A new experience

Another thing we tried out while my parents were visiting was snuba. We didn't wear BCs or have tanks on us. The air was kept at the surface and we were connected to it via long hoses. My parents aren't divers, so we kind of wanted to try something that we all could do. Unfortunately, what I didn't know at the time was they only were going to take down two people at a time anyhow, and do the other two on the second location. So I would have been better off just diving so I could take more pictures of everything. Oh well, at least I got to try diving while only wearing a wetsuit. I found it less enjoyable than actual diving, but a good experience anyhow. My snorkeling at the second reef was marred by a jellyfish incident (they were everywhere that day), but I carry vinegar in my save-a-dive pack so it stopped stinging by the time we got back to shore.

Aperitif

I think our vacation with Jason can be officially reported as a success. Every time we go somewhere with Jason I am reminded how vacationally compatible we are. We seem to move at the same pace and enjoy the same things. I just hope Jason feels the same! We had a lovely time wandering around enjoying good food and wine and not feeling the need to be on the go all the time and seeing every last ounce of Disney.

We started at Epcot this time. Usually when we have new people with us we like to start at the Magic Kingdom because that is the epitome of Disney. However, since we were all about the Food and Wine Festival this time we made an exception and started at Epcot. Pictured above, Jason bravely tries the Beverly, one of the interesting sodas of the world available at what used to be called Ice Station Cool. Then we moved on to the World Showcase and started eating our way around the world. It was very nice and the food was great. We also tried some interesting wines/drinks from other countries. I got to try some of the ice wine this year. I liked it, but I don't think we will be shelling out the money for any!

We were able to watch the candy lady in Japan, which is one of my favorite activities. And, thanks to Roland I was lucky enough to get a hummingbird from her. We also saw some of the bands around the world, including MoRockin' (I think Jason enjoyed the belly dancer), the British Invasion, and Off Kilter. I made everyone stop for a show with the Voices of Liberty too. Since Jason is a diver, we made arrangements for all of us to dive in the Living Seas. It was awesome, and neat to be able to show Jason. I think he agrees that the best part is playing with the people! Although many of the kids are a little freaked out when you come up to them. We were pretty lucky and the wildlife was fairly active while we were diving. A green sea turtle swam right up to us and gave Jason a good looking-over. After that it was over to the Rose and Crown for dinner. Roland and Jason both had the fish and chips (and I snitched a bit) and a beer flight. Add the Illuminations show and sticky toffee pudding for dessert and it was a wonderful evening.

Dive Boat

Well, Jason left today to return to Michigan, which is kind of a bummer. But we had a fantastic vacation with him so that was awesome. You can also read about some of our adventures over at Roland's blog or Jason's blog. Jason flew in last Saturday and stayed for the entire week. The highlight of his stay was the trip down to Key Largo to go diving. Jason was awesome and investigated all sorts of places to stay and dive shops and even booked everything for us! How great is that? Pretty much all I had to do was show up and jump in.

We dove on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and each day was better than the last. The first dive was at North, North Dry Rocks, and no I don't really understand why there are two Norths. It was nice, but I did get a little chilly down there. Also the second tank of the trip was canceled due to imminent lightning, which was a little scary. That evening we went to the Fish House for dinner. It was very good. We each opted for fish or seafood which turned out to be a good choice. Apparently they not only purchase their fish fresh from local fishermen, they purchase the fish whole and fillet it themselves. Needless to say, that was some fresh fish.

Wednesday, we dove at the wreck of the Benwood and the Banana reef. I put on my 3/2 this time so I wasn't cold. I'm totally ridiculous though, wearing a 3/2 in 88 degree water? What is wrong with me? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to be the weird one putting on a wetsuit when everyone else is diving in just their swimsuits. I think it was on the Banana reef (which is crescent shaped and as our captain said...it has appeal) that Jason suddenly signaled rather emphatically that I should look behind me. And there was a four foot nurse shark! Mega-cool. We also saw some baracuda and a small goliath grouper, well small for a golaith grouper, it was still huge for a fish. This evening we ate at Snook's. We just had some of their appetizers, but it was very good and kind of fun, although I think the waitress thought we were nuts.

Thursday was probably my favorite diving day, although that shark makes it a tough call. On the first dive of the day at Outer Grecian Rocks we saw a bunch of eels, a sea urchin, a largish spiny lobster, and some nice Christmas tree worms. I was on fire on that dive, and just kept pointing out cool critter after cool critter. The last dive was back at North, North Dry Rocks since the Statue of Christ of the Abyss was full of divers. It was cool to go back and see the tall coral formations. That reef sort of has canyons that you can swim through and have reef walls on either side of you. It was pretty sweet.

