How I Became a Certified Open Water Diver through Hive

_{One of the few underwater photos taken by Cameron's friend whom he arranged to take some photos of me while underwater. I was okay with not having a photo underwater because I was there for the training. I'm sure photos would come later in my next dives or when I already have my own GoPro, but Cameron really requested (or threatened 🤔) his friend take photos during my last dive.}

_{For those who might say it's not new, just indulge me in this. The world is changing and I know people have been using crypto as a medium of exchange of goods and services for a long time, but just let me celebrate my own milestone. While I am happy for all the big breakthroughs posted every single day, I want to celebrate personal achievements. And this is one of them.}

I would like to emphasize this early that while money is integral to the transaction, it's the network effects that Hive provided for the transaction to happen. In short, I paid HIVE and HBD for my open water diving training and certification, but the circumstances leading to the arrangement made me believe more in the power of Hive. We are sometimes so focused on the price together with how much value we can extract from the chain that we fail to appreciate the best asset of Hive: the community. After all, without the community, everything else will eventually fail.

I felt like the universe is connecting me to the right people in the community for me to fulfill one of my biggest dreams in life: to become a diver. I already mentioned it in one of my posts that ever since I was able to acquire an old National Geographic magazine that contained some amazing underwater photos, I became obsessed with the life and the world there. Dreams do come true! And Hive made it all possible for me.

_{This was my comment on Laarni's introduction post, but I already observed some of her awesome travel posts. I was thrilled to know she's in Cebu.}

_{Part of our Discord conversation. I forgot to mention that I was given a big discount! Thanks again, @scubahead! So aside from paying in HIVE or HBD, I was also given a big discount and a t-shirt!}

But it was in September and just part of the agreement that I would do the training after I resign from my day job. I already tendered my resignation and expected that I would be Moalboal last October, immediately that weekend after my last day at work. Well, life has its own ways. The initial plan to be in Moalboal with my workmates was cancelled. I got really sad, but when my other set of friends from work said that they were planning to be in Moalboal sometime in November, I invited myself to be with them.

I already had the funds enough for the training and the date has been set. The agreement was they would just do discovery scuba while I would be doing the open water diver training. Again, life has its own ways. Days before November 14, our water supply (or concession, I don't know, whatever) was cut off. We have a common water account in the whole compound and we would just pay our neighbour for our equivalent water usage. We diligently paid our dues, but they were not able to pay theirs. I hated that idea in the first place so I decided that we would have our own water supply. I paid for everything so the fund that was allocated for the training was used.

_{After that very exhausting second to the last dive. The current was strong during this dive, but I was in high spirits because of the sardine storm. Image courtesy of @scubahead.}

I still joined my friends in Moalboal, but I didn't push through with the diving lessons. Instead, I just joined them in discovery scuba. This was when we had a meet up with the people in Moalboal. Great time, but I had to explain to Cameron the diving lessons would probably be in 2021 because life happened. The discovery scuba was a revelation though. I got excited about the diving lessons because of that.

After that Moalboal trip, I really thought that my diving lessons would be this year. I didn't expect that it would happen in 2020 because I didn't have another source of income except Hive. Since all the funds allocated for that diving lessons were already used, I had to save again. I think one of the reasons why I pushed through with it during the last week of 2020 was because Laarni offered that I could stay at their house while having my diving lessons. I was so grateful, but I was reluctant at first because it felt as if I would be intruding their house. She convinced me that it was okay, so I decided to visit Moalboal on my own.

I couldn't ask for a better host. I had a great time during my stay at Laarni and Yohann's house. We talked a lot about almost any topic we could think of. Mostly it's about Hive though. There were times when we had to consciously stop our conversation because we felt that we couldn't do anything if we continue talking. The food is also on another level. I could make one post just talking about Laarni's food, but all I can say is this: I had one of the best, if not the best, monggo dish I have ever tried in my 27 years of existence. 😂

I was assured by Cameron that I would be okay during the whole duration of the training. I was assigned with one instructor, Adam Windust, who is the most chill instructor in Cebu Dive Center. Usually, it's one instructor for two students, but I had the privilege of one-on-one training, which is really great because all your attention is fixed to the lessons to be learned. I had a great time and I didn't have much difficulty in following his instructions. I was anxious at first, especially during the first dive, but I felt the assurance that everything would be fine.

I initially said that I would pay upfront, but Cameron said it would be after the last dive because there might be something that could happen to me while on the training. However, on the second day, he said that I could pay there and then because he already knew I would be fine. I was supposed to pay HBD in full, but the conversion at that time decreased so I paid the balance in HIVE.

_{Just a few seconds after the transaction, I took a screenshot and tweeted about it and also shared it in my Facebook account. Those who know about crypto were amazed while some of my friends got curious}

I was really amazed by how Hive made it all possible. As long as both parties agree on the medium at which goods and services are exchanged, then the transaction will proceed. I'm just thankful to Cameron for the offer of making it all happen. I hope that one day, more businesses here in the Philippines will accept HIVE and HBD.

I finally have my ID! Thanks to Laarni and Camille for bringing it with them when they came here in the city about two weeks ago.

I guess that's all for this post. That's one of the added reasons why I believe in the potential of Hive to be massive in the future. With the almost instant transaction without fees no matter how large the amount would be, it is just awesome. With all that stuff, it's still the network effects for me. I was able to meet a lot of awesome people who helped me achieve one of my biggest dreams in life! Who knows, sky diving next?

This is still part of my Moalboal series. It took a lot of delays and procrastination before being published. Anyway, here are the links of the previous posts I've made about Moalboal:

Kim Ybañez

_{Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines). He's also a trying hard photographer so stay tuned as he shares his photos and his thought process while creating them.}

_{If you like his content, don't forget to upvote and leave a comment to show some love. You can also reblog if you want to. Also, don't forget to follow him to be updated with his latest posts.}