Today’s adventure included an introduction to scuba diving near Monkey Island in Nha Trang. The morning started at an early 8 am and included an hour boat ride to the island. Vietnam’s waters are not very clear so it was the same way in the water. The initial experience was a little daunting. The equipment weighed a ton and jumping into open waters was a little nerve racking. The most difficult part of it was being comfortable breathing through a tube. Other than that it was simply amazing. I only got to about 9 meters depth but that was well enough to see plenty of coral and fish. I panicked at the initial descent because some water got into my mask and trying to get it out is a little weird when you’re underwater. The pressure took a little to get used to. The instructor recommended blowing my ears out every meter. I forgot a few times so it felt like someone was squeezing the side s of my head. After pressure regulation everything was spectacular. The bottom of the ocean was full of coral and vivid marine like. The beginner dive was only to 8 meters but that was quite enough to see Nemo swimming around. 2 dives and 1 hour later I was hooked. Now I’m thinking of getting an open water certification in Monterey. The rest of the day was spent bicycling around Nha Trang.

We found a pagoda with a Buddha shrine about 5 km from our hotel. Javson and I decided to ride our bikes there. They were about to close but somehow we were able to sneak in and take some sunset pictures of the Pagoda. We rode our bikes back to the hotel after about an hour. We found a great French restaurant near the hotel. I ordered a hamburger of all things. It was quite tasty. Su and I went to have drinks after dinner. It was off to bed and headed for Dalat tomorrow. Nha Trang was a spectacular visit.