my first scuba diving experience

before the dive

i was a bit worried before signing up for the course because i can't really swim. the basic swimming requirements are 200m in any style and 10 min of treading. i've never treaded that long a time, and the only swimming style i can do comfortably is backstorkes. but i figured if i practised over the holidays, it should be fine. of course, i _didn't_ practise over the holidays because i couldn't get off my lazy butt. but i did manage to read chapters 1 and 2 of the book before class (even though i had wanted to read all 5 chapters at first). brad didn't even read anything and just cheated off me on the exam!

saturday

our weekend started with the classroom learning. we went through chapter 1, did a quiz, then went straight to the pool! this was my first scuba session, and it was pretty fun. the instructor and the rest of the crew were really nice, so it wasn't stressful at all. we got to go to the deep end, and swam around however we wanted. it was pretty cool being able to swim side ways and rotate all the way around. but i have yet to do an underwater somersault. however, i left with my right ear blocked.

at the end of the pool activities, we had to tread for 10 minutes. they timed us right to the dot. i was partly floating partly treading. since i wasn't just treading in an upright position, and most floating, my neck was really sore. i made it to 10 minutes though, so i was glad. after a short break, i had to go do my 200m swim. remember how i can't swim any other style except backstroke? well, i had to pay for it now. i tried to stretch out my neck as much as i could before going, but doing yet another 8 laps of backstrokes was a pain in the neck, literally. luckily, we could rest a little between laps while waiting for the lanes to clear. so i got by easier than i thought. when i came up the pool though, my thigh muscles gave up on me and i just knelt at the edge for awhile. it was kinda embarrassing but i really couldn't walk. guess i should have practised swimming over the holidays afterall!

we finished the day with chapters 2 and 3 and their respective quizzes. we were told that we didn't have to read chapters 4 and 5 if we don't get a chance to. so i got lazy and slept all night instead :P

sunday

sunday was a bit worse.. the classroom stuff was the same but the pool experience wasn't so great. i had to wear a different jacket from saturday's, so i couldn't inflate it all the way. then brad tried to inflate it, without knowing that it was pushing the weights against my chest so hard that it almost crushed me. so the start of the session got me into a pissy mood. then i couldn't get to the bottom of the pool and i didn't know what's wrong. turns out i didn't have enought weights to let me go down that far. so i had to go up with an instructor and he inserted more weights. then i felt lost because i didn't know what i had missed by going up the pool. throughout the session, my ears kept popping and blocking, so on top of not seeing clearly (no contacts), i couldn't hear very well. my mask kept fogging up so i spent a lot of time clearing them. then my tank ran out of air, so i had to go up again while everyone else was continuing their activities. later, i couldn't follow one of the skill activities, and the instructor yelled at me a few times before i could do it. i also left with both ears blocked this time, so sunday wasn't a good experience.

however, we ended the day with the final exam for this course. and i ended up getting the top mark, so i won a t-shirt :)

after the dives

brad wants to take the next course already! actually, it's the next next course, because he wants to do the deep dives, but recreational divers are confined to 40 metres only. after we get our first certification, we'll be confined to 18 metres only. so he's really looking forward to doing more. i wouldn't mind doing the underwater photography specialization. sounds kinda cool. but i'd have to see what the next few dive experiences are like. the problems with the equipment on sunday didn't actually leave me with much confidence.

i'm not sure what my experience will be like in australia, i hope it'll be like saturday and not sunday. i just hope we have enough time to get comfortable with our equipment beforehand. i can't do anything when i feel rushed.