Newsletter
Newsletter
https://www.med.cuhk.edu.hk/alumni/newsletter/editors-pick-dr-peter-kwonghttps://www.med.cuhk.edu.hk/alumni/newsletter/editors-pick-dr-peter-kwong
A Summer Fling with Scuba Diving Unleashes Craving for More
一次難忘體驗,激起對潛水的熱愛
A Summer Fling with Scuba Diving Unleashes Craving for More
Dr. Peter KWONG’s fascination with scuba diving and the world beneath the water began 17 years ago “I was in Hainan Island in the summer of 2002 to try my hand at scuba diving.” What greeted him below was unforgettable - it was littered with colourful reefs and beautiful fish of different types. “There were so many critters of varying shapes and colours,” he recalls. “I was hooked.”
After returning to Hong Kong, he and his wife took up diving lessons and in that same year, he became a certified diver.
Scuba diving, scuba diving and scuba diving
Dr. KWONG, a surgeon, had been snorkelling since he was eight years old and learnt all about equalising the ear pressure - an important trait for potential divers. “With snorkelling, you are limited to one breath each time you go underwater, and then you have to come up again to catch another breath. But with scuba diving, the oxygen tank on your back gives you almost limitless time to explore the sea.”
Vacations for Dr. KWONG, his wife and daughter, almost always involve scuba diving. They would travel to diving hotspots in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
“I’m addicted to scuba diving. I love the sun, the sea and the tranquillity beneath the waters. Diving is the place to experience weightlessness, that’s why they train astronauts in water.” And he especially loves drift diving, that is when he is transported by water movements caused by tides or ocean currents. “You feel like superman ‘flying' in the water.”
Unforgettable underwater occurrences
He has had many memorable, sometimes scary, experiences.
He managed to photograph a huge moray eel with its mouth wide open in Egypt’s Red Sea after pleading... “Don’t bite me, don’t bite me, I just want to take one picture.”
In Bohol, Philippines, there was a close encounter with a whale shark the size of a large school bus…so close that its tail knocked off the scuba fin of one of his friends.
In waters off Malaysian Borneo, some divers got so carried away while chasing an out-of-season hammerhead shark for photos that they lost track of the time and precious oxygen for the ascent to the surface. Fortunately, there were experienced divers around, like Dr. KWONG, who helped them to safety.
A picture worth a million-dollars
His most enduring moment was when his then 18-year-old daughter encountered a giant manta ray in Okinawa two years ago. “The smile on her face, together with the manta rays, was worth a million dollars to me.”
Scuba diving, like medical school, has taught him similar life lessons. “Rules are not meant to be broken,” he says. “We follow rules in the operating room so as not to jeopardise the life of the patient. Similarly, if we don’t follow regulations while diving, we are endangering our lives. Also, one must know one’s mental and physical limitations. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
一次難忘體驗,激起對潛水的熱愛
鄺國雄醫生對於潛水的熱愛,始於17 年前第一次到海南島潛水,色彩繽紛的珊瑚和珊瑚魚令他完全著迷,回港後便馬上和妻子考取了潛水執照。
潛水,潛水,還是潛水
外科專科醫生鄺國雄醫生,從8 歲起便開始浮潛,但由於浮潛需要上水換氣,而潛水的氧氣瓶能令他無限制地探索大海,從此菲律賓、馬來西亞、印尼和泰國等,都是他們潛水的熱點。
難忘的潛水事件
鄺醫生許多難忘的經歷,當中既有「驚」亦有「喜」。例如在埃及紅海遇到巨大的海鰻,在菲律賓薄荷島與鯨鯊近距離接觸,和在馬來西亞婆羅洲追逐鎚頭鯊等。不過當中最難忘的發生於兩年前,他在沖繩拍攝到正在潛水的18歲女兒,後面有魔鬼魚作為背景,這張珍貴的照片對他來說,簡直是無價。
潛水和手術室,都讓鄺醫生學會了許多人生道理:「守則是用來遵守的,在手術室裡不能違反守則,潛水時也要遵守在水裡的守則,否則都可能會危及生命。」