SCUBA

Last weekend was amazing!!! I have wanted to get certified to dive for almost seven years and I am now in the process of doing so. Last Saturday was the first time that I breathed under water and it was rugged!

We started the class by doing a lot of classwork. We had to listen to lessons and then get tested on them to make sure that we understand important things like not to die while diving! That afternoon we went to Doug's pool to have our first water session. Of course, I am setting up my gear and feeling totally cool when something goes wrong...it's inevitable!

I went to open my tank so that I could breathe the air so perfectly contained inside when I realized that there was no air in my tank at all. I yelled "Mr. Man!!!" (thats what I call the dive instructor) and he came over to help out. He was horrified that my tank had no air and apologized profusely. No big deal though... we just went in two groups and I used Morgan's tank when it came time. The first day went really well though and we were on our way to getting certified!!!

The only major problem that I have is that I can't equalize my ears...big problem in diving. The reason is that I can't pinch my nose because of the nose ring. I am trying to figure out a way to plug my nostrils through my mask from the bottom without actually pinching...it's not working very well!!!

The next day, Sunday, was our second day of water exercises! I had air this time!!! It was really hot outside so Morgs and I went ahead and jumped into the water. Mr. Man promptly told us that students aren't allowed in the water before him...he let us stay! Then he told us that we needed to swim the length of the pool 5 times so that he could see that we could swim well. As Morgs took off, I looked at Mr. Man and accused him of telling us to swim so that we would burn some energy and calm down (apparently we were a little hyper). Mr. Man slowly smiled and the busted out laughing as he told me I was a "smart one!"

Morgs and I then made up our own series of hand signals. Every time I went under the water I would end up smiling and letting a torrent of water come rushing into my mask. Smile and clear, smile and clear, smile and clear...etc. So we made up hand signals in the hopes that we could trick our brains into making our hands smile and laugh for us!

The diving session went great except that toward the end I was shaking violently from being so cold and Mr. Man cut the session a little short because I was chattering so hard and turning blue. It took me awhile to warm back up!

At the end Mr. Man told Morgs and I that he usually splits friends up concerning dive partners but we were just way too entertaining!!!