Scuba Day #5 and #6
Scuba Day #5 was another pool dive. Julia and I headed over to the shop where we checked our tanks, packed our bags, and stuffed them in the back of Charlynn’s red truck. Then we carpooled in Geoff’s car to the YMCA across from the Co-op. Like we did the last time we unpacked our stuff from the truck and loaded it all into the boiling pool room. Once all the gear was inside we put together our BCD’s with weights, tanks, and reg. I did a buddy check for Julia but realized later in the pool I missed that her reg was attached to her tank the wrong way because her regulator was on the left side of her body when it should be on the right. I felt like a bad buddy, but I guess I will be looking for that next time. First thing we did was pretend as if we were entering the water from a boat. With hands on weight belt and mask, you do a lifeguard step drop-in like they would save a child in shallow water. Once we get up from the water I turned to Brandon and gave him the surface “OK” sign which is when you put both hands over your head making an “O” shape. That lead us right into taking our weights belts off at the surface and then putting them back on, no sweat. Right after we all successfully finished that task we practiced staying neutrally buoyant near the pool surface and did three laps. Once back at the deep end we tried doing our fin pivot again, hovering, and filling and clearing our masks again. We also practiced orally inflating our BCD’s if we wanted to save, out of air, or something happened to our hose. My one fin kept falling off during all of these, so Charlynn decided we would switch out my fins to a different kind, which are actually really cool and blue! But, I don’t get them until after the Open Water dives, but maybe before! I honestly don’t know. Alright, so after all of that then we moved on to the “out of air” buddy regulator exchange. This was the one thing I was most nervous for. And along with that we had to orally inflate our BCD to become neutrally buoyant before we were allowed to ascend. Not too thrilled. Julia and I practiced a few times on surface and then headed down to the deep end. Charlynn made me the victim for the first time which means I would be the one out of air. So I told Julia I was out of air and when she handed me her regulator I took mine out of my mouth and like inhaled water so when I put her reg in my mouth I was coughing really hard. Julia’s eyes got really big, but I assured her I was fine. I think I just got a little anxious/nervous and didn’t pay attention to breathing out. After I caught my breath I had to orally inflate my BCD. Also struggled, but managed quite well. As soon as all of us had finished that task we swam back to the shallow end and then practiced making an “ahhhhhh” sound for 15 seconds or longer. This is something I will actually have to practice on my own because I can only last like 10 seconds. That ended the end of class, so we took our gear apart, packed it up, rinsed off the chlorine, took our stuff to the truck, got in Geoff’s car, went back to the shop, cleaned our gear and went home 2 hours earlier than expected!
Scuba Day #6 was just our final test day. 50 questions all multiple choice. Based on how many I missed Charlynn and I agreed that I’m a much better hands on learner since I seem to do very well in the pool. She said she’s the same way so I must say that made me feel a little better. Next class is actually today. Last pool dive (thank God) and Open Water dives this weekend! Today we will be doing the Drysuit Special. Tell you about that later!