Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but here it goes. Is this a Story, Yarn or Tale? Is it a Near Miss or Lesson Learned? Not sure so General Scuba seems right to me. Sorry mods if I got it wrong!
So its close to Christmas - my fiancé dives and I dont. In May, were getting married and honeymooning in Fiji and making it a scuba trip as well. I know enough that I dont want to only snorkel or do resort diving while in Fiji and I didnt want to wait til I was in Fiji to get certified. Didnt want to waste dives in Fiji, getting certified. So, I needed to get certified before then.
I call the LDS and find out that they offer the OW class over 4 weeks (one night per week). We were headed to Florida for Christmas, so thatll work I can do my check-out dives down there. But my work schedule interferes. So, Ill have to do it when I return from Florida.
We get to Florida, and my fiancé finds out about some incredible deals to Hawaii. We had no intention of going, but it was going to only cost us $750 each for Airfaire from NJ, Hotel at a 4/5-star for 1 week, and rental car. So, it became one of those things that you cant afford not to do. So we booked it!
So, now Im in another conundrum. Im in Florida over the Christmas holiday, staying with my sister, and heading to Kauai in 3 weeks. Im not certified and dont want to waste dives learning to dive in Hawaii. (Yeah, I know poor me!)
So its 12/21 and I need to get certified and cant wait til I get home to do it. I find a SMALL dive shop within walking distance that advertises a 3-day certification in their window. Start the course the next day! Perfect! Or so I thought, despite my fiancés warnings about shops quick-turnaround certifications. I (being a guy) just thought she was being overly cautious.
At first all was good. So, its the instructor, a guy doing a refresher, and a two-block hike fully geared to the pool. The instructor was assertive and attentive in the pool. All went well and I was happy but I secretly had the feeling that we really didnt do enough repetitive work. Told the fiancé, See, I told you so! fist mistake!
Next day its shore dives - just me and the instructor. Im excited but nervous. Were going despite 3-4 breaks and 5 vis. DM at the shop gave the Instructor an Are you sure? look. He was. Hey, gotta get the course done in 3-days! Well, let me tell you something putting your fins in and getting into the water with 50-lbs of foreign gear on your back wearing an ill-fitting 6/3 farmer john long-sleeve shorty combo is not as fun as it sounds!!! I wasted more energy getting into the water than I did on the dive itself. I was spent by the time we were under. Did my drills, surfaced, waited, went back down and did more drills. I was just happy to be underwater in the ocean. (What did I know?!?) So I thought getting into the water was difficult. Hah! It was nothing compared to getting out of the water with those wave crashing in on you and attempting to take the fins off. I didnt get the whole opposite hand thing and did it all wrong. Needless to say, I got knocked to one knee, had to fight from that position to get my remaining fin off and basically do a one-legged squat with all the gear on to get up while getting pounded by waves. (Instructor was a good 10' away. I can imagine that he's the kind of guy that will throw his kid into a pool to teach him how to swim!) Now, I truly know the meaning of exhausted! Oh yeah, it was a 3-block walk back to the shop, fully geared!
So Im finally coming to my point (wordy, arent I?). Now, its day 3 Dec 24th (thats actually significant) and its time for the two boat dives. My fiancé comes along for a refresher, refresher guy from the pool sessions is back and we also have the Instructors girlfriend. All of us load and unload the instructors truck and get the gear on the boat. I warn my fiancé that this guy is on the intense side. She doesnt prefer intense people (despite her accepting the ring I offered). http://www.scubaboard.com/images/smilies/Standard%20Smiles/03.gif He gives us an all-too-quick briefing and we head down to 60. All of us go through the drills. And then things change!! He brought along his spear gun, because apparently he plans on bringing fresh fish, that he caught himself, to Christmas dinner tomorrow! It becomes a game of follow-the-leader as he hunts down fish (more like chase the leader, it was a furious pace). Being a guy, I thought it was cool to see spearfishing (blood looks green at depth, who knew?) and wasnt really thinking about the fact that we should all have the same goal. BTW, the only fish he spears on the fist dive gets away (thats important, too). No safety stop at the end of the dive.
So our adventure isnt over yet, we have another dive. Hes pushing to go to a place thats 60, but offers up a 40 spot as well. We all choose the 40, but he keeps pushing for the 60 (later it occurred to me that the 60 gave him a better chance of snagging the fish he was looking for). He relents.
Dive 2. We hit the water; the spearfisher (uh, I mean Instructor), his girlfriend, the other guy, and I get to the bottom quickly. My fiancé is struggling to equalize and is well above us. Intense-gotta-fish guy goes up and proceeds to PULL HER DOWN from below. I mean come on, a guys gotta fish. Equalize-smeaqualize! (The only thing that I could think was that he assumed she was having problems sinking) Thankfully, she struggles away from him and then hes got to get face-to-face with her, giving her the ability to communicate that she cant equalize. He assists her down. (Nice guy, huh?) Now were off to the races. Its follow the spearfisher, despite 40 of vis and some cool coral. I'm trying to point out things as I swim pass them. The only thing that I actually saw on two 40-minute dives is a pufferfish looking up from a vase like coral. Ultimately, the fish is found, speared, and caught. He pumps his fist in excitement and practically high-fives his girlfriend. His success marks the end of the dive, we head up.
Quite frankly, it wasnt until after we were away from our spearfishing instructor that we were able to discuss how horrible it was. Sadly enough, at the time, I was content to be happy to be underwater and didnt hold this guy to any kind of standard, despite what my mind was telling me. My fiancé, on the other hand, was horrified the entire time. And rightfully returned my earlier "See, I told you so!"
