I’ve got a lot to catch up on. I have been busy all last week and this week promises to be just as hectic. I was busy all weekend in the water, pictures will probably follow next week. I am now an open-water certified scuba diver! It was SOOOO cool! I read all about it and studied real hard. I knew how it worked but until you actually do it, nothing can prepare you for just HOW cool this is.
Friday night we set up the equipment and tried it all out. I squeezed my fat body into a wet suit. Lisa and Wade tried hard not to laugh when they told me that I had it on backwards. We went to the dive shop to fill the air tanks and take the first quizzes. Everything OK, ready for Saturday morning.
We meet up Saturday and head out to Ginnie Springs. After gearing up and settling down into the water, I was ready to take my first breath underwater. Even before fully submerging I was almost giggling at the fact that my mouth was under water and I could breath. I know, a snorkel gives you the same effect but it’s just not the same. It was mind-blowing to me.
Before getting started, Wade and Brent told us about the mask/beer rule. One of the signs of a panicked diver is spitting out the regulator and moving the mask up onto the forehead (at the surface of course). We were not to rest the mask on our foreheads even for a minute. Every time we did, we had to buy them a round of beer. No student has ever gone through the class without buying at least one round. Lisa and I decided right then and there that we’d be the first.
We listened as Brent gave us instructions on the tasks we had to perform. Some of them seemed easier in the book but none of them proved to be too difficult. Our first practice was in 15′ of water. We flew through them pretty fast because neither one of us had any real trouble with the skills. When your life depends on these skills you tend to pay close attention and learn fast! The “out of air” drill really drove home how bad it would suck to be on the bottom and not able to breathe. Brent got behind me and turned off my air. After a couple of breaths it got hard to breathe and then it just stopped. He cut it back on as soon as I gave the out of air signal but simulating that feeling was important because now I know how it feels and how much I never want to feel it again.
After the basics we went over to “Devil’s Eye” where you could drop down 30′ or so. The only problem I had was clearing my ears. As we descended I took forever to equalize the pressure in my ears. I finally got there but I could see that this was going to create a problem for me. Wade later explained that the canals are elastic and with experience and practice I will clear easier. I hope so, it really sucked to slow everybody down because I couldn’t drop fast enough.
As we surfaced, Wade pointed out a fresh-water flounder. The size of a quarter and camouflaged so well I didn’t see it. As he moved his finger closer to it, the ground fluttered and moved. A few feet away it stopped and settled in again and it was hard to see. You had to keep your eye on it like the ‘cups and balls’ magic trick.
We moved up and over into “Devil’s Ear” on the Santa Fe river. There is a cliff right where the spring ends and you can drop down into the river. At the bottom, looking up 50′ at the surface was magical! The crystal clear water from the spring mixing with the dark water (tannic acid?) from the river was quite a sight. There was a sharp line of where the spring ended and the river began and the temperature difference was very noticeable. I though the spring water was cold until I felt the river water. I stood right on the line and felt the cold water on the right side of my body and the (relatively) warmer spring water on the left side.
It was still cold in the spring water though so after a while we got out and warmed up in the showers. The water temperature was 72? and the air temp was in the 70s so it wasn’t too bad. We spent 6 hours in the water Saturday so after a while, you just got cold and couldn’t get warm. We did well and we were looking forward to Sunday’s dives.
Saturday night a cold front came through. When I got to Wade’s house Sunday morning it was 36 degrees. When we got out to Manatee Springs in Chiefland, it hadn’t gotten much warmer. The wet suits were still wet from yesterday and cold! Lisa says she found ice crystals in her body suit. The anticipation of the cold was worse than the cold itself but NOTHING could keep me out of the water that day. We dressed out and went over to “Catfish Hotel”. It’s a small sinkhole covered in duckweed. It looked like a swamp. Yuck! In we went and just below the surface it was clear. We dropped down to roughly 70-80′ and I had absolutely no problem clearing my ears. It was unbelievable! We had to be careful to stay out of the caves and the flow but it was cool just hanging out at the bottom, digging on the fish and stuff. I found myself thinking that I had already become an addict. I loved being down there. Venturing into the mouth of the cave I could feel the allure and the danger of swimming further in. Not today and not for a while. I’m not sure I want to do any cave diving training. Maybe after I learn some more and gain experience in the water but right now it scares the hell out of me.
When we got out and changed into warm clothes (it was still in the 40s) Brent and Wade congratulated us as we were now officially certified. At that point Lisa pointed out that they were buying the beer. We hadn’t screwed up the mask bit the whole time. Wade said he was happy to buy the beer because we were really the first students that got through the class without doing it once. He got us back by not telling us an important secret earlier. When Lisa and I got out of Catfish Hotel, we were covered in duckweed. All our gear was covered too. Wade and Brent were perfectly clean. The trick is to go under and swim over to the stairs and blow a lot of air out. The duckweed will clear a hole at the surface and you climb out clean. NOW you tell me….
As we headed home we stopped in Gainesville for dinner, drank our well-earned Guinness and took our final exam. I had such a great time I could have hung out all night but we’ve got to get home, I’ve got a lot of duckweed to clean off my gear.
Anyway, the diving experience was one of the coolest things I’ve tried. It was well worth the money, the trip and the cold! I see a lot of dives coming up in my future. I can’t wait to get back under the water. The are a lot of other courses I’ll take before I even begin to think about caves. First is “Advanced Open Water”. There’s a long list of stuff I want to do. Deep Diver, Cavern Diver, Wreck Diver, Ice Diver, Search and Recovery… Oh man, here comes the shakes, I need another dive fix….
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