Cyprian
Contributor
GUE Fundamentals - Feb 18-23, 2013 - High Springs Florida
Instructor: Doug Mudry
Interns: Meredith Tanguay and Kyle Harmon
GUE folks who were not there for class but helped me on my journey: Jason Wright (my mentor), Katherine Dicker, Mike Kraft, Lynne Flaherty, Kate Pruden.
I would like to begin by summing up this class in a few words: excellent instructor, great interns, awesome teammates, exhausting, highly educational, fun and did I say exhausting? LOL. To say that you get your money's worth out of this class is a gross understatement, especially when Doug gives you an extra day.....more on that later.
While I took notes each day to provide this report as promised, I wanted to step back and accomplish two things before I began to write. Number one, everyone that I talked to about Fundies said that you really have to let it sink in before you realize what you have accomplished and number two, I wanted to get in a couple of post-Fundies dives before I reported.
That said, wow you learn more than you think you will. But I must admit that I did not adhere to a principle that I had promised myself I would. I also did not listen to my friends and mentors, nor the numerous Fundies reports that I had read. "Check your ego at the door."
When I started on this journey some 10-11 months ago I had a simple goal. I was going to take Fundies in a dry suit, doubles, can light, etc. I was going to go and shoot for the tech pass, but be more realistic and be happy to achieve a rec pass. At that time and for months following, I considered the tech pass to be out of reach, but I still wanted to dive in that configuration as tech pass and Cave 1,2/Tec 1,2 are eventual goals for me. Well, somewhere along the line I let my ego take over and all I could see was a tech pass. This way of thinking is a mistake, my friends. You go to this class to learn and let the instructor do his/her job.
Now, I'm not going to beat that point to death, so let me happily state that we all got rec passes, but more importantly we all came out with a stronger skill set and a clearer diving mindset. This is the difference taking a week to reflect after class makes. Two days after class I was still angry at myself. I failed, or so I had thought. Again I lost focus and let my ego take over. It took my good friends, and my new friend Doug Mudry to slap me back into the realm of logical thought. LOL. Doug said, "Man you did not fail, you succeeded." They were simple words that spoke volumes. It was time for poor, poor, pitiful me to wake up and realize, hey I did succeed.
Anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about class!
16 hr drive to High Springs on Saturday Feb 16th. We stayed the entire week at the Hydro Lodge. It was a great place to stay with room to move around. The only drawback is that is does not have a washer and dryer. Other than that, it certainly beats a cramped hotel room.
Sunday we went to Extreme Exposure to bug Kyle for awhile and talk about where to dive that day. He sent us off with directions to Troy Springs. It was our first time to dive a Florida Spring. Needless to say, great dive!
Class Day 1
We were to meet at Extreme Exposure at 9 am. We arrived around 8:30. Well, some guy named Jarrod Jablonski was conducting a GUE Documentation class in the EE classroom with a few guys like JP Bresser, Richard Lundgren, Kiril Egorov, David Rhea, to name a few....so we were moved to the GUE meeting room. Which, by the way, has much more comfortable chairs....lol.
So Kyle leads us in and there is Doug, coffee in hand, grinning from ear to ear.
Incidentally, if there is a more positive person than Doug Mudry on this earth, I'd like to meet him/her. And I'm not writing this report to heap boundless praise on the guy, but I'm sure you will see by the end of this post that he deserves it.
Meredith is on his right, prepping her notes. She had a genuine smile as well, but I now think that her smile was more along the lines of "Hehehe, a new Fundies group....they are going to be exhausted and trying to sell their gear in a couple of days." LOL.
Alright, so we settle in and start with the introductions. We then proceed to the lecture, reviewing the GUE system, etc. At the break for lunch Kyle takes us to the Halcyon manufacturing plant where we get the tour from Mr. Ken Charlesworth. I have to admit it was nice to actually see the items being manufactured right there in High Springs, FL. Joe asked Ken if we would get any free samples and he immediately replied "Sure, just leave your credit card at the door."