Jason and I are well matched on the diving, using air at about the same rate. Each time we asked each other what our pressure was we were within 100 psi of each other...except once and that was because Jason had a bit of a leak. We were more limited by the time than air on these dives. We surfaced each time with like 1500 psi left. He also is totally cool with me getting caught up staring at the eel and just watching it for like 5 minutes. We also have about the same tolerance of buddy separation. I really liked the dive op that Jason picked and think that Dave would like to dive there. It was very laid back and rather than the DIVE, DIVE, DIVE mentality the captian just repeated over and over again: Slow down, there is no need to hurry, you'll miss stuff if you don't slow down. It was very relaxing.

Both Jason and I took some pictures which I am in the process of getting up, so look for those in the near future.

Better than the alternative

Here is a product I haven't seen before but might come in handy in the winter here in Florida, all the time up in Michigan. My only concern would be if it added wear and tear to the wetsuit? After diving here in February it's definitely something to think about.

Please

I got to go diving today! Woot + 1/2! It was a very nice shore dive with a person I met on a diving message board. She lives up in the Palm Beach area and was nice enough to not only drive down to Ft. Lauderdale to dive, but to let me borrow a tank as well. So I dove for about 3 dollars in quarters for parking. It doesn't get much better than that. Maybe she will want to go diving again! I think she is a bit younger than I am (and a whole lot thinner) and seems very interested in diving. She also mentioned that the reefs up near Boynton Beach are sweet, so maybe I will drive up there to try again.

Today was a shallow dive, which means we could stay down for a long time (I think we ended up around 1:45) and we saw a buncha-buncha fish. I don't know the names of many any of them but in honor of Roland I started naming them things like Kite Fish and Kissy Face Fish. This made me really want the ocean life ID set I found at Amazon. Too bad it's mega expensive. I guess if I had to pick one of the three I would get the fish ID book as they are what catch my eye first, although I would like to know about the other stuff too. In any case it was a lovely day which made me think:

Jason - you have to come back and go diving again! Maybe this time we could take Nitrox?

Just to prove it to you

Told you so.

Everythings better...

We just got back from a lovely day on and under the ocean. We decided to go diving today (ok, ok, so I decided and Roland failed his will save against my Puppy-Dog-Eyes of Persuasion). We went over to ProDive again. I should probably check out some other operations, but ProDive has always been run so smoothly that it's easy to go back rather than chance it on someone else. Thursdays are two shallow reef dives, which was one reason I wanted to go today. There was no military style Dive! Dive! Dive! this time and it was a lot more relaxed all together. The water is warming up, but I was still glad of my 3mm. Dave wore a 3mm shortie and was warm though. We went out to two different spots on Barracuda Reef, where we saw a lot of fish and coral. There were a bunch of Stoplight Parrot Fish, a gigundous Cushion Sea Star, and a lot more I don't know the names of. I need to get a fish ID guide or something. I would also really like to get an underwater camera. However, that hobby is going to have to wait a while as the equipment is expensive. It was also very calm seas, good viz, and only a teeny tiny current. Overall a very nice and relaxing afternoon.

What's the difference?

Yesterday, Jason and I didn’t have to be back to the dive shop until noon, which was good because we needed the time to sleep in a bit. I woke up not feeling very well and I was worried that it could get very bad once I got on the rocking boat. Turns out after I got back on the boat I actually felt better rather than worse. Roland says I was landsick and must be part fish. Sunday’s dives included the deep dive and the peak performance buoyancy dive. The weather had turned over night and it was actually quite chilly once we got away from land and started putting on our wetsuits. Luckily the water was still 72 degrees so we looked forward to getting in as soon as possible. Also, the three foot waves of the day before had calmed down quite a bit, so there was less of the nausea going around the boat. We started with the deep dive of a wreck called the Mercedes. It is about 97 feet down and gorgeous. The middle of the boat has pretty much collapsed and the bow and stern have been twisted in opposite directions from each other by hurricanes, but it’s still a beautiful wreck. During our briefing for the dive we had to complete a task on land so we could complete the same task at depth to see the effects of nitrogen narcosis. The task we were assigned was to take in about the last three feet of line on a dive reel, and secure the loop on the end under the twist lock. It was a fairly simple task and it took me about 21 seconds to do it on land. At 97 feet it still only took me about 23 seconds and the extra time was mostly due to the gloves I had not been wearing on the boat. I was kind of interested to see what getting narced felt like, but I’m sure I’ll feel it sooner or later. After we each did our task to check reaction times we took a tour around the boat, following Rich. It was so cool to look at and there was a ton of marine life. It is definitely a dive I would do again, even if you only get a half and hour on a tank. When we returned to the line to ascend Jason suddenly grabbed my arm and began pointing. There was a huge fish. We learned later that it was a Greater Amberjack, Rich was guessing around 50-60 pounds of it. It was incredible and it swam very close to the ascent line so we were able to get a really good look at it. I was totally geeked.

