BabyDuck
Contributor
this is my report, done over several days on my 'home' site, ncdivers.com. i edited a bit to be clearer since some of the references were nc specific. jason b, plankspanker, and corigan were planning on coming for my post-grad dives, so that's who i'm talking to about coming down in a few days...
wed feb 15
hey, guys, here in the outpost waiting for coffee to brew. yesterday was day 1. 3ish hours of lecture - pretty much just from the book, but there were some good examples and stuff that made things clearer. then equipment. i'm using a really really heavy ss 98 with an h. michael (o'leary, my instructor) lent me one of his regs since mine didn't breathe well for some reason on his first stage. other than messing with that, no equipment issues. my buddy is jean-michele, a french course director & tech instructor living in st maartin. then reels on land, then to orange grove sink. dive 1, michael leading & doing the line, kind of a 'make sure they aren't gonna immediately die' dive. i was SOOO HEAVY!!!! all extra weight off, and having to use the wing for all it's worth. i really thought it was gonna start venting out the overflow. i wish i'd brought my aluminum plate, but i didn't. anyway, all that made my buoyancy just crap. i was very unhappy. michael, on the other hand, was very complimentary. i can only imagine what he must be used to seeing if i was good enough to praise. we were back up after 45 min, and i was at my turn pressure on the surface. brief si, and down to open water to do drills. michael did a line obstacle course around the trees in the sink. we did it open eyes, then mask off. both of those were ok. then we were gonna do me ooa & leading & eyes open but touch contact. so i get jean-michele's reg & we start. i have a question - how do i follow all the line, which takes two hands, if i have to use one in the king kong grip? so i'm trying to ask, when the reg gets pulled out. yep. on an exhale. so i get it back, but don't have enough in me to clear it. so i start to cough & choke & die. BUT, i don't breach or plant. i'm thinking - they can put that on my tombstone, 'she had really good buoyancy while she died'. i couldn't get enough air in to effectively clear, and i was scared to use the purge in case it sent the water in my mouth shooting clear into my lungs. but i did anyway, and after what felt like forever, it sorted itself out. but it did sort of scare me. i never thought that bolting would be a good option, but it did cross my mind. anyway, then we finished the dive. so i, infact, lived. then jean-michele and i went to dinner at two sisters, which was really really good.
looking forward to today, and seeing you guys tomorrow!!
yay! much better buoyancy today, so i was much happier. quite easy dives in peacock 1, towards both tunnels. the first, jean-michele was leader. once he tied off inside, we watched michael demonstrate mod flutter, mod frog, and pull & glide. then we had to do all three on an out & back, too. then michael called it & we left, so it was about 25 min. for dive 2 i was leader. i don't know how much of the reel running discomfort is being unfamiliar and how much might be handedness - bobby, aren't you a lefty? any comments? i didn't mess up, just wasn't smooth. so we went to the same place and did ooa & touch up to the secondary and switched places and came back. the dive part was just fine. so that one was called, also about 25 minutes. since i wasn't so good with the reel on dive 2, i got to do it again on dive 3 & did better. that one was just to look around, down the fissure & back to the gold line, for 22 min. lunch at the outpost, then the quiz. i passed, though i got the matching question wrong. it just wasn't clear in my head what i was trying to do, but he went over it after in much more detail & now i've got it.
so we started intro. jean-michele & i were joined by dan, from ga. we had some lecture, learned how to use the navy tables (which i really like - i think they're easier than the padi version), did the dissimilar size tank matching stuff (which also took me a minute. i have to set up equations like chemistry - you know, with all the labels clear and crossing them off. anyway, i can't think in a ratio, so i gotta do what i gotta do) and went out for more drills. we talked about directional markers, practiced lost buddy & lost line, and michael gave us the test. i got a new spg, in 100s instead of 250s. the guys are working on the test now, but obviously i'm more concerned with writing to y'all. tonight is a greek dinner cathy's having for someone's birthday & we're all invited. i like it here.
see you tomorrow, jason & henry, & friday matt!!
