| Diving Journal |
| Note: to see info on my Open Water Cert, check out the Sailing Journal pages... 01-May-03 0700 PADI Advanced Open Water Cert Dive #1 - The Captain Tony Time In: 1359 Time Out: 1420 Max Depth: 87 ft. Deco: 3 min @ 15 ft. The Mayport MWR (Moral, Welfare & Recreation) van picked me up outside the base (I can't get on the base easily due to me not being in the Navy) and we left for Lantana Florida to complete the PADI Advanced Open Water Certification Course. It was really bizarre to be driving down the highway and have the music on the radio interrupted by the news of the space shuttle. Talk about conflicting emotions, the excitement of the dives and the realization that families had lost husbands, wives, fathers and mothers. I was a freshman in college when Challenger blew up and still remember going into my neighbors dorm room and watching the news all day rather than going to class. But this is about the diving experience, so let's get on with it. Arrived at the Starfish Divers dock around 1130 and we were all loaded up and ready to go by 1230. We reached our first dive site around 1350. My first giant stride, ocean entry was an adventure on to itself. I'm glad I at least remembered to have my reg in my mouth during entry, because when I popped my head back on the surface, I was immediately hit in the face with a wave. This disoriented me a bit, but I was determined to focus on the goal at hand, getting to the down line that was attached to the wreck. In fact, I was so focused on this that I did not inflate my BC and wound up working way harder than I had to, burning through some major air before I even started to descend. I met up with Deb Madison (our instructor) at the flag and told her I was having a hard time getting air through my reg. She showed me how to adjust the flow knob (it was a new reg) and then everything was OK. She also reminded me to inflate my BC until we were ready to descend. This allowed me to relax considerably and I kept my snorkel in my mouth instead of my reg and we waited until my other two classmates got to the ball. After some quick instruction we were ready to head down. This was when I really found out how currents can affect diving. According to my computer, we began descending at 1359. The current made head up descention impossible, so I went head down, hands lightly on the rope, using my fins to swim down. I thought I was doing great and was pleased I was having no problem with equalization. That was about the time two other divers passed me on the way down. Looking at my computer, I found I was only 9ft. down after about a minute of descending. I then started pulling myself hand over hand down the line. It was really strange going down head first as I was unable to see anything in front of me due to all the bubbles from the divers ahead on the line. Soon though, they disappeared (I figured they had reached the bottom and spread out) but I still could not see anything. When I did start to see things, it was very vague at first, just a darker shadow in the water. As I continued to descend, I started to be able to make out the faint outline of the bow. As it began to come further into focus, I had the coolest experience. I was bout 10 feet or so off the deck when I tilted my head back to look forware and saw the superstructure in front of me. I hadn't noticed it since I was so intent on looking down the line. It was really awe inspiring. We performed the tasks assigned (this was considered our deep water dive) and I passed my Narcosis test with now problems. I think I did it faster at 87 feet than I did on the surface. We then toured the ship and I saw an 8 ft. Moray Eel sticking through a hole in the deck. I loved just cruising around looking at a ship on the bottom of the ocean. I still can't belive I'm doing this! I was really surprised how fast I went through my air (much faster than in the pool like conditions at the Devil's Den spring in Williston, FL.) After only 16 minutes, it was time to head back to the surface. I performed my safety stop at 15 ft (actually at 15, then 14, then 13, then 16, then 15 again, etc.). Made a mental not to concentrate on getting my bouyancy right. Broke the surface at 1420. A note on the computer: I bought a Mares MC1 and found it very easy to use. I'm sure there is a lot more I'm going to learn about it as I progress, but for right now, I had no problem getting time in, bottom time, max depth, water temp, bottom time remaining and ascent rate warnings (slow down dummy). We spent the surface interval trying to stay warm, talking about the wreck and what it was going to be like drift diving on a reef. |
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