After returning to the boat I tried to ignore how cold I was getting and switched out my tank. A few minutes later we arrived at our final destination, a shallower portion of the reef for our peak performance buoyancy dive. I was beginning to shiver at this point so it felt pretty good to get back in the water which was way warmer than the air at that point. I can understand why people bring hot water with them on the boat and then pour it into their wetsuits. That would have felt pretty good. We descended and gathered in a group in the sand to practice our buoyancy. Again I struggled through the whole thing and was glad when it was over. I really think I need to take the peak performance buoyancy specialty and hopefully get some more personalized attention from someone who can explain to me what it is that I’m doing wrong. Rich was too busy with the eight of us to give much one on one stuff. Plus, his advice was more along the lines of the more you dive the better it will get. Which is fine, but I really would like something more specific to work on. That would make me feel better about the possibility of improving my skills, because right now I feel they aren’t acceptable. After our skill tests were completed, we were allowed to go off in pairs for some pleasure diving. Jason and I took some time and looked at some of the reef, but I was getting colder by the second and finally had to thumb the dive. Jason told me the he was about to do the same thing, but I think he might have been trying to make me feel better. Back on the boat we scrambled to get out of our gear and warm up. One of the dive masters almost made me cry by bringing a thermos of hot water from home and some packets of hot chocolate, which he made up and gave out to us free. It tasted fine, but it felt great. I was thoroughly chilled and it was such a nice thing to do. We made it back to the dock, put our things in the car, and went up to fill out the last of the paperwork for the class. The classroom was nice and steamy, which would have been uncomfortable if we hadn’t have just been cold and wet. As it was, I could have sat there for as long as he needed. After all the paperwork was taken care of we said our farewells, and started for home. On the way we took Jason’s genius idea of stopping at a McDonalds for some more hot cocoa (sorry hot chocolate). And then he helped me pick out a new hard drive at Best Buy. Back at home we had dinner waiting for us, but that is a whole ‘nother story.

Teddy Bears with big-pointy-teeth

On Saturday Jason and I started our AOW certification class. There was an optional pool session (for those who hadn’t been diving in a while) at 7:00 in the morning. Luckily neither Jason nor I needed to opt for it. We would have had get up like 5:15 am to get there for that. No thank you. Instead we needed to be there for the regular starting time at 10:00 (much better). We arrived with enough extra time to take care of last minute details and for Jason to meet Rich, our instructor. I have met most everyone down at Pro Dive now as I spent so much time there agonizing over my gear decisions. Rich in particular was unlucky enough to have to deal with me on at least two separate occasions. I will say this for the folks down there, pretty much all of them were making a concerted effort to remember my name. That’s very nice. After that we stood around and waited for the rest of the class to show up and take care of their own last minute details. Then when we were all there, Rich led us around and up to the classroom portion of the Pro Dive building. I’m still not sure I would be able to find it on my own, so I’m glad he was leading. We all found seats and Rich had us all introduce ourselves in the typical way.

Hi, I’m Susan Cleveland. I’ve been diving for a couple of years and really just wanted to improve my skills in the AOW class.

And so forth. There were eight people including Jason and me in the class, half of whom are planning on going forward through the career training classes that Pro Dive offers. There were two fellows who had just completed their open water certification the day before (holy cow, going into AOW with a total of 4 dives under your belt – they are certainly braver than I) and then Jason and I who were just there for the ride. Everyone else in the class looked very young to me although I would imagine that they were mostly between 20 and 25 or so. Then came the paperwork; signing the waiver, the I’m healthy paper (luckily Jason remembered to bring the note from his doctor saying that he’s okay to dive), filling out your address, and your emergency contact information. Then Rich gave us a brief description of what dives we would be doing and then we went down to practice with our compasses on land. We walked to a small park that was across the street and got to work. We practiced using the bezel and taking a reciprocal heading and navigating a square. It was good to do on land since everything is easier there, but we did get a number of strange looks. A few looks when we were walking around in one long line and then turning around en masse and walking straight back the other way. Even more looks when we started breaking off into twos and walking around in seemingly random directions with one person starting intently at their compass and the other fervently counting kick cycles in their head and squeezing the arm of the compass person after ten of them, at which time the compass person would make a 90 degree turn and start walking again. I’m sure it was quite amusing to watch from a distance.

After navigation practice it was time for lunch and then off to dive. My mom and I discovered a restaurant right near there on the beach when we came down to look for apartments and Roland, Jason, and I had decided to meet there for lunch. We had a nice little lunch and bid Roland farewell. But not before he bestowed upon us a cooler full of dinner. We weren’t going to have much time between our two sets of dives so Roland was kind enough to provide us with food to eat at the picnic tables on the dock. He put the cooler in my car and Jason and I headed for the boat.

