My Diving Experiences

[iris lilies]

Took back two leaking masks to the dive shop yesterday and brought another one home. Took my snorkel with me to put in my mouth when trying on masks, as having snorkel or reg in your mouth obviously can change the shape of your face. What's great is that the new mask was $40, half the cost of each of the masks I exchanged. A previous mask also fit pretty. It leaked some, but not as bad as the others. And it was only $50. Shop also gave me some silicone grease to try at sealing up the bottom of my mask. Shop couldn't believe how much water I had in my mask in the above pics.

Im glad they are working with you on this.

[Tybee]

You look fabulous--makes me think of my childhood visits to the Everglades!

[Tradd]

Just something of an update:

I didn't end up doing the Ohio quarry trip at the beginning of December. That was cancelled, and I've been working one on one with my instructors several times. First time, we just went to a pool with no scuba equipment on, but with mask, snorkel, fins, and a kick board to work on my kicks. Tweaked the basic "flutter" (what your legs do when freestyle/crawl swimming) so it doesn't hurt sciatica in left hip. This was before Thanksgiving at a health club gym. I did 500 yards in the pool.

A couple of weeks ago, several students cancelled, and so we were able to do a pool session with scuba equipment in the big community pool (12' deep end) the dive shop rents a lane from. We were in the water about 2.5 hours. It was so much fun! We worked on a number of things, but it had been really cold and snowy and getting in the water was just lovely! Worked more on frog kick, which is essentially the breast stroke kick. Each of the two kicks serves different purposes. Frog is harder to learn, but working on it early before I've formed bad habits, is a good thing.

The best part of the session were the videos I got that instructors shot with their GoPro, so I can actually see what I'm doing underwater and work to correct it.

I was delighted when instructors said I was greatly improved over my certification class and our first pool session. I'm much more comfortable in the water now. I'll even swim in the deep end (albeit with kick board), which was much easier than it was before. I even had mask/snorkel on and was looking down. Wasn't too much of an issue. LOL

I'm going to Mermet Springs, a quarry in southern IL (near Padaucah, KY) the end of January with a friend or two. Water temp should be around 38-40F! I'll have a pool session or two with friends in the next couple of weeks. There's a local dive shop that rents time in their small indoor pool (when not using it for classes ) for $10/hour plus tank rental. I did that once before with them.

11.5 year old goddaughter's Christmas present was her own "Discover Scuba" pool intro class, just like the one I did. She's doing it this Saturday. She'll be in the shallow end with an instructor, while I'll be in the deep end working on things with my instructor. I'll be able to swim over and get pics and video.

The dates for my Lake Huron/Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary dive trip have been set for the end of July and deposit sent it. We only need 2 more people for the boat.

I joined LA Fitness last week and I was in the pool 3 times last week and 2 already this week. I just do laps with mask, snorkel, fins, and kick board. I did 350 yards per session last week, and I'm now up to 400. The Lake Huron and Lake Michigan dives will be much better if I'm in better shape. I don't aim to really lose weight (that custom drysuit would need to be replaced!), but to build leg strength and cardio. I'm actually enjoying it, and I've found the pool is a good way to decompress after a stressful day at work. I go after work, not in the morning. I'm simply not a morning person.

[lmerullo]

Thanks for giving us an update, I enjoy hearing of your progress. It seems scuba has become a new interest that will stick around.

[Tradd]

Given all the political BS and hoo hah, thought it would be nice to have something fun to post about.

Goddaughter did her Discover Scuba thing at the beginning of January. She had fun, but cut it short by about 10 minutes due to being cold (this was in a public indoor pool kept at 80F - I always freeze in this pool). I was in the pool at the same time, working on my own stuff. Got a few pics.

All the pool time this winter has paid off. Was in the pool with instructors last weekend when they had no students for scheduled pool time. Said the basic flutter kick (scissors) had pretty good form, just had to slow it down. Learning frog kick next.

Signed up for my Advanced course this coming spring/summer. It's four specialties - underwater navigation (lots of compass use), night/low visibility, deep, wreck. As a reward for all my work over the winter, instructors offered to make special arrangements for me to do my deep and wreck classes on Lake Michigan. Much nicer than doing them at the local quarry. The quarry has a "deep hole" where there's a black sulphur layer about 60' which turns everything pitch black. Sounds like a nightmare. On the lake, there will still be some light at 80-90' and viz will be better than the quarry. Wreck involves 3 dives, the last which is "limited penetration" of a wreck (limited penetration means still being in view of exterior light source from entry point). Local dive buddy who is doing Lake Huron trip with me will be doing Advanced with me.

Went cold water diving (48F water temp) for the first time a couple of weeks ago at a quarry in southern IL (Mermet Springs, near Metropolis). These were "shakedown dives" for the experience and to see what issues might come up (needing more weight due to undies, etc.). Our local quarry is open for cold water diving (since there is no ice for the ice divers) this coming weekend, and I'll be out there with people from my dive shop.

Lots of good stuff coming up this spring/summer. Local quarry opens April 1 and the dive boats get out on the lake sometime in May.

[catherine]

Wow.. you're really doing some serious stuff here! It sounds so neat to have found something that's so fun and challenging for you! Keep us posted!

[nswef]

I'm very excited for you Tradd. You have taken this seriously and to get joy out of it too!

[Tradd]

From a pool session a month ago. A FB friend photoshopped the shark behind me.

The yellow tank is called a "pony," basically emergency air, especially if diving deep/cold water. The lower bungee should be closer to my body, I've shortened it up. This was my first time diving with it. Pony is named "Old Yeller."

[Float On]

From a pool session a month ago. A FB friend photoshopped the shark behind me.

Love the Shark!!! Funny friend!

[Tradd]

I went diving today - for all of 5 minutes underwater. That's right, 5 minutes. The water was 38F/3C. No one I know was able to make it today, so I took a chance on finding an "instabuddy," as it's called. You get matched up with someone else. The quarry owner introduced me to a father and son (the son was in his 20s). Turns out they're friends of my instructors, too! Anyway, the father was wearing inadequate thermals under his drysuit and got cold, plus once we descended 21 ft/6.4m, and got to the training platform on the the bottom, I realized I had too little weight on and was drifting up, so I signaled thumb up to ascend so I could add more weight. Plus, visibility was awful. Maybe 5ft/1.5m. It shouldn't have been that bad, but the warm winter and no ice meant the algae bloom was a lot. The father got an awful headache from the cold water and didn't want to go back in. There was no one else for me to dive with. So, I packed it up and went home. But the weather was very unseasonably warm today. 69F/20C, so I got to be outside. But I realized the cold water doesn't bother me much. My cheeks were very cold, but I would have gotten acclimated if we had gone back down.