Oops link doesnt work so heres the copy and paste ...
SCUBA LOG
04/06/2008
Dive 1
Well today was the day, the day I finally got to dive since training finished in San Marcos. Since before I learned to SCUBA dive I have been unsure exactly how I feel about it. When asked if I like diving my over all response has been "It’s interesting, but I’m not sure". I have always had a high fear of the unknown, and a fear of water. This goes to show SCUBA should not be for me. Most of the water world is a huge unknown. At the back of my mind I know that I know just enough about SCUBA diving to be dangerous. Seriously only 5 dives under my belt so in the grand scheme of this world I know nothing.
I was set to dive with Chris and Melissa, Chris had been there during my training open water dives so I knew at the very least I have a dive master to recover my remains should I die, or have a catfish bite my face off. I had yet to meet Melissa well I hadn’t realized I had, it was nice to see that she was the one who helped me look at gear from a Chicks perspective. From the day I met her she eased a few fears I had that were technically more myth then fact. So speed up to Windy Point Park, Austin Texas… just the park itself is awesome, a bit pricey for my cheap self but the parks amenities warrant the cost. We take the rickshaws down to the picnic benches and I immediately feel the nerves double in size as I watch my surroundings. First off most the more experienced divers have dry suits and I am a wimp with the cold. I had not realized that 60 degree water is no match for 7 mil yet. In my head I was picturing my blue face bobbing up and down next to the buoys and Melissa and Chris having to pry my frozen fingers off my computer. Yes yes yes I am a bit dramatic in my thoughts, and my imagination often gets the best of me in thought only. The good aspect is my ability to realize the drama and exaggeration and put it to the side.
As I am considering gearing up, I hear Chris tell Melissa "its your dive, you and Lisamarie make the plan and I will be there" and then low and behold, Melissa is by my side with a map (and by map I mean a piece of paper with numbers on it and a picture of a shark and turtle) I truly did not understand the map that much at first. Melissa starts going over the first dive plan idea and I was game. We were going to start out and just acclimate to the water temp, and also the newness as I think my fear showed and was possibly dripping out of my ears. We would start out , go see the turtle, a different platform, a shark, then go to 15 and rest for 3 minutes then surface. In hindsight it seemed complicated to me and I was a bit confused on how it was going to all come together. During training you do not have to have such an intensive navigation route so I was thinking that we would not succeed on seeing it all but was hoping. I was reminded to clear early and often and to remain calm. We went over the hand signals to make sure we were on the same wave length and also over buddy breathing techniques since I was using a BCD that had the secondary integrated.
Next thing I know we are walking over to the stairs, Melissa in front and Chris following close behind. I felt trapped, and decided I could not flake out easy because someone was covering my escape route. I grab the railing and by this time convinced myself that I was going to at least survive this dive. It took me three stairs before I felt the water slowly seep into my bootie, ohm not bad at all. So I move faster and exclaim "this isn’t cold at all" and Chris states "give it about 10 seconds" approx 5 seconds later I am stricken with a rush of bone crushing cold and I literally scream out in surprise. Melissa and Chris just laugh it off as if they KNEW this would happen. Lucky for me the cold passes fast and I am quite comfortable and relaxing a bit.
Next thing I know were starting to descend, oh **** I know there are things I am supposed to remember, yes I need to let out air, and uhhhh regulator in my mouth, yup that’s where it goes. Breathe, yes , that’s it I need to breathe. Looking at Melissa I realize I am not sinking, nope I am basically snorkeling with a regulator, not exactly what I am here for, I try for a few seconds to fight down and signal to surface, since we literally had only a inch or so to go we were up fast. I let them know I think that its more my fault and that I do not think I am under weighted. I knew I was not fully expelling the air in my lungs. So we try again and success I start to slowly descend. Using the rail to help me stay in one place. At about 15 feet we rest for a second to give me time to see the fish and the environment I just voluntarily entered. I am stunned, I had seen fish in Aquarena but I had not seen fish this big. The first big catfish I swear was a good 3 feet long and secretly was plotting to take me hostage and bite my face off, but he must have ADHD because he did not even make one attempt on my face nor my life. I felt I did fair on the dive overall, I was a bit unsure if I was staying at a safe distance from Melissa and often felt I was to close or to far. I did well at maintaining communication with her and felt that I was aware of what was needed of me and from me. Granted with time I will tune the skills a bit better but think I have a great foundation. During this first dive we worked a bit on buoyancy, which I am not horrible at but by no means am I respectable at it. Thank goodness I didn’t drag the bottom, I was worried Id be "one of those divers".
