Sea Seed

On my first day of freediving, I reached 5 meters. On the second day, I went as far as 6.5. Last weekend on my second dive, I dived 9 meters in freshwater and fought a stubborn fish at 10 meters deep. However, I still cannot hold my breath for longer than 40 seconds under water and I still have difficulties equalizing on both ears. I still need to practice more.

My sister said it is not surprising that I found it relatively easier than others. “We were trained as divers and not as swimmers”, she said.

We learned to swim with our uncle, Bapa Don’s “help”. His “swimming lessons” include dragging us to the deeper parts of the sea and making us swim our way to the shore. You eventually learn how to do it when your only options are swim or drown. More often than not, his lessons were him picking up a random white pebble, throwing it far into the sea, and asking us to retrieve it. My sister would always try her best to find the pebble while I will just pick the closest white pebble I can grab from the sea floor.

My memories of these swimming lessons have grown fainter over time; but last weekend, I remembered something else: I was wearing fins the first time I found myself able to swim.