In stark contrast, our dives in Kauai were phenomenal. (But thats another entirely too long story.)
So its close to Christmas - my fiancé dives and I dont. In May, were getting married and honeymooning in Fiji and making it a scuba trip as well. I know enough that I dont want to only snorkel or do resort diving while in Fiji and I didnt want to wait til I was in Fiji to get certified. Didnt want to waste dives in Fiji, getting certified. So, I needed to get certified before then.
I call the LDS and find out that they offer the OW class over 4 weeks (one night per week). We were headed to Florida for Christmas, so thatll work I can do my check-out dives down there. But my work schedule interferes. So, Ill have to do it when I return from Florida.
We get to Florida, and my fiancé finds out about some incredible deals to Hawaii. We had no intention of going, but it was going to only cost us $750 each for Airfaire from NJ, Hotel at a 4/5-star for 1 week, and rental car. So, it became one of those things that you cant afford not to do. So we booked it!
So, now Im in another conundrum. Im in Florida over the Christmas holiday, staying with my sister, and heading to Kauai in 3 weeks. Im not certified and dont want to waste dives learning to dive in Hawaii. (Yeah, I know poor me!)
So its 12/21 and I need to get certified and cant wait til I get home to do it. I find a SMALL dive shop within walking distance that advertises a 3-day certification in their window. Start the course the next day! Perfect! Or so I thought, despite my fiancés warnings about shops quick-turnaround certifications. I (being a guy) just thought she was being overly cautious.
At first all was good. So, its the instructor, a guy doing a refresher, and a two-block hike fully geared to the pool. The instructor was assertive and attentive in the pool. All went well and I was happy but I secretly had the feeling that we really didnt do enough repetitive work. Told the fiancé, See, I told you so! fist mistake!
Next day its shore dives - just me and the instructor. Im excited but nervous. Were going despite 3-4 breaks and 5 vis. DM at the shop gave the Instructor an Are you sure? look. He was. Hey, gotta get the course done in 3-days! Well, let me tell you something putting your fins in and getting into the water with 50-lbs of foreign gear on your back wearing an ill-fitting 6/3 farmer john long-sleeve shorty combo is not as fun as it sounds!!! I wasted more energy getting into the water than I did on the dive itself. I was spent by the time we were under. Did my drills, surfaced, waited, went back down and did more drills. I was just happy to be underwater in the ocean. (What did I know?!?) So I thought getting into the water was difficult. Hah! It was nothing compared to getting out of the water with those wave crashing in on you and attempting to take the fins off. I didnt get the whole opposite hand thing and did it all wrong. Needless to say, I got knocked to one knee, had to fight from that position to get my remaining fin off and basically do a one-legged squat with all the gear on to get up while getting pounded by waves. (Instructor was a good 10' away. I can imagine that he's the kind of guy that will throw his kid into a pool to teach him how to swim!) Now, I truly know the meaning of exhausted! Oh yeah, it was a 3-block walk back to the shop, fully geared!
So Im finally coming to my point (wordy, arent I?). Now, its day 3 Dec 24th (thats actually significant) and its time for the two boat dives. My fiancé comes along for a refresher, refresher guy from the pool sessions is back and we also have the Instructors girlfriend. All of us load and unload the instructors truck and get the gear on the boat. I warn my fiancé that this guy is on the intense side. She doesnt prefer intense people (despite her accepting the ring I offered). http://www.scubaboard.com/images/smilies/Standard%20Smiles/03.gif He gives us an all-too-quick briefing and we head down to 60. All of us go through the drills. And then things change!! He brought along his spear gun, because apparently he plans on bringing fresh fish, that he caught himself, to Christmas dinner tomorrow! It becomes a game of follow-the-leader as he hunts down fish (more like chase the leader, it was a furious pace). Being a guy, I thought it was cool to see spearfishing (blood looks green at depth, who knew?) and wasnt really thinking about the fact that we should all have the same goal. BTW, the only fish he spears on the fist dive gets away (thats important, too). No safety stop at the end of the dive.
So our adventure isnt over yet, we have another dive. Hes pushing to go to a place thats 60, but offers up a 40 spot as well. We all choose the 40, but he keeps pushing for the 60 (later it occurred to me that the 60 gave him a better chance of snagging the fish he was looking for). He relents.
Dive 2. We hit the water; the spearfisher (uh, I mean Instructor), his girlfriend, the other guy, and I get to the bottom quickly. My fiancé is struggling to equalize and is well above us. Intense-gotta-fish guy goes up and proceeds to PULL HER DOWN from below. I mean come on, a guys gotta fish. Equalize-smeaqualize! (The only thing that I could think was that he assumed she was having problems sinking) Thankfully, she struggles away from him and then hes got to get face-to-face with her, giving her the ability to communicate that she cant equalize. He assists her down. (Nice guy, huh?) Now were off to the races. Its follow the spearfisher, despite 40 of vis and some cool coral. I'm trying to point out things as I swim pass them. The only thing that I actually saw on two 40-minute dives is a pufferfish looking up from a vase like coral. Ultimately, the fish is found, speared, and caught. He pumps his fist in excitement and practically high-fives his girlfriend. His success marks the end of the dive, we head up.
Quite frankly, it wasnt until after we were away from our spearfishing instructor that we were able to discuss how horrible it was. Sadly enough, at the time, I was content to be happy to be underwater and didnt hold this guy to any kind of standard, despite what my mind was telling me. My fiancé, on the other hand, was horrified the entire time. And rightfully returned my earlier "See, I told you so!"
In stark contrast, our dives in Kauai were phenomenal. (But thats another entirely too long story.)
