Info A SATurner starts diving*... (*trials and tribulations of a 50+ year old out of shape guy learning to dive)

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*****This break in thread brought to you by the OP*****

  1. Hopefully this isn't too detailed for readers (yeah, I have a bit of sarcasm in me too)
  2. Hopefully my enthusiasm for the sport is starting to show
  3. It has been entertaining to me to share this so far
  4. After years of "wouldn't it be nice..." I am finally "DOING it" instead of "thinking it"
  5. It's never to late to start....
A Bit More About Me:
I am a 1971 vintage model that shows all the common signs, wear, and tear of a couch potato. I joked during the open water dives, that I was getting in touch with my inner manatee. As I reflect, it wasn't my goal to be this out of shape, but over time and forks, the body changes in ways not readily apparent in the moment. I mean it's not like my goal was to be a "fat old dude," but yet here I am. I am blessed to be able to do what I am doing, but also realize that I am no longer that skinny kid on the swim team. Nothing made that more apparent than the first swim of Open Water training.
 
Keep typing
 
Open Water Certification: (A Day in the Pool)
Everything got solidified for a January certification trip. The plan was to head down to Florida for a pool day on Friday, spring dives on Saturday and Sunday, and dives in the gulf Monday.

I woke up early Friday and drove to the site of the pool training in Panama City Beach. The local (to me) dive shop (LDS) and the LDS (Red Alert Diving (RAD)) in Panama City Beach (PCB) had worked out being able to train in the RAD pool. It was an overcast and windy day, a heavy storm had passed through the area the night before dropping temperatures. There was one other person crazy enough like me that wanted to get certified that day, so I wasn't alone on this adventure.

We spent some time near the pool going over how to setup gear and then everyone went and got changed to get in the water. The pool was supposed to be heated to 78°F, but the storm had knocked out the power so the pool wasn't up to temp yet. It was also a bit cloudier than it should have been due to all of the rain.

I didn't have any clue how to prepare for this part of the training, so hearing that it was a heated pool, I opted for a swim suit and a sun shirt. Everyone else had on either a 3mm full wetsuit or a 2-3mm shorty. In all, there were four (4) of us in our group in the pool. Two students, an instructor, and a helper. As long as not much more than my head was out of the water, I stayed relatively comfortable. Everyone else was shivering and miserable. I get a few chills now just remembering watching how cold they were.

The pool training went good, but then, what reference point do I have for rating it? I had the brief experience in Aruba to compare to. Well, no one was doing cannon balls here. There were two (2) four (4) foot ends and a ten (10) foot center of the pool. There were more skills done this time around. Make sure you pay attention to the training (e-learning or class) before you jump in the pool. Expect some questions about what you were taught.

The most uncomfortable experience in the pool was taking the mask off and breathing through the regulator for a minute. Let me clarify a little bit. Taking the mask off wasn't a big deal. I was able to close my eyes so there wasn't any stinging there. The "uncomfortable" was the initial exhale of breath without a mask. All the bubbles rushing past and somehow the sound seemed louder. Yep, it was a bit overwhelming at first, but I just had to remind myself that it was okay and part of the process. After a few breaths, it wasn't an issue at all.

Next up on the "this might not be cool" list was the "free flow" regulator exercise. We were shown three ways that a free flowing regulator could be used. Sipping from a side, sipping through hand, and sipping then removing. All the while in my head I am thinking, "there is no way this isn't going to result in a mouth full of water and choking." To my surprise, not a drop came in, I didn't choke, and I was able to comfortable breath using every method. I prefer the side sipping method, probably because it is easy and requires the least amount of effort/energy.

By the time all the material was covered everyone else was shivering almost to the point of teeth chattering. I was still comfortable so I picked the last spot for getting out to shower and go to the hotel. Well waiting for that shower, I finally got cold. It wasn't unbearable, but it was definitely cold. I'm pretty sure it all caught up to me as I slept in my hotel room set at 71°F in sweat pants, a sweat shirt, and a stocking cap shivering to stay warm.

The next day we'd be headed north to Ponce De Leon and Vortex Spring.
 
Open Water Certification: (Vortex Spring day one)
I got up the next day knowing I was hungry and had an hour drive to the spring. With time zone changes and excitement, I found myself away an hour earlier than pretty much all of Panama City Beach (PCB). First things first, I set out to find food, I mean I have to maintain right?

