving sites’

2 divers and 1 snorkeler was the answer.

We spent the rest of the day doing nothing (as there is not much to do in Bajo) and the main activities involved around food and DIY banana coffee shakes. (I love my backpacking life!) The following day our alarms went off at 6am (see everyone, sometimes we need to get up as early as you do). We were ready to hit the sea!

Now, thinking back I picture myself standing on the edge of the boat, with the unfamiliar feeling of carrying a heaving tank and wearing clumsy fins. I look down at my diving instructor Ria who’s already in the water and I think to myself: I’m insane. I can’t do it. The more I think, the more freaked out I get. How do I just step into the water with one hand holding my mask and the other hand on the weigh belt? Will I remember to breath? Will I not sink?

Don’t think about it! Just do it.

This was the motto of my open water course. I may have doubt myself when I was on the surface but once in the water I absolutely loved every single minute of it. I may have struggled with clearing my mask and I may have forgot to equalise (mistake that resulted in terrible earache) on the first two dives but above all I felt really comfortable under the sea. What also kept me going was overhearing other divers talking about these dream-like, magical diving sites they had never ever seen before. It made me feel jealous. I wanted to dive there too.

I was lucky enough to have Ria on each of my dives during my course to myself. She figured me out straight away, ignored begging looks on my face along with ‘go up’ signs and did not let me out of the water until I got the things right. The less thinking I did the more I enjoyed doing the skills and passing the practical part of the course was a real fun. The theory gave me a bit off a belly ache but with 94% final result it wasn’t too bad!

I have never done diving before, so there is no way I can compare diving sites in Komodo to any other sites. Snorkeling in Similans was great due to fantastic visibility, but with all coral being dead the magic was missing. With Komodo one thing was for sure, each person I spoke to said I shoot myself in a foot by starting my diving in these reefs, simply because I may struggle to find anything better! Soft and hard colorful corals, thousands of brilliant reef fish, majestic turtles, giant mantas, sharks and blue ring octopus, it all stolen my heart and made me want to embark on my new diving journey! And if I was ever to recommend a diving school, team from Komodo Diving Center was just fab!

P.S I completely forgot about the main reason for visiting Flores, the Komodo Dragons. We did indeed went to see the world’s largest lizards but if I was to give it a miss I would not had been disappointed. Our trip to Rinca, an island inhabited by Komodo Dragons, was plotted into one of the days on the boat. A guide from the national park took us for a short walk around the island in search for wild lizards, but unfortunately all we saw was three rather ‘domesticated’ dragons resting around the ranger huts. I’m not saying I hoped to see a komodo dragon dining on a deer but a bit more action would had made things a bit more interesting!

by Kinga