When we were at a platform and it was obvious I was comfortable with the surroundings Chris had me practice switching to my secondary, which I am grateful for as its known Id prefer to practice my Eps before they are not for practice. I’m very comfortable with my ability to share air with another diver and hope I can continue to remind myself that it is okay to practice these as often as needed to have them become engrained in this bubble head of mine. Also got to see the turtle, when I reached 1500 psi we had to turn back. How the heck did that happen so fast? How is my dive almost over? As we were turning around I caught sight of the jet ski, dude there is a jet ski chained to the bottom, and funny enough it didn’t seem like a wasted jet ski, as a matter a fact when I surfaced I saw a boat and my thought was "they should chain that to the bottom". Back to the dive, I did not get to explore the jet ski because we were done and heading back. We of course got to see things on the way back but we dived the plan and that means no jet ski for me.
The first amazing point for me that was really remarkable was when we reached a platform and I notice Melissa and Chris turn to almost a reclining position, so I follow suit and the moment I turn around I notice at the very least 25 fish of various types staring straight at me, as if they are the FBI and I am Jimmy Hoffa. Wow, nothing can really describe how it feels to discover you are the subject of a marine life stake out. As I sit there and just stare at the Texas Cicada I wonder what it thinks of me, does it find my nose appetizing? What makes me so interesting? Are they uncomfortable with my intrusion of their world?
Okay back to the real world, we reach the point where we get to start going to the surface, and surprising enough even that isn’t boring. At 15 ft we of course take a 3 min break and it was exactly 3 minutes because I was wearing a really cool computer that counts down to the second. When we actually surface and I take the regulator out of my mouth I just start laughing uncontrollably from shear and utter joy.
Pros of my actions
* Maintained acceptable communication with my buddy
* Maintained a calm thought pattern regardless of nerves
* Planned the dive and dived it
* Used my breathing to help maintain neutral buoyancy
* Had fun
Cons of my actions
* Felt awkward in my position in relation to my buddy
* My forward motion was taxing, must find a better way to reserve energy by letting my fins work for me. Stop fighting the gear.
* Had to actually think about breathing slow , and deep with a full exhale, must dive more and regular so this becomes automatic.
* Remember to inflate the BCD at the surface, there is no reason for me to have to tread water when my gear is fully operational.
Dive 2
After what felt like a surface interval of a lifetime we made our plan again. This time we were going to hit the tunnel of love. At least that was the plan. Although I cleared early and often I still started to feel pain and had to signal to go up a little. I found it much harder to equalize and was a bit perplexed as to the why. I assume its because it was the second dive and my body is not used to this. Although at this point I was no longer in pain I did notice big difference’s in how my ears felt and I was not entirely okay with it. Then again at this point we were at the deepest I had ever been. Since I was not in pain we continued on. At 57 feet I became a bit aware of a new fear, one I had yet to experience in this sport, I could not see the bottom of the lake, I could not see anything to reference my position, I knew up but that was hazy as no longer did I see the glistening sun with its beams riding the waves, instead I saw a light bulb, one that provided very little light in my opinion. Below me was black, I had no idea what was hiding beneath this abyss , and I truly felt a stir of chaotic fear, I am not sure if my expression portrayed this, and my actions were still controlled and not erratic but I do think because of the above combination I sucked my air down entirely to fast. We never made it to the tunnel, we had to turn back. I did however get a great laugh at the toilet, so much so I forgot I was underwater and the regulator fell out of my mouth. Funny enough I lived, all you really have to do is pop it back in your mouth, clear and breathe, Nik was right, my EP’s work.
At one point I was watching the bottom and from no where this honkin big Catfish from the planet Druidia appears and I ended up screaming at the sight, and then of course I ended up laughing at the stupidity that is me. This thing was huge, he definitely is the Top of Lake Travis and he scared me into submission, all I could do was stare in awe at his massive size and to be honest the beauty of him. I felt this spark inside as I sat and watched him slowly swim away, it was a spark of envy, he did not have to surface, he did not to peel out of a stubborn wet suit, James (that’s what I named him) got to live in paradise, he had no restraints in the water, he was not limited by the cost of gear, or training, James lived where I long to be.
At the surface we inflate to let the current float us to the stairs, and as I lay there, on this perfect day watching sailboats , and basking in the glow of two awesome dives I realize that my body may be going home but my soul rests beneath the surface waiting to reunite with me. I had so many beautiful thoughts as I floated away, and the one that got me the most was "okay where do we go next"
Pros of my actions
*Improved in communication with Melissa
*Learned a new way to clear the mask
* Remained in control despite the new fears that evolved.
Cons of my actions
*Oh at this point I am at 6 pages and there are so many things I need to learn and finely tune, all in all I did well for my experience (or lack there of) I felt safe, I felt that I was a decent buddy and that’s enough for today.
the whole kill two birds with one stone type thing
