Open Water Dive Day 2

08/21/11

Sunday’s weather was not as nice but it was more comfortable putting on the wet suit since the air temperature was almost 10 degrees cooler. It drizzled on and off but never did it thunder or lightning. Rain doesn’t stop dives since you’re planning to get wet anyway. We kept the same order for the groups and this time boated over to Lourdes Camp where there are sunken metal platforms and other sunken objects to explore.

Again we did two dives and a few skills on each one. Our two “tours” kind of blend into one. We followed the ropes that connected the platforms and different "landmarks" like a small sunken boat, a motorcycle, a stairmaster, and toilet seats. There are those signs that say “Children at Play” marking the boundaries. We swam through a diamond hoop and look at a mirror so we could see what we looked like underwater. We went down to 30 ft where I saw the thermocline. It looks like an oily line where the warm and cold water meet. When we swam to shallower water we came to another platform where a stuffed Disney doll was resting. We couldn't figure out what character it was supposed to be (the tag said Disney on it that was our only clue). It looked like a deformed Pooh Bear.

At one point I swam up to a fish and was barely a half a foot from it. We were looking directly at each other until it decided to swim away. It seemed like it might have wanted me to follow him. I played around by swimming near the zebra mussels and watching them close up. The guys in our group were turning over rocks to find crayfish to play with. Back at the original platform they tried to get this big crayfish to fight the smaller ones like action figures. The big one was pretty aggressive and had pinchers that would probably hurt a finger. Other items found were a pair of sunglasses that were not colonized as well as a clean pair of Speedo goggles.

Open Water Dive Day 1

08/20/11

Saturday morning was sunny, 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and the water was calm. Ashley and I got to the site at Sevey’s Marina on Skaneateles Lake last by about 10 minutes. Ashley forgot her wet suit but we managed to remember everything else. On board the boat was our instructor, an assistant, and 12 divers. Seven of us were from our class and the other five were mainly from classes taken at colleges or somewhere other than directly through the SSI Syracuse store. We paired up into buddies (Ashley and I were paired up) and six of us went in at a time.

Before we could get in the water we had to attach all our equipment and squeeze into our wet suits. With the weather as nice as it was we broke into a sweat pretty quickly on the boat. Our dive site on the lake was called Murphy’s Cliff where we stayed close to shore. We got to go in the first group. It was less scary than entering the pool since there was no gutter to step over. But it was also unnerving getting into the lake. I forgot to inflate my BC so I had a little trouble staying above the water to snorkel at first but I quickly figured out what I forgot to do.

I quickly realized the lake was just like the pool but there were things to see besides clumps of hair and hair ties and much wider boundaries. Before Ashley and I could do our skills she had to get one of her ears to equalize. I resurfaced with her and we went more slowly down on our second try. We did our skills at the bottom of the lake at about 14 ft. It's mainly millfoil and zebra mussels (both invasive species) that surround you as well as the sediment we kicked up as we settled on the bottom. It prevented us from seeing each other temporarily. After our instructor saw us do all the skills we got to follow him around the bottom. We went close to 30 ft and saw a fairly large tree that had fallen years ago and lots of fish around it. I saw one fish carcass but mainly a lot of live smallmouth bass who do not seem to be too frightened of us.

We were down for almost 40 minutes but of course it felt like half as much time went by as it would or all subsequent dives. We climbed back onto our boat after the next group got in and snacked while they did what we just had. After about 30 minutes we got to go in again.

I was the last one entering this time and when I did my weight belt fell off (I had about 20 lbs of weight around my waist because when you wear a wet suit it increases your buoyancy). I had to climb back on the boat and take off my tank and put the weight belt back on, making sure it was extra tight. And of course it nearly slipped off when I entered the water again! I caught it this time and my instructor helped to make sure it was secure.

We did one more skill then swam around some more. This time I came close to the 30 ft where there is what they call a thermocline which is a thin layer between different temperatures of water. You would put your hands down toward the bottom and it would be freezing but you'd pull them up just a few inches and it felt warm again.

Afterward we were fed hot dogs and Coneys while we did paperwork and filled in our DiveLogs. I use more air than Ashley does since I had to switch tanks for the second drive and she definitely didn’t need to.

Weeks 6 and 7

08/01/11 and 08/08/11

Writing this more than a week after our last class, everything blends together. It was mainly discussion of dive tables and practicing how to read them during Week 6 and then more dive practice in the pool. I think this was the week we practiced taking off our masks under water and putting them back on as well as taking off our BCs and putting them back on. Last week we took our test and everyone passed. I got 2 wrong although I had changed one from the correct answer to the wrong answer. We did mainly review of skills such as finding the regulator and purging ours masks. All but three of us did the dry suit diving so they took a while to get in the water, having to suit-up and get the excess air out. We practiced dive belt release and the emergency buoyancy ascent which I needed to flare more for. We also practiced taking our BCs off and sitting on them, a different way to take it off to adjust something at the surface rather than underwater. Ashley had to go one flipper again because she left one boot at home. Luckily, due to her sprained foot earlier this summer, she had plenty of practice. This one-footedness made pushing and pulling me difficult. These skills were practice for being with a tired diver that needs help getting to the boat or shore.

We are all signed up for the open water dives this coming weekend in Skaneateles Lake for both Saturday and Sunday morning. I am excited and a little nervous. We have to pick up our rentals for the dives before Saturday and make sure everything is together the night before. The dives are early in the morning and we should be done by noon. I am hoping to find a trip during my spring break or winter break where I can go more tropical and perhaps get my advance diving certificate. Next update will be about diving in an actual lake!