One of the things I have wanted to do, apart from conquering Kinabalu and learning Mandarin, is to get my diving license.

Today was the first day of the course.

During the theory part of it, I was still skeptical. In my mind were so many doubts. Am I strong enough to carry that tank of air? Will my eyes burn when we do the 'flooding the mask' exercise? Will I be able to sink to the bottom? How to handle the pressure in my ears when I descent.

After theory class, we went to P. Sapi.

Suddenly I found myself sitting at the edge of the boat, with a tank on my back, and flippers on my feet. My head was tucked down, my knees bent. The instructor had his hand on my shoulder. "Karena, have fun!", said he.

I wanted to protest. I'm not ready, I wanted to say. But the regulator was already in my mouth, and he'd already pushed me off the boat.

Half an hour later, I was swimming with the fishies, seeing corals, sea anemone, and other sea life.

I had fun. I'm really digging this sport. Diving is a totally new adventure. And maybe it did help a little to have a hot guy in my team.