Our first dive was the wreak dive, it was a boat called the Tracy. It was a very nice dive. The water was clear and once we got below the waves it was calm and beautiful. The wreck itself was full of coral and I’m pretty sure I saw a nudibranch so that was very cool. Parts of the boat were cut away so you could see into the innards and that made things more interesting. Overall it was a great dive and I had a great time.

Then back on the boat for the surface interval a couple of our classmates started getting a little seasick, one a lot sea sick. I don’t normally get terribly affected, but when other people get sick and start talking about getting sick it makes it like a million times worse. I was just as happy to get back in the water for the next dive. The second dive was the navigation dive which was more of a struggle for me. Not the actual navigating which went pretty well, but the fact that I was struggling with my buoyancy so much I couldn’t concentrate on the navigating. At first I felt overweighted and then when I tried to settle on the bottom for the class I couldn’t stay down. It was very frustrating and I ended up taking a minute to just compose myself before completing my square. After we did all of our navigation stuff we were allowed do some pleasure diving until our air ran out so we did.

Then we all headed back the dock and they were nice enough to let us keep out stuff on the boat while be disembarked to get some food. Jason and I grabbed the cooler from the car and brought it to one of the tables. We opened it and were surprised to discover the huge spread that Roland had put together. We each had a wonderful dinner with a bagel sandwich, a pickle, cheese and crackers, fruit, and a cream soda. And in the bottom we each found an after dinner mint. It was very refreshing and not at all heavy. All in all the perfect meal (thanks Roland). Then we spent a little time in the car warming up so we would be ready to go back out for the rest of the evening.

We all trouped back on the boat and headed out again this time to our night dive. For me, there was a little apprehension about this dive because now there is another piece of equipment to deal with. But it turned out all right and it was a beautiful dive. We all turned out our lights at one point and watched the bioluminescence of some passing microorganisms. The moon was actually so bright you didn’t need much light anyway. Rich also pointed out a four foot nurse shark napping under a small reef ledge and he also gave us permission to totally embellish the story if we wanted to (no, no it was an 8 foot shark and it was chasing us!). Nah, it was pretty cool just to see the thing at all. I also saw a couple of puffer fish (I think it was a spiny puffer), but I’m not sure anyone else did. We all enjoyed the dive and when we got back on the boat we were given the option of doing a second night dive and I think all of us took him up on that. Again it was very cool, but I was getting very cold and tired by that point, so I thumbed the dive a bit early and we headed back to the boat with quite a bit of air left. We dressed and packed while riding back to the dock during which I was very cold and Jason didn’t feel very well. I think he was affected the same way I was (when people talk about getting sick, it makes you get sick). At one point he left mid-sentence to find some fresh air and a direct path over the side of the boat if he should need it. I don’t think he did need it, but he looked a little green for a while. Back on land we went straight home. In fact, when we were getting off the boat one of the dive maters made a joke about going straight home and not out drinking. It sounded like he was kidding and he expected us to go out anyway. No way dude! Jason and I were beat. We drove home and pretty much collapsed on the floor. Unfortunately we still had to rinse our gear. Once that was accomplished we pretty much both just passed out. It was an interesting day, but I think I’ll hold off on any more 4 tank days for a little while yet. I was completely wiped!

Dive! Dive! Dive!

Because Jason and I were going to take Advanced Open Water on Saturday and Sunday and I hadn't used my new scuba gear, or been diving in the ocean, or boat diving at all for that matter, I decided that I would schedule a pre-class dive day for at least Jason and I, and Roland if he wanted to (he did). So I called up the place and booked us on a guided 1/2 day, 2 tank dive. Sweet.

The morning of, we got up and had some delicious bagels and cream cheese. Roland has taken to making flavored cream cheese by buying cream cheese and mixing in the yummies. I personally love the scallion one, especially after it's been mixed together for a day or so, because the flavors all blend together. He also bought some nice bagels from a local bagelry and it was a lovely breakfast. They must have tasted all right to Jason as he had two! Which, as he mentions in his blog, was a good thing because we sort of ended up skipping lunch accidentally. With all the getting ready and getting to the dive shop it got to be too late to do anything about it. Plus I wasn't really hungry again until we were done diving and back and the dock getting ready to drive home so I worked out fine, for me at least. I think Jason was about to try eating his wetsuit by that point though.

