Wednesday, October 13th, 2009
I have waited far too long to get this Advanced certification going. I had every intention of working on it over the course of the summer, but as is often the case, summer was quickly booked, and before I knew it fall was here, and it was almost too late. Almost! A call to Maine Divers Scuba Center in Portland was all it took. They talked me throught the process, and told me how to start my eLearning portion on the PADI website. I have already completed the first two sections (Peak Performance Boyancy, and Deep Water Diving). Tomorrow I am driving down to the shop to pick up some last minute items I need (like a neoprene hood, gloves and boots for my wetsuit) and then I am good to go! My first dive - Peak Performance Boyancy - is scheduled for this Friday. Full report soon!
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Due to a storm off the coast, and a forecast for seas in the 3-5 foot range, we decided to post-pone Fridays dive. Instead, we are now going to dive Kettle Pond (which is cool, because I've heard a lot about it, but have never dived there). We plan on doing two dives, so I will be accomplishing both my PPB (Peak Performance Boyancy) dive, and my Underwater Navigation dive as well. George at Maine DIvers is going to lend me one of his dry suits. I can't wait!
Friday, October 16, 2009
I am making good use of the extra time today to work through the PADI eLearning course on dry suit diving. I figure I should have the basics down before I use one for the first time on Saturday.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Well at least we attempted the check off a couple of dives today. The day looked promising, with bright blue skies and sun, in lieu of the cloudy overcast that had been forecast. I met George at Maine Divers around 8:30am and he got me suited up into a properly fitted dry suit. I ended up going with a neoprene one that zipped in the back (and therefore required two people to put it on) the suit fit fairly well, but was a bit snug across the chest. (Note to self: when I buy my own dry suit, I'm getting the kind that zips in front so you can put it on yoursef). After getting on the suit I geared up and entered the tank in the back room at Maine Divers for a check-out in the new suit. After a couple of inflating/deflating, and inverted acsent drills, I was ready for the open water.
We headed for Kettle Cove, next to Two Lights state park. The surf was higher than we had hoped, and we could tell from shore that the bottom was churned up pretty good. We thought there still might be 5-10 feet of visibility. After gearing up and making our way into the water, we soon realized that the visibility was absolutely zero. As soon as you were not in physical contact with another diver, you lost them. It did not take long for George to call the dive off, there was just no way to even read your compass for the Navigation part of the dive. In the end we exited the water, and agreed to get back together tomorrow to dive Kennebunk Pond. Then it was back to the shop to clean our gear and debrief the dive.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Today we finally got some real diving in! George took me and Tyler (an Open Water student) down to Kennebunk Pond in Lyman.{*} It was a cold and rainy afternoon, with the air temp a chilly 37 degrees and dropping when we arrived. We suited up, checked our gear, and trudged accross the road to walk into the pond. George checked me out for my Peak Performance Boyancy dive, then worked with Tyler on his Open Water requirements. We were down about 20 minutes and then returned to shore to swap tanks for the next dive. With my full two-piece wetsuit, I had carried 34lbs into the water, and was still just barely able to achieve neutral buoyancy, so for the second dive I added another 4lbs, and switched to a steel tank. We also grabbed our lights as darkness was fast approaching.
As we made our way back into the water, the rain began to turn over to snow, with huge wet flakes coming down. Sort of sureal to be walking into th water in the snow. The second dive for me meant the Navigation dive. My task was to swim a square box pattern, 30 kick-cycles to each leg, and retun to where George and Tyler would be waiting for me. First George worked with Tyler on his rapid ascent mauneuver, and I waited on the bottom for them to finish with that. Because I wanted to sit in one place anyway, I let out all the air from my BCD and settled to the bottom to wait. Once George was done with Tyler, he returned to the bottom and signaled me to start the Box pattern for my Navigation requirement. Without thinking I set off immedietly with compass in hand, and did not stop to once again equalize my buoyancy. As a result I went bouncing along off the bottom while trying to watch the compass, and count kick-cycles at the same time. I found myself flustered, and frustrated until I realized what was wrong and stopped. I took a moment to equalize my buoyancy, and then set off again, and things wet much more smoothly. So smoothly in fact, I was thinking I had the test in hand, until the third leg of the box. I lost count of my kick-cycles, and ended up going a bit too far on that leg, so that when I turned for the final leg back to George and Tyler, I overshot them by about 20 yards.
By this time it was getting dark, and we submeged again and made our way along the bottom by the glow of our lights. By the time we made our way to shore again, the snow was really coming down, mixed with sleet and freezing rain. George decided that since it had been so dark in the lake, he was going to sign off on the Night DIve portion of my program, as well as the P.P.B. We will get back together again after George returns from a dive trip to Key Largo to re-do the Navigation dive, and then the Deep Water and the Wreck Dive, and I will be done!
LESSON LEARNED: When navigating by compass underwater, remember to relax, achieve proper buoyancy first, and pay absolute attention to your kick-cycles!
{*} == Information stolen with thanks, and full credit due to my friend Peter Boilard, and his excellent local Scuba diving site, Scuba Knowtes.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The weather last fall quickly became problematic, and we were un-able to get the rest of my dives in before the winter storms began to hit. We put the whole process on hold for the winter, and plan to resume the rest of my dives as soon as the weather warms up this spring.
In the mean time, I am returning to Jamaica in a few weeks, and I may be able to check of a required dive or two while I am there. I have already confirmed with George at Maine Divers that as long as the Divemaster downt here signs my log book, and includes his PADI ID#, I will get full credit for taking those dives. I'm hoping to get my Night Diver, Deep Diver, and Wreck Diver dives accomplished while I am there.
More to come soon!
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