______________________
wed feb 15
hey, guys, here in the outpost waiting for coffee to brew. yesterday was day 1. 3ish hours of lecture - pretty much just from the book, but there were some good examples and stuff that made things clearer. then equipment. i'm using a really really heavy ss 98 with an h. michael (o'leary, my instructor) lent me one of his regs since mine didn't breathe well for some reason on his first stage. other than messing with that, no equipment issues. my buddy is jean-michele, a french course director & tech instructor living in st maartin. then reels on land, then to orange grove sink. dive 1, michael leading & doing the line, kind of a 'make sure they aren't gonna immediately die' dive. i was SOOO HEAVY!!!! all extra weight off, and having to use the wing for all it's worth. i really thought it was gonna start venting out the overflow. i wish i'd brought my aluminum plate, but i didn't. anyway, all that made my buoyancy just crap. i was very unhappy. michael, on the other hand, was very complimentary. i can only imagine what he must be used to seeing if i was good enough to praise. we were back up after 45 min, and i was at my turn pressure on the surface. brief si, and down to open water to do drills. michael did a line obstacle course around the trees in the sink. we did it open eyes, then mask off. both of those were ok. then we were gonna do me ooa & leading & eyes open but touch contact. so i get jean-michele's reg & we start. i have a question - how do i follow all the line, which takes two hands, if i have to use one in the king kong grip? so i'm trying to ask, when the reg gets pulled out. yep. on an exhale. so i get it back, but don't have enough in me to clear it. so i start to cough & choke & die. BUT, i don't breach or plant. i'm thinking - they can put that on my tombstone, 'she had really good buoyancy while she died'. i couldn't get enough air in to effectively clear, and i was scared to use the purge in case it sent the water in my mouth shooting clear into my lungs. but i did anyway, and after what felt like forever, it sorted itself out. but it did sort of scare me. i never thought that bolting would be a good option, but it did cross my mind. anyway, then we finished the dive. so i, infact, lived. then jean-michele and i went to dinner at two sisters, which was really really good.
looking forward to today, and seeing you guys tomorrow!!
yay! much better buoyancy today, so i was much happier. quite easy dives in peacock 1, towards both tunnels. the first, jean-michele was leader. once he tied off inside, we watched michael demonstrate mod flutter, mod frog, and pull & glide. then we had to do all three on an out & back, too. then michael called it & we left, so it was about 25 min. for dive 2 i was leader. i don't know how much of the reel running discomfort is being unfamiliar and how much might be handedness - bobby, aren't you a lefty? any comments? i didn't mess up, just wasn't smooth. so we went to the same place and did ooa & touch up to the secondary and switched places and came back. the dive part was just fine. so that one was called, also about 25 minutes. since i wasn't so good with the reel on dive 2, i got to do it again on dive 3 & did better. that one was just to look around, down the fissure & back to the gold line, for 22 min. lunch at the outpost, then the quiz. i passed, though i got the matching question wrong. it just wasn't clear in my head what i was trying to do, but he went over it after in much more detail & now i've got it.
so we started intro. jean-michele & i were joined by dan, from ga. we had some lecture, learned how to use the navy tables (which i really like - i think they're easier than the padi version), did the dissimilar size tank matching stuff (which also took me a minute. i have to set up equations like chemistry - you know, with all the labels clear and crossing them off. anyway, i can't think in a ratio, so i gotta do what i gotta do) and went out for more drills. we talked about directional markers, practiced lost buddy & lost line, and michael gave us the test. i got a new spg, in 100s instead of 250s. the guys are working on the test now, but obviously i'm more concerned with writing to y'all. tonight is a greek dinner cathy's having for someone's birthday & we're all invited. i like it here.
see you tomorrow, jason & henry, & friday matt!!
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