I went exploring the Saujana Putra Lake again over the weekend with my husband and my dive buddy.
This weekend dive marks my 9th freshwater, limited visibility dive. My first two was in Empangan Semenyih, Selangor while the rest was at Saujana Putra Lake.
It may not be my first limited visibility dive, but each of these dives still feels like the first to me. Most dive buddies in my circle are are sea divers. Naturally, diving in the sea, especially tropical ones like in Malaysia is like exploring paradise. The tropical sea water is nothing short of crystal clear, and a home to abundance of marine lives. The only time Malaysian seas and islands gives bad visibility and weather is probably during monsoon season, which unadventurous and untrained divers commonly avoid for safety reasons.
Many of my dive buddies cannot understand why I’m so fond of lake diving. Lake diving is not the same as diving in the sea, especially in Malaysia, as the visibility can be as crappy as 0m-1m max, but I’ve learned plenty of things through freshwater lake diving:
* I learned to be more mindful of the weight I carry and to make extra effort to watch my buoyancy. Kicking mud up is a no, no. As it will make things worst for everyone.
* It builds alot of confidence and I’ve learned to be calm and not panic in alot of underwater situations.
*I’m not a patient person, but this help me have compassion and be more patient towards those who are diving with me.
* Limited visibility trained me to be more observant towards the surroundings. If you are not observant, you cannot spot anything at all and you wouldn’t be able to enjoy your dive.
* I learned the importance of exposure suit and how dressing up for the occasion is helpful in protecting you from hazards and unexpected injuries.
* I learned to quickly adjust to the changes of temperature and visibility; cuz there’s thermocline here. The temperature can be warm one moment and the very next moment at the same depth it can suddenly turn very cold. The water colour changed drastically too at certain depth. One moment it can be clear green then the next moment it can be yellowish or muddy.
*I learned to make effort to be alert all the time.
* I learned to make effort to be more self-reliant instead of totally relying on my guide or my dive buddy to keep me safe, as losing buddy and direction is really common when you dive in limited visibility.
Despite of this, I still have more to learn. To me, as long as I’m a scuba diver, I will always be a student diver. The learning will never stop, and I will always need instructors and more teachers to teach me and guide me. That’s the most funny thing about learning. The more you learn, the more you realized that you know less. It’s really humbling, if you ask me.
One thing for sure, this will definitely not be my last dive here. Some stuff I’ve learned here, is not something I can cultivate in pool trainings. I’m itching to do more dives at this spot, especially night dive. There’s even more to see at night over here in the lake.
Freshwater limited visibility diving is not for faint hearted scuba divers or freedivers alike. If you’re not adventurous and have no sense of adventure, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, but if you’re someone who doesn’t mind going rugged and extreme dive, then you should give this a try if you haven’t yet.