Anyway, we drove to the dive site and I was all worried about being there by 12:00 like the dude told me. We got there with a few minutes to spare (through sheer force of worry) and then when we went in he told us that we had about a half an hour to wait on the dock. Creepers, if I had known I wouldn't have worried quite so much. I still would have come at 12:00 like you told me, but I wouldn't have been all "we're going to miss the boat" and all that. Sheesh. Then, after waiting our half hour on the dock (they do have a nice area with picnic tables) we got all of our stuff loaded on the boat, Roland went off to get his rental gear, and I started trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I did a lot of watching the other seemingly more experienced people, but still felt very unsure. Roland came back and we started setting up our stuff and generally getting ready to leave. I asked Jason to come over and check over my gear to make sure I hadn't made any mistakes and he told me I was about to put my octopus on backwards. I looked again and couldn't figure out what he was talking about. So our conversation when something like this:

Susan: No I'm not.

Jason: Yes you are, it's backwards, you don't want that hitting you in the head.

Susan: No I'm not, look the round circle parts line up and the pointy screw part goes in the pointy screw part shaped depression.

Jason: .....Huh....I'll be right back

At which point he went over to his rig and flipped his over. For a minute I thought I was going insane, but it turns out I wasn't.

As we headed out to sea, the first leg of the ride was very nice, smooth, and slow as we were in a no wake zone. Then the dive master dude called us all over for a briefing and went over the features of the boat, and the dive, and all that good stuff. He told us that our first dive was going to be a quick drop, with us going in negatively buoyant (just jump in and sink right away, none of this floating at the surface stuff) and the boat couldn't stick around because of the danger to other divers. So it was super important for everyone to have enough weight and be ready to go. So now I'm getting a little worried, having never done a dive in the ocean I don't know for sure how much weight I need (and neither does Roland or Jason for the matter). I really didn't worry too much about Roland at that point because normally I float with a vengeance and he sinks like a rock. Before going to get weights I chat with the dive master dude and say that we are all pretty new and any help/suggestions he has are more than welcome. I'm trying to tell the guy we might need a little extra help, but as it will become clear later that wasn't enough I should have grabbed the loud speaker and blared to everyone on the boat that we didn't know what we were doing and needed some extra assistance. We walked back and got weights from a different dive master dude. Roland tells the guy what he used to wear in fresh water with a 7mm wetsuit and they guy decides he needs about 5 pounds less than that. What? So going into salt water (more floaty) you are taking weight away from Roland? Plus I mentioned we were new right? New diver=more weight. But he's the expert right, so Roland takes his weights and a belt back to our tanks and I tell the guy I used to wear 16 pound in fresh water with a 7mm suit. Just seconds after taking Dave down in weight he gives me 16 pounds of weight, exactly what I had used in fresh. Ok, you're the expert dude. So we finish setting up while the boat exits the no wake zone and picks up speed. The guys says once Cap'n Stu gives a shout out we will have about 10 minutes 'til we need to be ready to jump in the water. I'm getting a little nervous now, this is my first boat and ocean dive and it's going to be all military style? Seriously, in the briefing the guy said once we got there someone was going to be yelling "Dive, Dive, Dive" and we all had to get in and down ASAP. This isn't turning out too well.

So Cap'n Stu gives the 10 minute warning and we start seriously kitting up and trying to be ready on time. Maybe it was 10 minutes, maybe because of all the stuff going on it felt shorter, but what felt like 3 minutes later good old Cap'n Stu is telling us we were at our destination. Crap, Crap, Crap. I'm barely ready and Roland is still struggling with his rental wetsuit (even if he doesn't buy anything else I think I'm going to insist him getting his own wetsuit). It was very stressful. Finally, we all make it in our stuff and off the boat. I do a lame little giant stride and start to descend, while rotating around so I can watch Roland and Jason. Jason gets down about 10 feet (I'm going a little slower to accommodate my ears and whatnot) and there is Roland floating away on the surface. Still floating, still floating, not sinking, he is still up there. Crap, what is wrong. I bob back up to the surface and ask. He can't sink. He has taken all the air out of his BC (actually he didn't have any in there to begin with) and still can't get his head under. Making us feel a little better is another dude who is also underweighted. The boat (even though I think it wasn't supposed to) came back around for another pass and Roland was able to swim back for some more weights. I didn't know it at the time, but the guy on the boat just pulled open his wetsuit front and dumped weight down into it, so Roland spent the entire dive with a 4 pound hard weight clunking around in his wetsuit. Yikes!

After that we were able to get down for a while and look at some coral and some fishes, but it wasn't really relaxing and I didn't really have a lot of attention to spare for the beautiful ocean. Roland used up a lot of air getting his weights squared away and with that extra surface swim was hoovering pretty bad. He ended up running out of air first (duh) and we thumbed the dive after about 17 minutes. Overall a very stressful and very unsatisfying dive. We climbed back in the boat, no mean feat in itself (I think I'm going to have to start lifting weights in my arms for that. You pretty much end up pulling yourself up by your arms-define 'yourself' as you in a wetsuit with a metal tank strapped to your back and all of it is dripping wet. I'm clearly a bit of a pansy there), and pretty much collapsed on the benches. The dude told us we had about 10 minutes to switch out our tanks and get ready for the next dive. I start switching out my tank and look over at Roland. He looks at me and suggests that he sits the second dive out. I feel really bad because this was supposed to be fun and clearly it is anything but. I tell him he should do what ever he feels like, that first dive was a bitch. So he decides to stay on the boat and Jason and I buddy up for the second dive. We are moving to a slightly different portion of the reef for this one.

