mwhities
Contributor
So there I was, descending into the deep (11') at this local rock quarry. From my previous training and force of habit, I started descending in a verticle position, then all of the sudden, I remembered my Scubaboard training and went horizontal. Phew, that scared me! I made it down to 10' and hovered, ever so slightly moving forward. My dive buddy came up along side me and we both "circled"(okay?!) our lights. We slowly and relaxingly made our way to the other side of the quarry. Checking out all of the sleeping fish and watching the ones we scare take off like lightening.
A few times, I would head for the deep side (1 foot down) and almost hit the 4 - 5 inches of silt. I would hold my breath and I'd slowly start floating back up. Phew, another scare! I noticed that my feet are still a little "heavy" so I thought of something I could try. I blasted a small amount of air into my wing with my inflator, leaned forward and (hoping) that the air would go to the rear of the wing. BAM, it actually worked. My legs stayed up somewhat. I was able to do what I felt was a proper frog kick. Love it! I even tried doing a back kick a few times, what happened? I went backwards and didn't float up like I did in the pool. Woo hoo! Of course, about the time I think I have it down pat, I couldn't do it again. No biggie, I have a lot of time to practice.
We can up to a few boulders at depth (9') and not really thinking about it and not touching them, I started to do a back kick. OMG, I was breathing harder, I actually back kicked away from the bouder! How the heck?! We turned and followed the boulder line for a few and went deeper. About 10' now. So I'm gliding along and didn't realy notice that the ground was coming at me pretty quick. So I leaned forward again and my legs began to rise and my head went down toward the bottom. Uh oh.... I held my breathe but, this time it didn't work. I had to put my hand into the bottom and stop myself from doing a face plant into the bottom. Sucked.
So I gathered up my pride and resettled myself and started swimming again. I guess because of the size/power of my legs, I always seem to out swim my dive buddy. So I thought to myself, how about if I try the frog kick with my legs up, I guess the modified frog kick? Keeping in good trim, I brought my legs up and only frog "kicked" with my feet. Wow, that's cool. So this is what cavers do to not silt up the bottom too. Man, I'm loving this. *imagine a grin from ear to ear* After I figured all of this out, I was able to frog kick once move forward and sorta hover as I waitied for my dive buddy to catch up. (No more than a foot or so in front.) Then another frog kick and wait again. LOVE IT.
We approached our exit point and then I did something I had never done or thought about before (before ScubaBoard), I did a horizontal ascent.
All the way up to the top and then I let my legs down and popped up verticle. What a great feeling. I love that I'm actually able to do all of this. (I hope I'm doing it right.)
I went to bed and was so excited that I could barely get to sleep. Then this morning, I popped out of bed, it usually takes me a good ten minutes of not wanting to get up and my wife says that Tanner is hungry to get me up. I had breakfast ready and was done eating and in the shower LONG before I usually am. Heck I was at work at 7:18 this morning. I don't have to be here until 8.
So, I'm excited and just ready to go diving some more. Although, that will stop for the next week. I have an ear infection. Just called the doctor and he's going to call some in for me.
Thanks for reading this. I'm not much of a writer so, most of it was prolly hard to understand.
Michael
A few times, I would head for the deep side (1 foot down) and almost hit the 4 - 5 inches of silt. I would hold my breath and I'd slowly start floating back up. Phew, another scare! I noticed that my feet are still a little "heavy" so I thought of something I could try. I blasted a small amount of air into my wing with my inflator, leaned forward and (hoping) that the air would go to the rear of the wing. BAM, it actually worked. My legs stayed up somewhat. I was able to do what I felt was a proper frog kick. Love it! I even tried doing a back kick a few times, what happened? I went backwards and didn't float up like I did in the pool. Woo hoo! Of course, about the time I think I have it down pat, I couldn't do it again. No biggie, I have a lot of time to practice.
We can up to a few boulders at depth (9') and not really thinking about it and not touching them, I started to do a back kick. OMG, I was breathing harder, I actually back kicked away from the bouder! How the heck?! We turned and followed the boulder line for a few and went deeper. About 10' now. So I'm gliding along and didn't realy notice that the ground was coming at me pretty quick. So I leaned forward again and my legs began to rise and my head went down toward the bottom. Uh oh.... I held my breathe but, this time it didn't work. I had to put my hand into the bottom and stop myself from doing a face plant into the bottom. Sucked.
So I gathered up my pride and resettled myself and started swimming again. I guess because of the size/power of my legs, I always seem to out swim my dive buddy. So I thought to myself, how about if I try the frog kick with my legs up, I guess the modified frog kick? Keeping in good trim, I brought my legs up and only frog "kicked" with my feet. Wow, that's cool. So this is what cavers do to not silt up the bottom too. Man, I'm loving this. *imagine a grin from ear to ear* After I figured all of this out, I was able to frog kick once move forward and sorta hover as I waitied for my dive buddy to catch up. (No more than a foot or so in front.) Then another frog kick and wait again. LOVE IT.
We approached our exit point and then I did something I had never done or thought about before (before ScubaBoard), I did a horizontal ascent.
All the way up to the top and then I let my legs down and popped up verticle. What a great feeling. I love that I'm actually able to do all of this. (I hope I'm doing it right.) I went to bed and was so excited that I could barely get to sleep. Then this morning, I popped out of bed, it usually takes me a good ten minutes of not wanting to get up and my wife says that Tanner is hungry to get me up. I had breakfast ready and was done eating and in the shower LONG before I usually am. Heck I was at work at 7:18 this morning. I don't have to be here until 8.
So, I'm excited and just ready to go diving some more. Although, that will stop for the next week. I have an ear infection. Just called the doctor and he's going to call some in for me.
Thanks for reading this. I'm not much of a writer so, most of it was prolly hard to understand.
Michael