Back to EE and we pull out all of our dive gear, which was still assembled from the previous day's dive. We break it all down right in the middle of EE's sales floor! LOL. Hey the big dogs had the training room, so we got to use the entire sales floor.
Doug, Meredith and Kyle went over all of our gear. For the most part, we were compliant. I had a mouthpiece that wasn't tight enough, my can light cord was actually lose (thanks for the tip to check often Kyle), and my complaint about my Cinch harness slipping was quickly addressed by Doug (tri-glides).
We spent the remainder of the afternoon going over SMBs, spools, tanks, regs, you name it.
The night found us at Gainesville Heath and Fitness for the ominous swim test. Doug had a little issue with the changing of the rules (they were only going to allow him 2 guest and there were 4 of us), but that was resolved quickly and we hit the pool. Now this gets pretty comical...well comical if you were there. We only had one lane. That wasn't a problem for the underwater swim, but it got interesting during the 300 yarder. Meredith, Jason S and I were all swimming in that lane at the same time. Mer and Jason, again I apologize for the number of times that I ran into ya'll or splashed water in your faces....lol.
Anyway, we all passed both swim tests. And I did consider it cool that Doug and Meredith were in the water with us at all times, swimming right beside us when they could.
Class Day 2 - Ginnie Springs
We meet at EE at 8 am, analyze our gas, apply our analysis tape and head to Ginnie.
Kyle could not join us today because he had to work. So Doug and Meredith were with us.
Get used to these terms: Buoyancy, Trim and Stability. They are about to become a common theme.
So we get our dive site briefing and then get into our dry suits and do a little table dancing. Yes, we practice the kicks on the table. I am glad that no one was around to video this moment. It is brutally hard to do some of these kicks without pressure. Now Doug would grab my feet and I could do the motions, but that was only with the pressure. We were all laughing by the end of this table session.
Next, dry suits only, we enter the water to practice back kicks and heli turns. I kept looking back to see Doug smiling...or was he laughing? Anyway....
"Let's go scccuuuuba diving!" Doug said and we geared up and hit the water in the spring run, but not before another affirmative that I found cool. "Gentlemen, I am always the first to enter the water and the last to leave," Doug said. I know this might be commonplace for many instructors, but I just thought it cool because he would pretty much say it every day.
Flutter kicks in single file down the spring run, then we gathered in a cove area across from the Eye. Doug ran a line across this area that would become our kick line and also served as a "do not cross" zone for the divers watching the person performing the kicks.
I really wish I had the video from this first day.....I really do. We semi-held position. None of us floated across the line, but goodness we were sculling like crazy...and I mean a constant form of a back kick, the type that moves you back about 2" at a time and burns your gas at a rapid pace, then you unconscious fin and move yourself back forward....back and forth, back and forth, lol.
So we are in 5' of water. We do all the kicks over and over. At first Doug is evaluating, so we all get to do our share of kicks without stopping. Round three and the wet notes come out of his pocket. Everyone gets tips and pointers on his kicks.
We ascend for a small surface interval and get ready for the balanced rig test, one by one. Doug would take a diver down into the Eye, and to clarify that, what I mean is at the entrance. Obviously, at no time were we taken into an overhead environment. So we go down, deflate our wing, swim to a 10' stop and hold for a little bit and then swim to the surface and tread water again for a little while. Meredith stayed with the other divers on the surface. Everyone got their turn and we headed back up the spring run....frog kicks this time.
Back to EE after a brief stop to grab Subway and we did video review and continued the lecture. Sculling, kicking around, etc....lol. So Buoyancy today, not bad, Trim....all within 20 degrees for the most part. Stability, ugh! We were given more pointers on our kicks and told to meet at 7 the next day. Is it me or are these days getting longer?
Class Day 3 - Blue Grotto
Doug, Meredith and Kyle were with us on this day and again Happy Bday to Kyle. I thought it was pretty nice of the guy to come out and play on his day off of work that just happened to be his birthday as well.
