This school holiday, my mum and I went back to Koh Tao, Thailand — the “divers’ island” that feels like a second home now. This time, I started training with my amazing instructor, Bingbo. He’s really patient and makes everything feel like an underwater game.
I decided I wanted to work toward becoming a PADI Master Seal Team member. The Master Seal Team is a program for young divers who already did the first part of Seal Team. In Koh Tao, it means doing 10 Specialty AquaMissions, like navigation, night diving, underwater photography, buoyancy, search & recovery, and more.
Over days and days, I trained hard in the pool. We spent most of our time in confined water, doing practice, skill by skill. I slowly got the hang of it. Step by step, I felt myself improving.
One of the first big skills I practiced was mask clearing. At first, it felt scary: I had to take off my mask underwater, then put it back on, while there was water around me. My heart raced. Water got in, and I couldn’t see clearly. I had to learn to breathe only through my mouth, because if I breathed through the nose, water comes into the mask — and that’s the worst! But with Bingbo guiding me, I was able to remove and replace my mask underwater. It wasn’t easy, and every time I did it, I felt a mix of fear and proud.
Another challenge was regulator recovery. This means ripping the regulator out of my mouth underwater (it feels weird!), finding it, and putting it back again so I can breathe. I practiced over and over, and sometimes failed, but each time I got a little faster and less shaky.
Even though those were the hardest parts, there were other parts that were super fun:
• We tried underwater photography: I got to use a little camera, and Bingbo showed me how to frame fish and corals.
• We used a compass and did navigation missions: trying to set a compass heading, holding it steady, estimating how far I swam — it felt like a treasure hunt under the water.
• We practiced buoyancy: in one mission (Inner Space Specialist), I learned to hover in the water, breathing gently in and out to float like I was flying.
All those missions are part of the Master Seal Team program. When I finish all 10, I’ll be officially a Master Seal Team member.
By the end of this chapter of training, I felt different. I wasn’t perfect yet. I was still a bit wobbly, I still had moments of fear. But I was so much more in control than before. I could do the scary skills — mask clear, regulator recovery — and I could do the fun ones too. I was learning to really move underwater with purpose.
Training with Bingbo in the pool, doing these AquaMissions, made me feel like I was becoming a real diver. Not certified yet, but on my way.
And that felt amazing.
