Hawaii - Big Foot

I don't have a diver's license. The scuba divings I've done were all introductory dives accompanied by instructors. I wore what I was provided with and followed the instructor to wherever he was leading us to. The one at Cairns was very much like a money-making trip where the instructor baby-sitted you under water, made sure you're comfortable and when necessary, you can hold on to him and he would dragged you around. There were underwater photographer who took pictures for you and sold it to you at 10 times of its cost, or probably more.

The one I did in Maui wasn't like that. We got to the office, got a short briefing, got our wetsuit fitted, as well as mask and fins. Got up the boat, oxygen tanks, open sea, down we went. Instructor in front, we followed almost at your own pace. No one was to hold your hands and if you were slow, you were slow. Don't worry, he eventually would turned back to check on you. Being the scary cat that I was, I refused to be slow and be the last, afraid that I was going to get lost. Thank god Jevon was a sweetie who had constantly kept an eye on me.

On the second dive, Jev ran out of oxygen so he had to return while myself and another two Korean girls had carried on our underwater adventure. Being a klutz like I always am, I got a coral cut. I felt the cut on top of my left foot but there was nothing much I could do but to keep going. I totally had forgotten about it until when I was up on the boat again, the gentleman next to me tapped on my shoulder and told me I was bleeding and asked if I was all right.

Call me stupid but the first thing that came across my mind was... "I'm not having my period, what blood?!" Then I looked down and saw a trail of blood. Oh my god, then I could felt the pain. Captain gave me some tissues and told me that I would be fine. Was that all he could offer, what the f*ck!?

When we were on land at the office, one of the staff was nice enough to get the first aid box, sprayed some disinfectant and gave me a band-aid. For the next couple of days, I had been putting on tea tree oil - the only aid I have in my toiletries when I travel. Of course, we were all having so much fun and couldn't give a damn about getting some proper medication, thinking that Lynn is a tough healthy girl whose wound could've healed by itself.

That night, I was even on heels to go for a Japanese seafood dinner and partied the whole night. Got to speak to a bouncer outside of the restaurant who noticed my bandage and warned me to take care of it, as well as to see a doctor if it swells up as coral cuts could be very serious. So much for not taking others' advice.

By time we returned to Honolulu, my foot was huge and it started to worry me a little. Just a little. Got some antibiotic cream from ABC Store as well as some proper bandages. I knew it would be fine, NOT!To cut a very long story short, my foot caught a few ladies attention while we were visiting the Polynesian Cultural Centre. One of them is a daughter of a pharmacist and she warned me how serious my foot could get, that I should see a doctor as it wasn't looking good, that she knew of cases where you've to be hospitalized. Another lady called for first aid to check on me *faint* I was then, seriously worried, and embarrassed at the same time having half of the tour group scrutinizing my foot. The medical officer who cleaned my wound and put on a new bandage advised me to get a wheelchair as I shouldn't be doing too much walking. Heck, I wasn't going to be seen on a wheelchair when I could walk, it didn't go with my outfit for Christ's sake!My foot didn't get better that night and to ease my worries, I had decided to skip the round-island tour the following day and made a visit to the doctor instead. Got a shot on the butt and got put on a course of antibiotics for 10 days. You know me, hadn't touched these shit for ages but at times like this, I had to succumb to it *sigh*Not only that, the doctor had to give me a long lecture on how I shouldn't have waited that long to see a doctor; on how dangerous it was; that coral cuts were common but it wasn't common for someone who waited that long to seek professional help; that I could've ended up in the hospital. Geez... how would I know when my would was healing well except for the swell; how would I know when I felt perfectly fine without a temperature.

Sleazebag was concerned but was a little sarcastic at the same time, saying things like I should've worn something beneath my fins but excuse me, I was the beginner! Violet said I shouldn't have touched the corals but hello, it was the other way round, they touched me! Bad luck. I was dumb enough to have traveled without insurance this time and I had to forked out about 300 bucks on consultation and medication. Fantastic!

Well, money can't buy health but it helped me bought recovery. In hindsight, my foot did look terrible three weeks ago. Just imagine how bad it could get if I didn't go to the doctor. Quarantine at Australian custom?