We meet at EE, analyze and label our tanks and begin the journey to Blue Grotto. We get there just as they open...perfect.
Being new to Blue Grotto we have to watch the orientation video and then we do our dive site briefing. Another cool point, Doug doesn't just do a "plain jane" briefing, we always got a geological or hydrological overview at each site.
We start by doing the basic 5 and valve drills sitting on the tables. It was pretty funny to see people take their regs out for a switch and spit all over themselves (I will not mention who).
"Let's go scccuuuuba diving!"
We hit the water....Mer and Kyle go setup the line course. I'm not going to elaborate on the line course as I do not know if it is really mentioned in Fundies reports. I have heard of the line course practicing kicks, but the one they setup was a little different and it would reappear even more challenging on Day 4 at Manatee (Catfish Hotel). I also want to stop here and mention that I am purposely leaving items out that I feel that Fundies students really need to experience for themselves. Some are hard, but they are a blast.
Alright. We descend in our triangle team formation and kick along the line course. Doug stops us and moves us into position floating off of the platform. It's kicks time. We perform all kicks, with Doug pulling the wet notes to offer more tips and encouragement. I kept getting the RELAX note....humm, wonder why? LOL. I am notorious for tensing up under evaluation. Meredith is floating above us peacefully, just looking down to check on the divers not working on the platform. And Kyle is running video and the dude is just sitting there motionless in the water column. If it were possible to be laying on a couch in the water relaxing, that is what he looked like, only he was in trim. LOL. Not to take anything away from Mer, she was doing the same thing above us, but she was primarily out of my line of site.
I had seen this before with Jason Wright, but this was really the moment that it hit me fully.....wow, these divers are motionless when they want to be.
Anyway, we go through the kicks more and Meredith joins us in the rotation. Well, I don't really need to say who was performing the kicks the best, now do I?
Oh and I did see Kyle float up once......but that probably had to do with the turtle that was trying to chew on his fingers holding the camera out. Actually I know it did, but I had to add that for comic relief.
We finish this dive by doing the basic 5 and valve drills. Yeah we all got through them but stability was gone. We were drifting around.
Team ascent and out for lunch and video debrief.
Time to practice surface S-drills. We went through them as a team and it was time to hit the water again......valve drills and S-drills were on the menu, but first we had to swim the line course again.
We had to call the dive after awhile as Blue Grotto was closing and we had to get out of the water.
Fun, informative dives, but drifting....drifting...drifting. Oh and we were doing the S-drills, but pushing off of one another as scuba magnetism took over. We call it buddy bumping and it had become a crutch for us. I'm actually glad Doug made us stop doing it immediately.
His statement, "All of you have some form of a back kick. I've seen it, so no more paddy-caking." LOL.
Back to EE for video debrief and more lecture. Gas fills and analysis that night. We ran into Jarrod and he said glad to have you here and told us to watch Doug for him.
We broke around 8:30 I believe and had to run to get food and stock our cooler for tomorrow at Manatee Springs.
Day 3 was in the books and there were now 3 tired divers.
Day 4 - Manatee Springs - Catfish Hotel
We arrive at EE just before 7 am.
Doug, Meredith and Kyle will be with us again today. This is Kyle's last day to dive with us, but he would join in for the briefings at EE.
Doug's first question, which he asks with a slight smile, "Get some sleep last night?"
My reply, "Sleep? I didn't think you were supposed to sleep during Fundies?" That got a laugh.
Alright, Manatee Springs. We check in and Doug gives us a nice tour....we went down to the river and saw a group of manatees drifting by the spring entrance. Doug is talking spring magnitudes, trees, water levels....and the beauty of the place. I must concur. Manatee Springs State Park is a picturesque place.
Down to Catfish Hotel we go for the dive site briefing and we encounter the infamous duckweed.
Today: Line course, ascent line with a bolt snap affixed at 10' which would mysteriously disappear, a separate line course for kicks. Kicks, S-Drills, Valve Drills.....ascents, descents, oh and the valve and S drills would be performed in team triangle formation around the line. Haha.... "No more paddy-caking gentlemen."
Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
These skills have now become a necessity. Now the valve and S drills will be in open water with no visual reference. Doh! Guess what we did not practice before we came to this class.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is quite easy to lose buoyancy, trim and stability in the open water.....a lot easier than I thought it was.
To make a long day short, we did progress on stability with the valve drills. At the end of the day Doug commended us on the valve drills, but the S-drills....brutal. We could complete the gas share and there was no issue with light cord management, etc, but buoyancy flew right out the window. We were used to visual references and had yet to realize how important that depth gauge really is.....
The original plan had called for Troy Springs on Day 5. Nope, we were coming back to Manatee. And this is also when Doug asked us if we would stay and dive for a sixth day at Ginnie. Wow! There is no way we are going to turn that down.
Back to EE for fills, analysis.....and a welcome break. Doug sent us "home" for the evening. I'm sure he saw the zombie look in our eyes.
Day 5 - Manatee Springs - Catfish Hotel
Alright, it's time to go to work.
Valve drills, S-drills, SMB deployment.
I'm make this day report short....it was a good day, but there was still work that had to be done with the S-drills.
Oh and another reason that I am making this day short....ummmm, for some reason my notes inexplicably disappeared for this day, no wait...I was exhausted and didn't bother to write them down! LOL
Day 6 - Ginnie Springs
Back to Ginnie.
Doug is the only one with us today as Mer has some cave diving to do!
Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
Day 6? Where did Day 6 come from? This was Doug making sure that his students succeeded. This is the guy that I told you I would heap praises on when I started this report. He did not have to offer this day, but he wanted to so much that he asked us about 5 times if we were going to stay.
Now I talked to Doug about this before I put it in the report. I just want to clarify that his Fundies class is typically 5 days. Will he go the extra mile for his students? I think that goes without saying, but I do not want my report to create an issue where everyone thinks that he will give them a Day 6. I hope you, dear reader, don't have to worry about a Day 6....lol.
Alright, we kick along the spring run and low and behold, I round the corner where Doug usually sets up the line and there is a boat tied off......huh? I signal hold to the team and let Doug know there is a problem. He pops up and talks to the boat owners and resolves any issue.
Doug runs the line....a little longer and in shallower water this time....and we do kicks.
Then we assemble in our team triangle and do valve drills. Next, we do S-drills with the team sandwiching the OOG diver and swimming all the way between the stairs on the left side of the Eye.
We spend the majority of the day in the water training. Somewhere in there we broke for lunch and video debrief....lol. Again, I was no longer taking report notes at this time, I was just taking general class notes. I would like to say that Meredith dropped by to check on us after her dives.
So we get out of our gear for the last time of our Fundies class and head back to EE for final video debrief , to take the test and final class evaluation. Oh and it just so happened that EE was having a meet a great that night...lol. Unfortunately, I only got to stay and talk with a couple of divers. Next time!
So anyway, we all walked out GUE divers.
It was a great week, and again looking back on it after taking time to reflect, all I can say to sum it up: This was by far the best class I have ever taken. Doug came highly recommended and I will now join the crowd and say that the guy wants to make sure that his students succeed and will give more than he really should to see it happen.
Meredith, Kyle, Corey J, Cora David and the entire EE gang.....all are a great group of people.
Oh, and to comment on my first couple of post-Fundies dives: I never realized how much I moved around when I thought I was being still in the water until I actually learned to be still. Even my buddy that I dove (dived) with last weekend, who plans to take Fundies this coming year, said "Wow, you were just sitting there as I was working around the platform." That's right. I purposely made myself stay off the platform and float in open water. Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
(Final note: I'm not going to proof-read this as I have to get ready for a trip tomorrow that starts at 4am...lol. So I apologize in advance for any typos and/or grammatical errors. I may get around to editing one day, but that day is not today.)
