Saturday, June 21, 2008
Well, day one of the Scuba Dive Cerification is over. It was a blast. Basically we did three dives. The first was a snorkle dive out to the dive platform to make sure we knew were it was and what is was like with our full 7mm suit, gloves, and hood on. Definately a different feeling than it was in the pool. The hood gets to be annoying. There is so much stuff to deal with.
The second dive was a scuba dive. Put all the gear together. I was amazed today that I needed 20lbs of weight in my BC in order for me to sink. I took the dive float out to the dive platform. Once we were at the platform, the Dive Masters had us drop down to the bottom. As we were going down we had about 10ft of visibility. Once everyone was on the silt bottom, visibility went to almost 0. At times it was difficult to see my hand in front of my mask. As the silt started to settle, the Dive Masters had us go through our skills. Mask clearing, taking off masks and clearing, regulator retrieval, and regulator purging. After we completed the task, we moved to the dive platform and got used to the enviroment. Then it was time to surface. The bottom depth was about 20 feet. Once we surfaced we got with our buddies for the day and had to take compass reading to head back to the shore. The compass reading was 270 degrees. Since I brought the dive float out, my buddy (Janice) decided to take the dive float and I would work the dive compass. Once again, alot to think about. Watch the compass, watch your depth, make sure your dive buddy is near... Anyway, we made it exactly back to the bench we were heading for on land. Amazing swimming that distance under water. Even saw a school of sunfish just our of arms length below me. If you aren’t paying attention, it is really easy to get disoriented underwater with limited visibility.
Once we made it back to shore, it was time to take off all the gear and do lunch. Went out with 3000 psi and ended with 2000 psi. We also completed our log books for the snorkle drive and the first scuba dive. Didn’t seem like it but we were out of the water for 1hr 30mins (Surface Time). At that point we headed back to our gear.
Once again, (even harder this time since everything was wet) we put back on our gear after changing tanks and headed back into the water. One long surface swim back out to the dive platform. This time we were going to do bouyance drills and shared air ascents. The first pair dove down to the platform as the rest of us waited on the surface. Just as the first group was finishing, we heard the first thunder of the day. Since the park evacuates the lake when there is thunder and lightening, our Dive Master had all of us go under water to the dive platform. Once down, our Dive Master abreviated the dive and just had up partner up and do a shared air ascent. I was the one who had to simulate being out of air and shared air to the surface. Then it was back again to an underwater compass dive back to shore. This time I was going to hold the dive float and let my buddy do the compass work. But as we started out, my buddy started heading in the wrong direction. Got her attention and showed the correct direction. She then wanted to switch and she took the dive flag and I did compass work once again. Another long underwater swim back to shore. This time we were a little to the right of where we wanted to be.
All in all, a very fun day. I am exhausted and wore out, but am looking forward to tomorrows dive. We will be doing 2 more dives tomorrow. The first one will finish up on the skills testing, then the sencond is more of a fun dive. I am hoping things go a little slower tomorrow. Seems like the day flew by today and seemed like we were constantly rushed. Hopefully it will be a little more relaxing and we will be able to explore more. I hope to see more fish tomorrow! Also Heather is coming tomorrow and will be taking pictures, so I should have those to show tomorrow too!
So far, I am really enjoying scuba! It is SO much fun. Really glad I am doing this.
Day 1 down.... Bring on Day 2!!!!!!