Certified! Dive #5

Picture on the dock after the day was over

My first dive as a certified diver was dive #5 in my log book.  The instructors told us to go have fun and surface when we hit 800 psi (we ended up surfacing at 1000 psi and were the last group to come up...)



We were told to plan a dive, and then go do it.  Well, there isn't much to see in the quarry, the deepest we ever got in the class was 25 feet, and we mostly stayed around 15 (so the whole checkout dive was just a safety stop!) and the quarry isn't really even big enough that you can get lost; you might just surface a good swim away from the dock. So we set the following plan: let's dive for 20 minutes, and then we'll check in and see if we want to keep diving longer.

So Anna and I go down to dive and swim around a bit.  But at one point, after about 5 minutes, we float up and find ourselves on the surface. Oops. Anyhow, we kind of mention to each other that we felt like we weren't getting anywhere (we started in really shallow water) and because it was so shallow (5-10 feet deep) we were just mucking up the bottom and the visibility was like 1 foot...  So we agree to snorkel out to the platform, descend next to it (not on it), so we are at least 15 feet deep, and try again.

This time, we descend (free descent, not on the line, but next to the platform) and go under water. We notice the computers start adding time to the previous dive, not logging a new one (but also didn't count the time on the surface- nifty).  We just swim around, trying to turn right every once in a while, since we noticed we both tend to vear left.  We tried to stay around 15-20 feet, and I know this is going to sound stupid, but it was really hard- because we kept running into little hills in the ground.  You'd be floating along with good buoyancy and then all the sudden the ground was there and you'd be in the grass kicking up much.  Needless to say, despite our best efforts, if we didn't want to dive at 5-10 feet (and end up floating to the surface)  our visibility sucked because we couldn't stay out of the mud.  I tried the little ankle circle frog kicks the DM told me about the day before, but those sure didn't get me anywhere.

Dive finished*

We muddle around, see a fish or 5 or 6, and are just aimless.  Quite honestly- this dive was horrible. There was nothing to see, and dirt and grass everywhere.  When our clocks read 20 minutes, we agreed to swim a bit more, at 25 minutes, I thumbed up and she said okay.  We went to 13 feet and did a 3 minute safety stop.  I was somewhat impressed with us, as this was with no line, and I managed to stay between 11 and 15 feet (bottom was probably 20), with probably 80% of the time at 13 feet.  3 minutes feels like a long time when you are trying to stay in one place.

We surfaced, found out we were nearly at the dock (um, I think we had intended to go the other way...) but also we were the last group in the water!  We were at 1000 psi, so I think everyone quit early? No one else really seemed to be an air hog, and I think Anna thought they really expected us to dive until we had 800 left, so she was a little worried about surfacing early.

So the dive sucked, but it was kind of fun we got to do it on our own.  Kevin had originally planned that we'd try to go up 2-3 times a month until the quarry gets too cold, just to practice; but having done that, I don't think so.  It's like $50 in gas, $120 in rental gear for the both of us, and 30 minutes under water seems like a lifetime.  Once a month is probably going to be enough for me... (but I do think it is important to keep practicing...so we definitely have to go.) There are a few other places to dive around here, one that is a lot closer- but when we asked the instructors they told us this was definitely the best.  EEK!

Now we just have to wait until December.  Cozumel here we come!

*Notice the backwards mask. I HATE having my mask on when I'm in the air. I feel like I am suffocating. But they have this ridiculous thing about your mask being on your forehead meaning you are a panicked diver, and give you a really hard time about it, so I turn it around instead.  I actually read about it on scubaboard and started doing it my second pool session, and then at OW I noticed a few of the instructors do it too, and by the end of the weekend, almost all of the divers were. I've been a panicked diver multiple times in the pool and my mask was never neatly placed on my forehead with me floating calmly waiting for what comes next! I tossed that thing off my face as fast as I could.  Also, the thrashing to stay above water (because in irrational panic you forget about the handy inflator button), and hyperventilating were probably better clues that I was panicking...