Safe diving my friends,
Dan (Newly minted GUE Diver)
Instructor: Doug Mudry
Interns: Meredith Tanguay and Kyle Harmon
GUE folks who were not there for class but helped me on my journey: Jason Wright (my mentor), Katherine Dicker, Mike Kraft, Lynne Flaherty, Kate Pruden.
I would like to begin by summing up this class in a few words: excellent instructor, great interns, awesome teammates, exhausting, highly educational, fun and did I say exhausting? LOL. To say that you get your money's worth out of this class is a gross understatement, especially when Doug gives you an extra day.....more on that later.
While I took notes each day to provide this report as promised, I wanted to step back and accomplish two things before I began to write. Number one, everyone that I talked to about Fundies said that you really have to let it sink in before you realize what you have accomplished and number two, I wanted to get in a couple of post-Fundies dives before I reported.
That said, wow you learn more than you think you will. But I must admit that I did not adhere to a principle that I had promised myself I would. I also did not listen to my friends and mentors, nor the numerous Fundies reports that I had read. "Check your ego at the door."
When I started on this journey some 10-11 months ago I had a simple goal. I was going to take Fundies in a dry suit, doubles, can light, etc. I was going to go and shoot for the tech pass, but be more realistic and be happy to achieve a rec pass. At that time and for months following, I considered the tech pass to be out of reach, but I still wanted to dive in that configuration as tech pass and Cave 1,2/Tec 1,2 are eventual goals for me. Well, somewhere along the line I let my ego take over and all I could see was a tech pass. This way of thinking is a mistake, my friends. You go to this class to learn and let the instructor do his/her job.
Now, I'm not going to beat that point to death, so let me happily state that we all got rec passes, but more importantly we all came out with a stronger skill set and a clearer diving mindset. This is the difference taking a week to reflect after class makes. Two days after class I was still angry at myself. I failed, or so I had thought. Again I lost focus and let my ego take over. It took my good friends, and my new friend Doug Mudry to slap me back into the realm of logical thought. LOL. Doug said, "Man you did not fail, you succeeded." They were simple words that spoke volumes. It was time for poor, poor, pitiful me to wake up and realize, hey I did succeed.
Anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about class!
16 hr drive to High Springs on Saturday Feb 16th. We stayed the entire week at the Hydro Lodge. It was a great place to stay with room to move around. The only drawback is that is does not have a washer and dryer. Other than that, it certainly beats a cramped hotel room.
Sunday we went to Extreme Exposure to bug Kyle for awhile and talk about where to dive that day. He sent us off with directions to Troy Springs. It was our first time to dive a Florida Spring. Needless to say, great dive!
Class Day 1
We were to meet at Extreme Exposure at 9 am. We arrived around 8:30. Well, some guy named Jarrod Jablonski was conducting a GUE Documentation class in the EE classroom with a few guys like JP Bresser, Richard Lundgren, Kiril Egorov, David Rhea, to name a few....so we were moved to the GUE meeting room. Which, by the way, has much more comfortable chairs....lol.
So Kyle leads us in and there is Doug, coffee in hand, grinning from ear to ear.
Incidentally, if there is a more positive person than Doug Mudry on this earth, I'd like to meet him/her. And I'm not writing this report to heap boundless praise on the guy, but I'm sure you will see by the end of this post that he deserves it.
Meredith is on his right, prepping her notes. She had a genuine smile as well, but I now think that her smile was more along the lines of "Hehehe, a new Fundies group....they are going to be exhausted and trying to sell their gear in a couple of days." LOL.
Alright, so we settle in and start with the introductions. We then proceed to the lecture, reviewing the GUE system, etc. At the break for lunch Kyle takes us to the Halcyon manufacturing plant where we get the tour from Mr. Ken Charlesworth. I have to admit it was nice to actually see the items being manufactured right there in High Springs, FL. Joe asked Ken if we would get any free samples and he immediately replied "Sure, just leave your credit card at the door."
