How did I get here? Part 2 – The Indirect and Complicated Route to PADI Discover Scuba Diving in The Philippines

Last week, inspired by some people asking me about my life and how I ended up where I am today, I posted my initial feature entitled:  How did I get here?  The Indirect and Complicated Route to Scuba Diving Happiness – Part 1.   At the moment, I am spending time in the Turks and Caicos Islands while starting my own Truli Wetsuits business in Canada and almost every time I meet a tourist, they ask:  ”So, how did you end up in Turks and Caicos?”  There is a simple answer (I accepted a job offer as Purser on the scuba liveaboard Turks and Caicos Explorer II), but there’s also a way more interesting and convoluted answer which I’m having a lot of fun writing about.  In my last post, I ended with me taking a job as an English Teacher in Tokyo, Japan upon graduating from university in Canada and now I will continue to tell my story of finding a way to try scuba diving and adventure on my first backpacker’s trip to The Philippines…

Now that I was unleashed on the big wide world as a Truli independent adult, I was determined to follow my passions and do what I had always wanted to do.  1.  I wanted to travel and explore.  2.  I wanted to try scuba diving.  After working 6 months at the language school I was entitled to some vacation days.  All the teachers would talk about their amazing adventures in Thailand and rave about the lovely culture, food, and fantastic shopping, but I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing already.  There was this free magazine for foreigners in Tokyo and there was a page that advertised all of the prices for travel and I noticed that the Philippines was pretty much the same airfare as Thailand.  I decided I wanted to go to the Philippines.  I went to the international bookstore and bought the Lonely Planet guidebook to the Philippines as well as  the Frommer’s guide to South East Asia and started to study where was the best place to go scuba diving.  Although the most famous places for scuba diving were advertised as Cebu Island and Boracay, I fell in love when I read about the island of Palawan in the south west side of the country.  The guide book described this place as “The Last Frontier”.  I booked my flight from Tokyo to Manila and then straight to Puerto Princesa on Palawan and back.  I was feeling pretty nervous about this big adventure all on my own, but it was what I had always wanted and I felt like I finally had the opportunity to do something amazing and bold and I did not want to let that pass me by.  But luckily for me, I think my enthusiasm inspired some excitement in my co-worker because just at the last minute she decided to join me on my trip!  I was stoked!

People had warned me about Manila being super dangerous and I was quite anxious considering I didn’t really know what I was doing.  I had booked one night in a little hostel near the airport before we flew the next day to the island, but we needed to call and confirm when we got there.  But neither of us had any money or coins for the phone.  We were standing by the phone trying to figure out what to do when a man who looked like he was in the military (they were all over the airport) and with a very large gun walked over to us.  He generously offered us his phone card so we could use the phone.  This was the first of hundreds of positive cross cultural encounters I would make in my life.  Although I was still on edge of my new surroundings, the kindness of the “scary” stranger breathed some life and confidence into me as we hopped into a taxi to head to the hotel.

That's Mia snorkelling for the first time off a boat in The Philippines!

Palawan, The Philippines

Over the next week we took a Jeepney across the island, which fell off the road at one point.  We paid some local guys to travel even further up island by water.  They caught us some fish and put us up in a hut on a deserted island with no electricity.  But more importantly, they lent me a scuba mask.  This was the first time in my life that I swam in an ocean and looked beneath the surface to see the colourful wildlife below.  I remember being absolutely enthralled.  It’s interesting to think back to that moment and wonder if it relates to how much I love introducing people to scuba diving.  I love that I am the one that gives others the opportunity to see all the amazing things below the surface of water.

Our final destination was El Nido, which is on the northern tip of Palawan.  We arrived by boat and I faintly remember a light drizzle with rainbows as we arrived with a back drop of tall craggy cliffs jutting out of the ocean amongst the multitude of blue hues of the sea.  We immediately signed up for a PADI Discover Scuba Diving course for first thing the next day.  I was so elated that not only was I going to get to try scuba diving, but it was going to happen in this exotic little village in the South Pacific!  The next morning we went to the dive shop and travelled by boat to a secluded white sandy beach on some island.  There were three of us girls and one instructor.  Besides my friend and I, the other woman was a Filipino from Manila who, much to my surprise, had never tried scuba diving.  She told us her brothers were all instructors and she loved the water, but just never had the chance to go.  I could totally relate, but couldn’t believe with all the beautiful waters that surround her country that she could wait

That wetsuit is exactly the reason I decided to design my own Truli Wetsuit line!