I remembered seeing a "All American Diner" close to the hotel so I had a destination in mind. I pulled it up in Google Maps and down the road I went. "Gee, I don't remember it being this far from the hotel." Yeah, this isn't the one I saw yesterday so I searched again and found yesterday's diner. Drove 15 minutes back the other direction to the one I had seen to find it closed. So, yep, you guessed it, back to the original one. All this driving around had me famished. They have a breakfast buffet there. For less than $20 you can get your fill of eggs, bacon, fruit, pancakes, potatoes, did I mention bacon? So I sat there reflecting on the prior day wondering what the day would hold.

I got back to the hotel and found the other trainee and offered to car pool to the spring. We chatted the whole way and the trip was enjoyable if uneventful. We were the first of our group to the spring so we parked and then went to browse at the store on site. Think dive shop meets convenience store and you've pretty well nailed it. Don't forget to sprinkle in just a tad of "tourist attraction memorabilia."

Soon enough others from the day before showed up as well as others from my LDS that were there to do other training. I think some were doing Advanced Open Water and others were doing a Search and Rescue exercise. There were several other LDS there getting ready to go into the spring. It was overcast and windy with temps in the low 50s.a

I was excited to see all the people around but also realized I was old enough to be "Dad" to at least half or more of them. Seeing that many that were going to be diving though was pretty cool. Our group had ten in it, and If I had to guess there had to be at least two other groups of similar if not larger size on site. There were a couple of smaller groups too. This was a whole new world and there was a buzz of energy about.

We had a pre-dive discussion and made a plan. The plan was basically to get two dives in on one tank and then take a break, set up a new tank and go back for a third dive. At the spring there is a set of steps to walk into the water from or a dock to long stride from. Our first two dives we used the steps. The third dive we used the dock.

Remember those things you did in the pool? Well, now it's time to do them again in the "open water." We didn't do every skill on every dive. I don't believe a student would learn as well if it were done that way. Too much too fast would likely be overwhelming. Skills were discussed during the pre-dive plan and then executed during the dive(s). After skills were done, then some time was spent exploring. Being able to notice fish and the bottom composition or "hey, there's a sail boat" down here. Those weren't there during the skills practice were they? I know they were, but when doing the skills I found myself hyper focused on the task at hand, going through the process in my head, watching the instructor do it, then point at me to do it. Taking that extra breath or two before executing the skill. Going over and over in my head a checklist of things:
  1. Don't stop breathing (don't hold your breath)
  2. Follow the person in front of you
  3. Did you check your computer?
  4. Does it match your SPG?
  5. This is a BLAST!
  6. See #1 and the others
  7. Am I doing this right?
  8. This isn't as cold as I expected it to be (the spring is 68°F year round)
  9. This isn't as hard as I thought it would be
  10. see #1 and the others
Yes, I found myself constantly thinking about this or that, which didn't allow me to "see" all the "stuff" around me. I had tunnel vision and my situational awareness was terrible. Oh crap! I just blasted the bottom with my fins and stirred up a bunch of silt. Do better!

I didn't know how to pack for this so I overpacked. I had too many clothes to try to "get warm" with, I didn't need all of that with me. The blue IKEA bags were a great idea but were out of place with everyone else's gear. Great job packing that huge heavy bath robe. It knocked the wind right off and it's made to get wet so there's that. Yeah, you heard others mention how warm you looked as you stood there soaking up the sun in your robe and stocking cap. I looked around watching others pull out their boat coats shivering and shaking. Doing everything possible to warm up while getting ready for the next dive. I stood there comfortable, maybe a "Dad bod" has advantages. I mean when was the last time you saw a cold walrus? Let's head back to PCB, get warmed up and have dinner....
 
Open Water Certification: (Morrison Spring County Park and Vortex Spring day two)
Some other divers had mentioned that Morrison Spring was closed due to the river being up and bacteria. At dinner we made a plan to meet at Morrison Spring to check it out. We would decide to dive Morrison or go back to Vortex based on conditions.

With a whopping four dives (yep, I count the Aruba dive) under my belt, I knew I wouldn't know if Morrison was able to be dived or not. I did know that I was hoping to see something new. It was a bit warmer but only because the wind left. Sunny with temps in the low 50s in January feels a lot better than the same thing in October.

I did take advantage of the fence in the sun to lay my wetsuit out in an effort not to have to pull on a cold wet one. TIP: Turn your wetsuit inside out to dry it. Even if it doesn't completely dry, it will be dryer inside. It also helps to leave your socks on or put your feet into plastic bags when pulling on a wet wetsuit. There was just enough time between when I arrived and the dive started to get my wetsuit almost completely dry (dry enough anyway). TIP: I could have rented two wet suits to avoid putting on a cold one. I'll remember that next time. Everyone else arrived and we decided that while the river was up, and it was more cloudy than normal we'd try to dive in the spring with the worst case being leaving to go back to Vortex Spring.