Back to EE and we pull out all of our dive gear, which was still assembled from the previous day's dive. We break it all down right in the middle of EE's sales floor! LOL. Hey the big dogs had the training room, so we got to use the entire sales floor.
Doug, Meredith and Kyle went over all of our gear. For the most part, we were compliant. I had a mouthpiece that wasn't tight enough, my can light cord was actually lose (thanks for the tip to check often Kyle), and my complaint about my Cinch harness slipping was quickly addressed by Doug (tri-glides).
We spent the remainder of the afternoon going over SMBs, spools, tanks, regs, you name it.
The night found us at Gainesville Heath and Fitness for the ominous swim test. Doug had a little issue with the changing of the rules (they were only going to allow him 2 guest and there were 4 of us), but that was resolved quickly and we hit the pool. Now this gets pretty comical...well comical if you were there. We only had one lane. That wasn't a problem for the underwater swim, but it got interesting during the 300 yarder. Meredith, Jason S and I were all swimming in that lane at the same time. Mer and Jason, again I apologize for the number of times that I ran into ya'll or splashed water in your faces....lol.
Anyway, we all passed both swim tests. And I did consider it cool that Doug and Meredith were in the water with us at all times, swimming right beside us when they could.
Class Day 2 - Ginnie Springs
We meet at EE at 8 am, analyze our gas, apply our analysis tape and head to Ginnie.
Kyle could not join us today because he had to work. So Doug and Meredith were with us.
Get used to these terms: Buoyancy, Trim and Stability. They are about to become a common theme.
So we get our dive site briefing and then get into our dry suits and do a little table dancing. Yes, we practice the kicks on the table. I am glad that no one was around to video this moment. It is brutally hard to do some of these kicks without pressure. Now Doug would grab my feet and I could do the motions, but that was only with the pressure. We were all laughing by the end of this table session.
Next, dry suits only, we enter the water to practice back kicks and heli turns. I kept looking back to see Doug smiling...or was he laughing? Anyway....
"Let's go scccuuuuba diving!" Doug said and we geared up and hit the water in the spring run, but not before another affirmative that I found cool. "Gentlemen, I am always the first to enter the water and the last to leave," Doug said. I know this might be commonplace for many instructors, but I just thought it cool because he would pretty much say it every day.
Flutter kicks in single file down the spring run, then we gathered in a cove area across from the Eye. Doug ran a line across this area that would become our kick line and also served as a "do not cross" zone for the divers watching the person performing the kicks.
I really wish I had the video from this first day.....I really do. We semi-held position. None of us floated across the line, but goodness we were sculling like crazy...and I mean a constant form of a back kick, the type that moves you back about 2" at a time and burns your gas at a rapid pace, then you unconscious fin and move yourself back forward....back and forth, back and forth, lol.
So we are in 5' of water. We do all the kicks over and over. At first Doug is evaluating, so we all get to do our share of kicks without stopping. Round three and the wet notes come out of his pocket. Everyone gets tips and pointers on his kicks.
We ascend for a small surface interval and get ready for the balanced rig test, one by one. Doug would take a diver down into the Eye, and to clarify that, what I mean is at the entrance. Obviously, at no time were we taken into an overhead environment. So we go down, deflate our wing, swim to a 10' stop and hold for a little bit and then swim to the surface and tread water again for a little while. Meredith stayed with the other divers on the surface. Everyone got their turn and we headed back up the spring run....frog kicks this time.
Back to EE after a brief stop to grab Subway and we did video review and continued the lecture. Sculling, kicking around, etc....lol. So Buoyancy today, not bad, Trim....all within 20 degrees for the most part. Stability, ugh! We were given more pointers on our kicks and told to meet at 7 the next day. Is it me or are these days getting longer?
Class Day 3 - Blue Grotto
Doug, Meredith and Kyle were with us on this day and again Happy Bday to Kyle. I thought it was pretty nice of the guy to come out and play on his day off of work that just happened to be his birthday as well.
