ok, really long - had to cut it in 2! cavern & intro II...

[BabyDuck]

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!!
______________________

 

[BabyDuck]

written feb 22 about feb 16 & 17

ok, day 3... the students were now a threesome, jean-michele & dan & me. we had to do 4 dives for intro. then the guys were planning to go on to full & i was stopping.

first 2 dives were at peacock 1 again. we started out going down the pothole side. that cave at the beginning is pretty big! it wasn't what i expected. jean-michele was reel person. michael took us ahead separately & we did lost buddy drills. i was last. dan seemed nervous the whole time, very fidgety with his feet. no complications, drills went well, we came back out.

dive 2 was interesting. peanut side, much more what i expected size-wise. it was to be the lights out air-sharing drill. i was in the lead for this one & the reel stuff was better. i saw michael cover his light & thought the drill started. oops! he was just being polite during another class' lost line drill. but i turned off my primary light, got on the line, turned, and put on my backup. so i messed up the whole team. michael got us straight again, though, and we went further in. *then* we did the drill. jean-michele donated to dan, lights went off, and we started out. it was very meditative, not scary like it probably would be in real life. almost out of the peanut tunnel, i felt jean-michele turn. he skipped me & was telling michael that he was out of air. michael gave him his long hose and sorted out that he had rolled off. jean-michele was very calm. i didn't really know what was going on, except that micheal was now ahead of me with jean-michele. so when *that* got sorted out, we were almost to the reel. drill over, i reeled up. that went really smooth. i guess something had to go smooth! then on the stop we did valve drills. i was distracted watching a turtle. anyway, i turned off my long hose, went to backup, turned it back on, and started turning off the left side. i felt bubbles and even though it was off, i couldn't breathe it down. now it was leaking. so i gave up & we went up. it was hissing. i got told off for the mistake, but he wasn't mean about it.

to the outpost for lunch. i changed tanks since the valve was leaking. then we went to cow for the last two dives. we went in the upstream side. the flow was very very mild. we did lost line for the first. i was in second place. we had to hang on the line in the dark & wait for our turns. i was cold just waiting! brrr. when it was my turn, he took me up the line 10 or 15 feet, showed me all the rocks, showed me the line, and turned off his light. ok, no problem. i got my reel & found a rock. i tried putting the reel through the loop but the line kept getting caught on reel bits. so i did it the other way, making a loop with the line just through itself and then looking for a rock again. that loop got caught on my suit. of course. so when i actually had a loop and actually had a rock, no more problems. he flashed his light quickly as i was tying off (he spot checked us once in a while) so maybe he missed the earlier fumbling. ok, not likely. i don't think he misses much, but i can hope. then dragging through the silt and flinging up an arm, dragging through the silt and flinging up an arm, dragging and flinging...there's the line. reel tied off, arrow on. i held a second and then he flashed his light. yay! i was done! gather stuff back up, back to the place we were waiting, another wait in the cold. then out.

dive four was pretty much for fun. i watched the snails on the silt. the trails are like lace. another valve drill on the stop, which worked this time. then we were done! back to the outpost to go over the tests...i missed one part of the gas matching and i don't know why. i'll have to look at some similar problems later, because the math lied and i know it doesn't do that, so i messed it up somehow.

i had a shower (hooray! i hadn't had one the night before with the dinner party & all, so i was feeling pretty ripe) and the three of us went to dinner. it was nice. at the outpost, i stayed up to wait for jason & henry. john (the current tank guy) & i were watching the olympics and survivor - he had the remote, can you tell? - and chatting. then more talk & less tv, then not so much talk... i gave up waiting at about 11.

got up at 6, had a quick shower, and there was jason! yay! they had missed the turn off 10 & got in about 2. yikes! we had a bit of breakfast & waited for henry to get up & matt to get there. then - surprise! - we met bradfordnc, who was finishing up full with michael and jean-michele. dan had stopped at intro. i don't know if he really was nervous and came to realize it, or if he recognized that if he wasn't nervous he needed more practice to smooth out some, but he dropped full. of to peacock about 9.

both these dives were great! it was so much fun to have the drill pressure off. no issues at all on dive 1 except making a primary tieoff. the line kept slipping off the rock. but hey, all i had to do was sit there & stay out of the way! we did like we do in the quarry, with primary buddy teams who stuck together. henry & jason were buddies, and me & matt. i love my light, we did good with signals, not too much crashing into stuff. going out, we saw michael, brad, and jean-michele and all did very dignified acknowledgements...ok, we waved like idiots. jason & henry took the tanks for fills and matt & i had a sandwich & chatted. when the guys came back, they had a sandwich & we went back in. another nice dive, and since we had left the reel, no worries about tieoffs! it was all just so nice & smooth. we saw michael, jean-michele, and bradford going out & had another round of mad waving. (i'm so sophisticated.) matt had a bit of problem clearing & signaled me & i signaled the others but by the time they turned, he had cleared & we were moving again - that made me feel pretty good, that we were all paying good attention.

then, sadly, i had to pack up and go back to the outpost and give back my tank and some spare parts to micheal. sniff, sniff. goodbye hugs all around, and off to lauderdale! woo hoo!

it was great. i'd do it again in a minute. when are we doing it again, guys?