Again, we talked through the plan for the dive and then started getting ready. The day before, they told me that visibility (vis) in the spring was about average for the spring. Well that visibility was in the 20'~30' range by my estimation. I knew going in that today the vis would be less. Upon descent, I learned that it was 5'~7'. Oddly, that wasn't uncomforting to me. It simply meant that I needed to be a bit closer to my buddy and the instructor than I had been the day prior. Instead of a cloudy bluish water, I was now in more of a murky greenish/brown water. The water felt colder than the day before, but not uncomfortably so.

There was one other group of divers at the spring today, I guess everyone else had their fill at Vortex the day before. The other group was a bit larger than our group and they two were new to diving. They went in first, and managed to get things nicely stirred up. I am not complaining, I know I am still kicking bottom at times myself.

We dove our plan, but conditions changed the dive where we spent more time around an underwater platform than originally planned. When it was time to end, we surfaced and discussed whether or not to stay or return to Vortex. The consensus was that Vortex would be the best option so we packed out and headed north again. The two sites are only 10-15 minutes apart.

Guess what, that's three dives yesterday and one dive today, so am I Open Water Certified? Yes and no. Once the dives are logged, you are officially certified. So, I did that later in the day. Now I'll be honest, at this point, I look at this from a "new driver" perspective. I have gotten my learner's permit and passed the test. I'm going to have to go out and put miles behind the wheel before I become a proficient and safe driver. At this point, experience and practice is what is needed. I hope to be able to do this enough to grow instead of doing it at a frequency where I am constantly relearning just to get back to where I was.

When we returned to Vortex Spring, we did a navigation dive. Remember, I had hoped to be able to get all the way through Advanced Open Water during this trip. The weather put a crimp in that plan, no boats were going to go out on Monday. So now the plan was to do the navigation dive and then decide next step(s).

The navigation dive was a success. We spent time after the skills practice "playing a bit more" in the spring. There's a basketball goal down there, and in order to play they have a bowling ball. So, I guess you could say we played a bit of basketbowl before we surfaced.

Reading the audience, I knew another dive on Sunday wouldn't be likely. A bit disappointed but also a bit okay with it, I began to pack out for the return trip home. I knew I had more to learn, but had also cemented the fact that I wanted to do it. By already having the e-learning of Advanced Open Water completed, I was able to get in one of those dives on the trip.

Next up, a cruise in February and I have been able to set up two dives for that. So, that's how my bluff to get out of a cruise has turned into my being a certified diver.

I already have some questions that I will throw out. I'll keep them confined to this thread again with the goal of helping others. Thanks for reading. :)
 
Great thread so far! I remember my OWC like it was yesterday, at least the skills portion of it. I, like you, barely remember seeing any life at all underwater. I was hyper-focused on my gas, my kicks, my buddy and the instructor. I do remember seeing the kelp forest (Southern California) and maybe one fish but that is about it. Although I am sure there was a lot of marine life.

I look forward to reading the rest. Oh, and welcome to the world of underwater explorers!! It is a great group of people, maybe a little strange but strange is what I love.
 
@SATurner

This is awesome to read. We are the same age, I started 9 years ago. It is never to late to start. It is always too late to NOT start! Probably one of my biggest regrets in life was not starting earlier when I had an opportunity (did a try scuba in 2000 in Maui. Loved it, but didn't keep at it).

I look forward to your future posts.
 
I have a buddy that raves about diving on cruises. Congrats on getting certified! Looking forward to reading about your dives on the cruise.
 
I’m a 1968 model and just got back into diving a year ago; was originally certified in 1988 but only had around 18 dives before falling out if it in the 90’s. Nice thing about diving is that as long as you have some level of physical ability, you can keep doing it well into “retirement age”. There’s a thread running about cruise diving, you might be interested in that.

Diving off cruise ship?
 
I look forward to reading the rest. Oh, and welcome to the world of underwater explorers!! It is a great group of people, maybe a little strange but strange is what I love.

I appreciate your kind words, and yes, strange/weird is way better than "normal."

It is never to late to start. It is always too late to NOT start! Probably one of my biggest regrets in life was not starting earlier ....
This is worth repeating.

I have a buddy that raves about diving on cruises. Congrats on getting certified! Looking forward to reading about your dives on the cruise.
I will go through the process that I used to book here in another post.

.... Nice thing about diving is that as long as you have some level of physical ability, you can keep doing it well into “retirement age”. There’s a thread running about cruise diving, you might be interested in that.

Diving off cruise ship?

Also worth repeating.

I'll take a peak at the other thread, thank you for the pointer.
 

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