We meet at EE, analyze and label our tanks and begin the journey to Blue Grotto. We get there just as they open...perfect.
Being new to Blue Grotto we have to watch the orientation video and then we do our dive site briefing. Another cool point, Doug doesn't just do a "plain jane" briefing, we always got a geological or hydrological overview at each site.
We start by doing the basic 5 and valve drills sitting on the tables. It was pretty funny to see people take their regs out for a switch and spit all over themselves (I will not mention who).
"Let's go scccuuuuba diving!"
We hit the water....Mer and Kyle go setup the line course. I'm not going to elaborate on the line course as I do not know if it is really mentioned in Fundies reports. I have heard of the line course practicing kicks, but the one they setup was a little different and it would reappear even more challenging on Day 4 at Manatee (Catfish Hotel). I also want to stop here and mention that I am purposely leaving items out that I feel that Fundies students really need to experience for themselves. Some are hard, but they are a blast.
Alright. We descend in our triangle team formation and kick along the line course. Doug stops us and moves us into position floating off of the platform. It's kicks time. We perform all kicks, with Doug pulling the wet notes to offer more tips and encouragement. I kept getting the RELAX note....humm, wonder why? LOL. I am notorious for tensing up under evaluation. Meredith is floating above us peacefully, just looking down to check on the divers not working on the platform. And Kyle is running video and the dude is just sitting there motionless in the water column. If it were possible to be laying on a couch in the water relaxing, that is what he looked like, only he was in trim. LOL. Not to take anything away from Mer, she was doing the same thing above us, but she was primarily out of my line of site.
I had seen this before with Jason Wright, but this was really the moment that it hit me fully.....wow, these divers are motionless when they want to be.
Anyway, we go through the kicks more and Meredith joins us in the rotation. Well, I don't really need to say who was performing the kicks the best, now do I?
Oh and I did see Kyle float up once......but that probably had to do with the turtle that was trying to chew on his fingers holding the camera out. Actually I know it did, but I had to add that for comic relief.
We finish this dive by doing the basic 5 and valve drills. Yeah we all got through them but stability was gone. We were drifting around.
Team ascent and out for lunch and video debrief.
Time to practice surface S-drills. We went through them as a team and it was time to hit the water again......valve drills and S-drills were on the menu, but first we had to swim the line course again.
We had to call the dive after awhile as Blue Grotto was closing and we had to get out of the water.
Fun, informative dives, but drifting....drifting...drifting. Oh and we were doing the S-drills, but pushing off of one another as scuba magnetism took over. We call it buddy bumping and it had become a crutch for us. I'm actually glad Doug made us stop doing it immediately.
His statement, "All of you have some form of a back kick. I've seen it, so no more paddy-caking." LOL.
Back to EE for video debrief and more lecture. Gas fills and analysis that night. We ran into Jarrod and he said glad to have you here and told us to watch Doug for him.
We broke around 8:30 I believe and had to run to get food and stock our cooler for tomorrow at Manatee Springs.
Day 3 was in the books and there were now 3 tired divers.
Day 4 - Manatee Springs - Catfish Hotel
We arrive at EE just before 7 am.
Doug, Meredith and Kyle will be with us again today. This is Kyle's last day to dive with us, but he would join in for the briefings at EE.
Doug's first question, which he asks with a slight smile, "Get some sleep last night?"
My reply, "Sleep? I didn't think you were supposed to sleep during Fundies?" That got a laugh.
Alright, Manatee Springs. We check in and Doug gives us a nice tour....we went down to the river and saw a group of manatees drifting by the spring entrance. Doug is talking spring magnitudes, trees, water levels....and the beauty of the place. I must concur. Manatee Springs State Park is a picturesque place.
Down to Catfish Hotel we go for the dive site briefing and we encounter the infamous duckweed.
Today: Line course, ascent line with a bolt snap affixed at 10' which would mysteriously disappear, a separate line course for kicks. Kicks, S-Drills, Valve Drills.....ascents, descents, oh and the valve and S drills would be performed in team triangle formation around the line. Haha.... "No more paddy-caking gentlemen."
Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
These skills have now become a necessity. Now the valve and S drills will be in open water with no visual reference. Doh! Guess what we did not practice before we came to this class.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is quite easy to lose buoyancy, trim and stability in the open water.....a lot easier than I thought it was.
To make a long day short, we did progress on stability with the valve drills. At the end of the day Doug commended us on the valve drills, but the S-drills....brutal. We could complete the gas share and there was no issue with light cord management, etc, but buoyancy flew right out the window. We were used to visual references and had yet to realize how important that depth gauge really is.....
The original plan had called for Troy Springs on Day 5. Nope, we were coming back to Manatee. And this is also when Doug asked us if we would stay and dive for a sixth day at Ginnie. Wow! There is no way we are going to turn that down.
Back to EE for fills, analysis.....and a welcome break. Doug sent us "home" for the evening. I'm sure he saw the zombie look in our eyes.
Day 5 - Manatee Springs - Catfish Hotel
Alright, it's time to go to work.
Valve drills, S-drills, SMB deployment.
I'm make this day report short....it was a good day, but there was still work that had to be done with the S-drills.
Oh and another reason that I am making this day short....ummmm, for some reason my notes inexplicably disappeared for this day, no wait...I was exhausted and didn't bother to write them down! LOL
Day 6 - Ginnie Springs
Back to Ginnie.
Doug is the only one with us today as Mer has some cave diving to do!
Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
Day 6? Where did Day 6 come from? This was Doug making sure that his students succeeded. This is the guy that I told you I would heap praises on when I started this report. He did not have to offer this day, but he wanted to so much that he asked us about 5 times if we were going to stay.
Now I talked to Doug about this before I put it in the report. I just want to clarify that his Fundies class is typically 5 days. Will he go the extra mile for his students? I think that goes without saying, but I do not want my report to create an issue where everyone thinks that he will give them a Day 6. I hope you, dear reader, don't have to worry about a Day 6....lol.
Alright, we kick along the spring run and low and behold, I round the corner where Doug usually sets up the line and there is a boat tied off......huh? I signal hold to the team and let Doug know there is a problem. He pops up and talks to the boat owners and resolves any issue.
Doug runs the line....a little longer and in shallower water this time....and we do kicks.
Then we assemble in our team triangle and do valve drills. Next, we do S-drills with the team sandwiching the OOG diver and swimming all the way between the stairs on the left side of the Eye.
We spend the majority of the day in the water training. Somewhere in there we broke for lunch and video debrief....lol. Again, I was no longer taking report notes at this time, I was just taking general class notes. I would like to say that Meredith dropped by to check on us after her dives.
So we get out of our gear for the last time of our Fundies class and head back to EE for final video debrief , to take the test and final class evaluation. Oh and it just so happened that EE was having a meet a great that night...lol. Unfortunately, I only got to stay and talk with a couple of divers. Next time!
So anyway, we all walked out GUE divers.
It was a great week, and again looking back on it after taking time to reflect, all I can say to sum it up: This was by far the best class I have ever taken. Doug came highly recommended and I will now join the crowd and say that the guy wants to make sure that his students succeed and will give more than he really should to see it happen.
Meredith, Kyle, Corey J, Cora David and the entire EE gang.....all are a great group of people.
Oh, and to comment on my first couple of post-Fundies dives: I never realized how much I moved around when I thought I was being still in the water until I actually learned to be still. Even my buddy that I dove (dived) with last weekend, who plans to take Fundies this coming year, said "Wow, you were just sitting there as I was working around the platform." That's right. I purposely made myself stay off the platform and float in open water. Buoyancy, Trim and Stability.
(Final note: I'm not going to proof-read this as I have to get ready for a trip tomorrow that starts at 4am...lol. So I apologize in advance for any typos and/or grammatical errors. I may get around to editing one day, but that day is not today.)
Safe diving my friends,
Dan (Newly minted GUE Diver)