Again after what feels like 3 minutes we're there and while I'm a little more ready than last time I'm still pretty frazzled. So the dive master says something like, don't worry about it, the boat can stick around for this one so we don't have to worry about going so fast or doing a negatively buoyant entrance. WHAT? and I say WHAT? again! You mean you could have taken us somewhere like this and we would have been able to fix the whole weight debacle with little to no stress. For crying out loud what are you trying to do to us?

Well, Roland stayed on the boat and had a lie-down and Jason and I heaved ourselves back into the ocean. This dive was about as different from the first one and could be. It was slow and relaxing with tons of fish and cool coral. Jason and I had a great time, and I know Roland would have too. Fie on the people who have forgotten what it is like to be a newbie. Fie on you. I just hope that Roland will be willing to go back sometime even though his first boat/ocean diving experience, well...sucked.

Well I never

I finally made my choices and bought some scuba gear. It was a very difficult decision, but I’m hopeful that I will be happy with what I’ve picked. The only thing I’m leery about is the compass, well, not the compass itself, but the housing. I went with the SK7 on a retractor, but I may end up with it on my wrist sooner or later. I like it on the retractor and all, however I think it will end up being too dangly for my comfort. I was able to clip off the computer pretty well with a double bolt snap. My hope is that I won’t have to remove the computer while diving, just be able to look at it. I may end up with a quick release clip on that, but it seems longer (and hence more dangly) to me. The only thing I could think of for my compass was to somehow attach a snap to the back of the compass and the BC for extra attachment, but I’m really not sure how I could do that (glue? no-sew snaps?). Hopefully Roland, Jason, and I will be going for a dive on Friday so I will have a chance to try it out before taking the class on Saturday and Sunday. I’m still a bit nervous about the class and having all new gear isn’t helping. Anyway, that’s the news from here.

Stop, breathe, decide

Well I splurged today and ordered one of the these and one of these. I'm hoping it will help a bit with the dive hair. When I braid my hair for diving it compresses at depth and then comes out on the way up. Leaky mask due to hair and hair caught on stuff isn't a lot of fun and sea water is not the kindest to it so maybe this will help. I'm hopeful that it will arrive before my AOW class with Jason.

I'm also getting a little nervous for the class and all that goes with it. Well I guess it's actually more about the all the goes with it (I think). I've always been pretty decent at school so learning stuff shouldn't be too hard. But I've never been on a boat dive or a dive in the ocean, or with the equipment I will be renting or buying, or with a dive buddy other than Dave, or a whole bunch of other things. Plus trying to pick out the best choice in gear is really becoming a stressor for me. I don't know why I can't just accept that among the choices I have there isn't a wrong answer. Any of those choice would serve me just fine.

Baby steps to the elevator

Did some more scuba reconnaissance today and bought a wetsuit and some low top boots. I have some high top boots but due to my *ahem* 'sturdy legs' I can't zip this all the way up. It's a start, albeit a small one. I did get to chat with the dude I like the best at the store though so that was good. He is more willing/able to tell me why he thinks what he thinks.

P.W. isn't feeling very well today. He woke me up this morning by hurling in his crate, walked a bit slow on the walk this morning, and hurled again this afternoon. Both times it was just bile since he hadn't eaten in a while at the time. Now he just seems a little down, but it's hard to tell since he is usually pretty sleepy about this time. I hope he feels better tomorrow.

60 degress and lovin' it

I spent a great deal of time tossing and turning last night after going to bed. I kept thinking about picking scuba gear and the class I'm going to be taking. I kind of want to get my equipment as soon as possible so I can get used to it and whatnot before having to use it to learn new stuff. I also wish that Roland wasn't so busy with the beginning of his classes so he could take the class with Jason and I and possibly get gear too. I'm a little afraid that if I get gear and he doesn't that it will be less likely for us to go diving together. I like having someone I know so well as a dive buddy and Jason will only be here briefly. That means I'm probably going to have to dive with people who's ability and common sense quotient I don't know. Kind of worrisome. I suppose this is what most other divers have had to deal with already, but I've been lucky.

Seriously

Living with Roland, it's like eating in a restaurant every night. Tonight was asparagus, chicken bacon burger deals that were simply delectable, and some pasta salad that Roland made just for me! He made a baked noodle dish last night and he reserved some of the noodles and made a pasta salad. It even had hard boiled eggs in it. Rockin'! It was a really good dinner, and smelled great while he was making it.

