certified

An update on the SCUBA diving training thing. I finished class number 8, passed my NAUI test, and then went on a training dive weekend just before I left for Florida (talk about a crazy weekend...). Brian and other instructors showed us the way to Strawberry Quarry somewhere near Harmony, Pennsylvania. If you ever go there, be sure you bring a very good 4 wheel drive vehicle that isn't afraid of getting muddy. There had been no rain for a long while, and the mile-long two-track going from the main road to the meadow-and-cow-pasture-encircled body of water had some huge mud holes.

For the training dives we had to buddy up (rule number one in diving) - I buddied with Sue, a great woman from my class who was a pleasure to dive with because she has great work ethic and won't quit. On Saturday we did some snorkeling and then 2 dives where we had to demonstrate various underwater skills. After resting for the evening, we went out again on Sunday where we learned how to use a compass to navigate underwater. My first attempt at this was HoR-RI-BlE! plus it was while snorkeling and I kept getting water in my snorkel...gotta work on that because it's no fun to inhale water. But by the end of the day Sue and I could go back and forth across the quarry underwater and end up where we started! Yay!!

I was really happy that I had pretty good buoyancy control, which just means I don't float to the top or sink to the bottom. This is determined by how much air one puts in a blow-up vest (called a buoyancy compensator or BC) that also holds the air tank. It's a very important skill for divers to have. I need a little more practice, but I'm happy with how it's going so far.

A few really cool things about the dives in Strawberry Quarry. First is the thermocline. A thermocline is where water from the top (warm) hits water from the bottom (cold) - you can definitely tell you're there because the temperature drops A LOT -- plus, the coolest thing, right at that interface there's a cloudiness, like fog in the middle of the water. I liked that. It just looked neat. But when I was coming up from the bottom if I stopped to look at the thermocline clouds I shot up to the surface because I always forgot to dump air out of my BC. That wasn't so good.

Second is the fish. It was SOOOOOO amazing to see fish and have them not swim away from me. I don't quite understand why they don't swim away, but I'm glad they didn't. All we saw were small little bluegills and sunfish - well, that might be a lie; I have no idea what fish species look like, I just think those sound like small lake-dwelling fish.

The third was the shark. Talk about hilarious - we're swimming along on our last dive (our totally independent dive!) and I look ahead through the semi-murky water and see the outline of a shark approaching!!! I just about freaked out. I, of course, knew that there are no sharks in freshwater quarries in the middle of Pennsylvania. But it really looked like a shark, and a BIG one. It turned out to be something that had been sunk in the quarry - a big metal pipelike thing with some rods sticking out of it, and I don't think it was put there to make people think it was a shark. But I will remember that shark for the rest of my life.

So, now I'm certified and will be getting my NAUI card in the mail sooner or later. Then...it's off to Mexico - I hope! The question now is will there be enough money for Mexico. Despite my saving (which was NOT diligent, I must say) for over a year, I am still in need of some more money to make it to my goal for the trip. I am thus reluctant to schedule the trip because I don't know for sure if I'll have the money in time for when I want to go in November. Plus there are several items that will probably cost me a bunch of money between now and then, but I don't know how much to expect to pay. ...Here's hoping for Mexico in November 2005, though!