El Nido, Palawan, The Philippines

so long!  Our instructor made us some lunch and then briefed us on the skills and dive we were about to do.  We walked across the white sandy beach and into the ocean to do our “pool skills” and then we swam off together!  I felt like a natural and was so excited to see a black and white sea snake!  It looked so amazing as it slithered through the water column.  I don’t think in all the diving I’ve done since then that I’ve seen anything like that again.  So that was the day that opened a whole new world to me and started a journey that has taken me to where I am today!

We desperately wanted to stay longer in the village and do more scuba diving, but alas, I had very responsibly booked a return flight from the town all the way at the southern end of the island and needed another day of travel to get back there, so off we went.  As soon as we got back to Tokyo, I was on a mission to figure out how to become a certified PADI Open Water diver as soon as possible, which you can read about in my next blog post!

How did I get here? Part 1 – The Indirect and Complicated Route to Scuba Diving Happiness

I went out for a drink last week with some people who we had become friends with over on Long Bay Beach on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.  We

Long Bay Beach, Provo, Turks and Caicos Islands

Long Bay Beach, Provo, Turks and Caicos Islands

spend a large portion of our days over there escaping the relentless heat of our non-air conditioned house in the heat of July in the Caribbean.  There you can always find some relief from the heat via the wind or a dip in the ocean.  It’s only a 1 minute drive away.  The beach has become famous for kiteboarding and most tourists visit at least once, fall in love with the soft sand, shallow calm waters, and decide to return again and again.  After some casual chats about life on the island and about the Truli Wetsuits business I am starting up, this tourist began to probe me with questions about how I got to be where I was today.  I realized that I have answered those questions quite a few times over the years and as time passes the stories seem to get more and more interesting.  Life is not a smooth ride, but my determination to combine work with my passions has taken me all over the world and has challenged me in ways I never thought possible.  I’m addicted to those challenges!  And so it began…

Did you ever want something as a child that you weren’t able to have that followed you into adulthood?  That was how scuba diving was with me.

I remember being a kid and wanting to learn to scuba dive so badly, but was never allowed to due to the cost it would entail especially if all 3 of us kids were to learn.  Growing up in Canada we had the good fortune of spending summers at my grandmother’s cottage on a lovely clear lake where I learned the expression:  “water-logged”.  We swam in the lake, went fishing, canoeing, water-skiing, and even sailing.  I loved to gaze into the water and imagine what was below.  My curiosity was endless when it came to what lay beneath the surface of the water.

As I grew older, I often looked into things like scuba clubs, but while at university, I had other priorities that put the scuba diving on the backburner again and again.  Instead I focused on non-profits and began my volunteer experience as the Trip Coordinator with Habitat for Humanity.  I learned about leadership, fundraising, and having fun while doing something meaningful and it finally started to lead me on some unforgettable international adventures to builds in Jamaica and Costa Rica.  Upon graduation from Wilfrid Laurier University at the age of 22 and with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Language & Literature as well as a minor in Development & International Studies, I packed up my bags for a dream-come-true-first-real-job adventure in the vast metropolis of Tokyo, Japan.  I was a brand spanking new English Teacher at a conversational school in a city of 13 million or so people who spoke a language I knew nothing about.  I had never even eaten sushi before or been on an airplane beyond Costa Rica.  I’ll never forget how I felt when my dad dropped me off at the airport in Toronto for my flight to Tokyo.  I had no idea what I was doing having never been to an airport by myself before let alone travelling across the world alone for a new job.

As strange as it might seem, Tokyo, Japan is where my scuba life began!

In my next blog post, I will write about the first time I tried scuba diving while on my first backpackers trip to the Philippines!