P.W. and I went to the dog park today as it was time for an expression and a bath anyway. It was a good time and he ran around like a nut. He was a little more forceful with some of the other dogs this time too, which was interesting. We've been going on a walk every morning and when we pass the dog park he leans into the leash pretty hard (for him - which is not very hard because he has better manners than that). But with the grass allergy we can only really go when a bath can be given pretty much as soon as we get home.

I also started reading my book for the AOW class Jason and I are taking in February. It is pretty interesting, but very basic. I'm sure this is because the makers of the book and classes have to aim low to accommodate a lot of people as this class is very early in the series of classes you can take (meaning many people of varying abilities will be taking it). As you move on into the series I'm sure they can get more detailed and whatnot as fewer and fewer people will be taking those classes. I hope it goes well and Jason will help me out when I need it!

Friggcket

As some of you may be aware I have difficulty making large decisions. By large I mean decisions that will make a sizeable impact on the life of myself or others, and those that involve a large quantity of money. Thus my problem with purchasing scuba equipment. Of course I always seem to pick hobbies that require very expensive equipment and I think scuba is the crowning glory. I've been doing a lot of research and visiting a number of dive shops and trying to narrow down my choices little by little. Here is what I've come down to:

BCD: Ideally I think I would get the Zeagle Zena, but due to cost and availability I think I will end up with a SeaQuest Diva. I'm still debating between the LX and the XLT, currently leaning toward the LX.

Regulator: Ideally I would like one of the AquaLung Legends, but due to cost I will go with the Titan LX.

Alternate air source: I'm thinking octopus. I'm not sure what it is that bothers me about the air2 type systems, but it's something.

Compass: Suunto SK7 (wrist mounted)

Compy: Here I'm sort of stuck. I don't know if I should go with something like the Suunto Vyper or Gekko, or spring for the Suunto Vytek so I won't have to upgrade if I wan't to seriously pursue nitrox diving. I don't really want the wireless air pressure, but it might be nice to have the option to upgrade to that in the future. The dive shop I was chatting at seemed to be pushing me away from wrist mounted stuff, which I don't understand. I am pretty sure I want my compass on my left wrist and my compy on my right one.

Wetsuit: 3mm and hooded vest for chilly dives.

Dive light: Not sure what to do here.

Dive knife: If I go with the Diva, then one of the knives that fit on it would be great. But I would like titanium, small, and blunt.

Thats all for now. Anyone who has anything to say on the subject is encouraged to do so.

Doo-ta-da-doooo and da-ta-da-daaaa

Lets get this out of the way first thing:

1. I am a certified scuba diver and would love to become a professional diver.

2. I have an extensive background in music, both instrumental and choral.

3. I enjoy Judo (only at a beginner level...so no Jason, I don't want to fight you, you can still kick my ass) although I haven't been able to participate in it for quite a while.

I am not a lesbian (oops, did having a husband give it away?)

4. I like puzzles.

5. I'm crafty in all kinds of ways including; sewing, knitting, cross-stitch, gardening (when I had a bit of earth), baking (no so much with the cooking), building things etc.



We have triumphantly returned (princess waves all around, elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist or whatever). Roland and I just got back from a visit to Disney World with his folks and two of their friends. It was a great time, but it was hard to leave. When we moved down here we knew in the back of our minds that we would get to go home for my sisters wedding and then see Roland's family this past week. My parents are coming down for a visit right after Christmas so at least there is that to look forward to. After that, no plans in the foreseeable future. It was so nice to talk to someone I know.

We also got to visit Disney so that was sweet. The living seas was open this time as we got to see Turtle Time with Crush which is absolutely incredible! This attraction consists of a smallish theater (maybe 100 people? I'm not great at that kind of estimating) and a giant screen at the front that shows a scene underwater. Then Crush (from Finding Nemo) comes along and talks with you. The totally awesome part? He is talking to you, the audience that is in that room. He picks out kids from the audience by appearance (the little dude-ette with the brown hair and red shell with stripes down her fins and so on). Then he takes question from the little ones and asks some of his own. It is very funny! I loved it. I think we went back 3 or 4 times. Definitely a must see...along with Soarin'. And Mickey's PhilharMagic is awesome too, yeah, pretty much the whole place.

We went on a Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom and learned all sorts of neat stuff and a Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot and learned some nerdly cool stuff about the greenhouses. I can't remember which one, but one of the tour guides said they are going to change Soarin' here in Florida to either be flying over Florida or possibly flying over the world. So they will just have flying over California at Disney Land. Over at MGM we got a chance to see Lights, Motors, Action. Sa-weet. I haven't the foggiest how people can drive cars like that, but it sure is fun to watch. We also heard that they are planning on tearing out the coaster in Space Mountain and replacing it with a new one about a new mission to space, and tearing out the guts of Spaceship Earth (the giant golf ball one) for an update.

