Muse back!
November 14, 2006 / Tuesday
Okay, I'm Over It
Had scuba class tonight. Cleared my mask in the 10 foot section of the pool with the utmost calm, then took the thing off to fix the strap down there later on in the night. No problemo. Awesome.
Let's see if I can remember all the skills we learned tonight. We did a backward roll entry, a manual BCD inflation fin pivot, neutral buoyancy hovering, removal and replacement of BCD and weight belt both above and below water, a sideways simulation of a controlled emergency swimming ascent, the same thing plus surfacing and manual inflation of BCD, the tired diver tow, the "I've got your arm and I'm talking to you to keep you calm" diver tow, and the "I grab your feet like we're in a weird wheelbarrow race" push. I may have missed one or two, but I think that covers most of it.
At one point, our instructor asked for our masks. He then proceeded to chuck them into the deep end of the pool, watch them sink, and tell us to go fetch. I told him that if I opened my eyes my contacts would float away. He told me to go fetch anyway. So I did. I swam to where I could see my mask and snorkel directly under me, deflated my BCD, and descended to go get it. For a moment I thought I felt it, then it was gone. I sprawled to cover as much area as I could and kept feeling around for it. Finally, I found it again, oriented it, put it on, pushed my hair from the edge, and cleared it. Yeah!
When we surfaced, the instructor pointed to Aaron as the culprit who stole my mask (turns out I really did have it initially). I didn't and still don't quite understand how he could mistake my fluorescent yellow (or, as I exclaimed with incredulous laughter, "bright fucking yellow!") snorkel for his totally clear setup, but that's okay. It was good for me to have something unexpected to deal with while doing the thing I am most uncomfortable with.
We're done with our required pool skills. On Thursday we'll do some skills our instructor comes up with and just hang out and work on whatever we want. For me that means buoyancy control (especially given my floatey toes) and hanging out underwater with my mask off.
Not so apprehensive about the ocean dives anymore. :)
November 14, 2006 10:19 PM | Water
Comments
Maybe his eyes were closed, too. When are we gonna see pics?
Posted by: Wendy at November 15, 2006 07:52 AM
Maybe, but I think all the non contact lens wearers were peeking.
Pics after this weekend, methinks. I might even see if I can bring my cheapie underwater camera. :)
Posted by: Viv at November 15, 2006 10:10 AM
yaaaaaaay! look out ocean, here comes Viv!
Posted by: cheddah j at November 15, 2006 12:40 PM
heh, i had to look under water with contacts on just to see if they would move but i squinted so they wouldn't escape. =D
and congrats! that's totally awesome that you're all, eh, i can do this...with my eyes closed even!
Posted by: i, andrea at November 15, 2006 12:42 PM
So where will you be doing your ocean dive? Monterey, I hope? It's so damn awesome. Even when things look like total crap above the water, as soon as you duck your head under, it's a whole new world.
Posted by: Chris Weiss at November 15, 2006 04:36 PM
Maybe I should try squinting to see if I can kind of see.
Yup, the dive's in Monterey. :)
Posted by: Viv at November 15, 2006 05:34 PM