Open Water Certification: (Morrison Spring County Park and Vortex Spring day two)
Some other divers had mentioned that Morrison Spring was closed due to the river being up and bacteria. At dinner we made a plan to meet at Morrison Spring to check it out. We would decide to dive Morrison or go back to Vortex based on conditions.
With a whopping four dives (yep, I count the Aruba dive) under my belt, I knew I wouldn't know if Morrison was able to be dived or not. I did know that I was hoping to see something new. It was a bit warmer but only because the wind left. Sunny with temps in the low 50s in January feels a lot better than the same thing in October.
I did take advantage of the fence in the sun to lay my wetsuit out in an effort not to have to pull on a cold wet one.
TIP: Turn your wetsuit inside out to dry it. Even if it doesn't completely dry, it will be dryer inside. It also helps to leave your socks on or put your feet into plastic bags when pulling on a wet wetsuit. There was just enough time between when I arrived and the dive started to get my wetsuit almost completely dry (dry enough anyway). TIP: I could have rented two wet suits to avoid putting on a cold one. I'll remember that next time. Everyone else arrived and we decided that while the river was up, and it was more cloudy than normal we'd try to dive in the spring with the worst case being leaving to go back to Vortex Spring.
Again, we talked through the plan for the dive and then started getting ready. The day before, they told me that visibility (vis) in the spring was about average for the spring. Well that visibility was in the 20'~30' range by my estimation. I knew going in that today the vis would be less. Upon descent, I learned that it was 5'~7'. Oddly, that wasn't uncomforting to me. It simply meant that I needed to be a bit closer to my buddy and the instructor than I had been the day prior. Instead of a cloudy bluish water, I was now in more of a murky greenish/brown water. The water felt colder than the day before, but not uncomfortably so.
There was one other group of divers at the spring today, I guess everyone else had their fill at Vortex the day before. The other group was a bit larger than our group and they two were new to diving. They went in first, and managed to get things nicely stirred up. I am not complaining, I know I am still kicking bottom at times myself.
We dove our plan, but conditions changed the dive where we spent more time around an underwater platform than originally planned. When it was time to end, we surfaced and discussed whether or not to stay or return to Vortex. The consensus was that Vortex would be the best option so we packed out and headed north again. The two sites are only 10-15 minutes apart.
Guess what, that's three dives yesterday and one dive today, so am I Open Water Certified? Yes and no. Once the dives are logged, you are officially certified. So, I did that later in the day. Now I'll be honest, at this point, I look at this from a "new driver" perspective. I have gotten my learner's permit and passed the test. I'm going to have to go out and put miles behind the wheel before I become a proficient and safe driver. At this point, experience and practice is what is needed. I hope to be able to do this enough to grow instead of doing it at a frequency where I am constantly relearning just to get back to where I was.
When we returned to Vortex Spring, we did a navigation dive. Remember, I had hoped to be able to get all the way through Advanced Open Water during this trip. The weather put a crimp in that plan, no boats were going to go out on Monday. So now the plan was to do the navigation dive and then decide next step(s).
The navigation dive was a success. We spent time after the skills practice "playing a bit more" in the spring. There's a basketball goal down there, and in order to play they have a bowling ball. So, I guess you could say we played a bit of basketbowl before we surfaced.
Reading the audience, I knew another dive on Sunday wouldn't be likely. A bit disappointed but also a bit okay with it, I began to pack out for the return trip home. I knew I had more to learn, but had also cemented the fact that I wanted to do it. By already having the e-learning of Advanced Open Water completed, I was able to get in one of those dives on the trip.
Next up, a cruise in February and I have been able to set up two dives for that. So, that's how my bluff to get out of a cruise has turned into my being a certified diver.
I already have some questions that I will throw out. I'll keep them confined to this thread again with the goal of helping others. Thanks for reading.