We did get to go diving again. I just love it, I come out feeling so relaxed. There were all sorts of people to play with and some great sharks (one almost 9 feet long). The giant sea turtle was being lazy and didn't come out to be seen, but the rays were very playful. I ended up swimming with a school of fish for a while which was way cool. They are still working on the new ride at the front of the Seas pavilion so that was closed off, but the observation deck was open and they have a couple of rehabilitating manatees that were pretty huge (they aren't in the tank you can dive in). They apparently recently got two more dolphins but we didn't see any of the four. The tour leader said they were spending a lot of time in their backstage tank figuring out their new pod pecking order.

Anyway, my thoughts are all jumbled together and not coming out very coherently so I'm going to take a breather. Later, dude!

Blanket

Jason is now OW certified and has scuba gear and thinking about planning a trip down here to visit and dive with us. I was looking around online and found one dive shop that you can do both the AOW and nitrox certification at the same time. That seems pretty cool, but only if they actually take the time to teach you stuff. I'm not interested in just getting the certification, I'm interested in learning what I need, should, and might possibly, need to know.

I'm still obsessing about getting scuba gear. However, we haven't had much luck finding a dive shop we really like. I posted to the scuba board though and am compiling a list of some to check out. Maybe after Wilma passes. In the mean time I've been surfing and reading about different items. I think I like:

Dive compy: Suunto Vyper or Vytek (I would like the Vytek more, but of course it's more $$$, plus this one fella made a solid looking boot for them.)

Regulator: I like the Aqualung Titan LX or Legend, but there are a lot of other that are just fine. I also think I prefer the octopus to the air integrated options.

Compass: Suunto SK-7

BCD: Zeagle Zena, Seaquest Diva LX, Scubapro Ladyhawk, or Mares Ariel - I really need to try them on to see what fits me. I've dived the Diva and it was ok, but seemed kind of constricting.
Wetsuit: One that will fit my short self. The Seaquest ones I've had on before the knee pads are more like on my ankles. I'm really not sure what thickness to get. Maybe 3mm, maybe 5mm as I do tend to chill.

Console: Basic SPG and depth gauge/bottom timer? Don't really know about this one.

Tank: Don't really know what to look for here.


Then there is the problem that once you have all that stuff you still should have a bunch of stuff that they don't really tell you about. Like:

Dive bag
Mesh bag
Whistle
Dive Knife (I want something small, titanium and probably without a point)
Safety Sausage
EMT Shears
Dive-Alert
Dive Flag/Float
Fix-it Kit

Plus a bunch of stuff that I probably don't even know about. Plus we really need to get some dive insurance (probably from DAN). So all of this, and feeling like there is a ton I just don't know and don't know how to get info on is sort of dampening my spirits. Maybe someday, after becoming Dive Master/Instructor I will look back and laugh.

Can you say...Obsessing

I think a huge problem with picking scuba equipment is thus: When you are a beginner you should purchase equipment that is easy to use and will help you learn to dive better. However, you don't want to get something you will outgrow (ability-wise) too soon. A lot of people on the boards regret getting this or that because after a short time they found that they liked something else. A lot of them then went on to purchase something else/better to replace whatever they didn't like. I don't have that luxury. Whatever I pick, I have to go with for as long as possible as all of the this stuff is ($$$$) very expensive. Its already iffy as to whether we can/should afford to purchase scuba gear anyway. I am also miserable at making decisions that involve large amount of money for this very reason. The more money it costs, the more important it is to make the "right" decision. And I am constitutionally unable to understand that there might be more than one "right" choice.

Tiny Bubbles

Since my friend Jason has started his open water certification class I've been increasingly obsessed with scuba diving myself. I have been trolling scuba message boards, looking at manufacturer's websites, drooling over their products, and bemoaning the price of said merchandise. There is a big debate in my head about whether or not to get my own gear and what caliber of gear to possible get. I would like to take the advanced open water course (hopefully Roland would want to take it with me) and it seems like taking more classes and just going diving in general would be exponentially better/easier/more enjoyable with my own stuff. I would really like to have my own gear, but am still unsure what to get as I've never gone on a dive here in Florida (a matter of some distress to me). What thickness wetsuit, what style of wetsuit, which kind of BCD, etc. I thought I knew which BC I wanted but now I'm really not so sure. I don't think I like the alternate air source and prefer an octopus. Then I thought about this one, but again now I'm not so sure. Then again I liked the dive center we used to go to and they really only do Aqualung products and really like them. They were so friendly and helpful and so...far away now. I wish there was a mentor program or something.