Campana
Guest
Well, I just got back from Florida where I got my ticket to learn. I stayed at Dive Outpost and dove Peacock pothole and peanut, Olsen, Cow, Ginnie Springs Devil's eye and Devil's ear system, and perhaps another one. My instructor was good, tough, did a lot of extra drills and skills, and was pointed with his critisism, which made the praise feel sincere and a lot more valuable. He is an ex Army special forces Sergeant with time overseas, whose name appears on the surveryor lists on some of the Peacock system caves. I would recommend him to others; his name is Michael O'leary. He's not DIR, but he has thousands of dives, and must know a bit about cave diving. He was flexible about some things, like which hose you breath, but not flexible about others, like safety issues and reel work. Of course, there were times where I did OK and a couple of times where I not only felt like the biggest yutz in the world, I really was a big yutz. I feel I improved in my skills quite a bit, and in my knowledge quite a bit. I learned a few things from the non-DIR point of view, dived for the first time with some folks that stuffed their long hose instead of breathed it; and met some interesting and nice people from this board and others. Altogether, it was a very tough and challenging week; and I feel that I am a better caver than I was, with a lot of room for growth in the future.