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Super happiness! So, a couple weeks ago I went with the dive shop out to Homestead Crater in Midway, Utah for the open water dives. I think the best part about getting ready to go was explaining to my friend that 93 degree water does not mean you are boiling up.
Chelsea: 90 degree water?!?! You are going to be boiling hot!
me: uh...no, if my internal body temperature ever got to 90 I would have hypothermia. The hot tub at the pool is hotter than that!
So that went on for a while. Anyway, dive buddy Stacy and I drove over and let me tell you, the water was perfect, air temperature not so much. For those of you who haven't been there, it is a pool of geothermal water covered by a natural rock dome with a small hole in the top. So the whole room is full of steam, you are freezing, trying to put gear together and you can't see it all that well.
So, first two dives we went to 25-30' and my ears cleared easily, yay! When we were doing our pool sessions it took forever! Once down we practiced respirator retrieval, partial mask clearing etc. and then we got a little free time to swim around.
The second day was interesting. First, Stacy and I realized that somehow our totally identical BCs were switched, doh :doh:! Luckily this was realized immediately after getting in and not at 20' so the problem was corrected.
Next, we were told that one of the things we would be doing was full mask removal. Now, this is the one that caught me in the pool session. I had freaked out, got water up my nose, panicked, and hit the surface. So I was, understandably, nervous and did not want to repeat that at 25'. I told Stacy I wanted to practice once we got in the water. We went down a few feet and everything went great. At this point I am feeling much better about it. Once we get down to 25' I hear a slight "pop!" and my mask begins to loosen! :buggy: I clamp my hands on my mask trying to figure out what has happened. Luckily I actually had my buoyancy working with me so I didn't go too far.
After fumbling around, I figured out that my strap had actually snapped. So I signal to buddy I need to surface. My instructor comes over and tries to get me to take off my mask so she can fix it. Not happening! So she gets out her handy dandy underwater notepad and tells me to get another one from the extra gear tub.
So I surface, fill the BC and leave the gear in the water, it's a crater, where is is gonna go? So I am out of 94 degree water and in 35 degree air. COLD!!! And the extra gear tub was left in the car!!! So I am turning blue running around looking for an extra mask. :cold: Luckily the nice guy at the dive check-in took pity on the little smurf and let me borrow a mask.
So I get back in the water, everyone else is surfaced and done so I go down and everything worked great. We worked on tired diver tows and compass orientation and then we got to go down to 40' and cruise around. Buoyancy is tricky but once you have it, or at least come close, life gets a lot easier. I was so jealous of my instructor, just hovering, not moving an inch.
Over all it was a lot of fun. I got water in my ear and learned that there is a reason for having a repair kit and back up straps(bad Mary) So, noob mistake #1 not checking to make sure my BC actually is my BC, noob mistake #2 thinking that 4 open water dives in Utah didn't warrant buying a back up strap or better mask. If this hobby is going to suck up all my money I might as well get used to it now. Kind of a bumpy start but all things considered I am happy.
