octgal
Contributor
Piece of cake...........LOL UM not exactly hahaha So i was thinking, theres 2 ways to do this, the version that makes me sound good or the bare all truth of the whole week
I've decided to just tell all, as my experience may help someone else out....so here goes.....
My instructor was Nick Leone
Now remember where I was starting from when i took this class, i only had advanced open water and i had never even seen the equipment in real life that i had to use. On the flight down i started to doubt myself and question what exactly i had gotten myself into. The first day of diving was a story in it of itself. After doing all the line drills on land we finally get into the water (Royal) to see exactly how i will do with my new gear and set up. WELL, lets just say this dive was not my finest moment at all. I had to fight with my trim the entire dive, i felt like i would do cartwheels if i didn't!! It was absolutely terrible, right away i noticed that my webbing wasn't tight enough and the tank was moving around on my back, not helping with the cartwheel situation, i also didn't zip up my wetsuit completely on my chin and i would get air down into my suit and it would sit at the small of my back (although i didn't figure this out until dive 3) I was completely discouraged after this first dive and totally exhausted from all the fighting, funny my instructor didn't think i looked that bad, but i certainly felt like a newbie that had no control of herself. After we tightened my webbing, we went down to do the mask off follow the line drills. It was probably painful to watch me run the reel that first time, as i was still fighting with the trim and buoyancy (not as much this dive) The skills went fine and funny how i didn't have any trouble with my trim with my mask off at all!!! I was a little concerned how i would react without my mask only because i haven't done that since open water, but i felt very comfortable, so i was happy about that.
Day 2
This day we got up and went over to orange grove to do my first cavern dive, i was excited to see if i would like it or not, and of course a little nervous. So down we go, i was following Nick as he ran the reel, my buoyancy and trim weren't that bad going in, but once we got to the stop sign and turned around (of course now when Nick can see me) all hell broke loose with my trim and buoyancy (the air bubble in my suit, this is when i figured out what was going on) So the exit was terrible and the worst thing about it was i was dreading what Nick was going to have to say when it was all over. I was totally aware of how crappy i looked i didn't need him to tell me that, but there was nothing i could do. We had a long talk after this dive about my trim, but he was clear that i could not act like that in a cave!!! I just wanted this dive to be over, i was a complete disgrace and just felt like a major fluster F...! We did another dive with me leading with the reel, but it wasn't a whole lot better.
I believe the next dive was in Peacock/Pothole tunnel; this would be my first cave dive!!! I was a little nervous going in, i led and ran the reel to the main line and off we went. I think we went in to about 300 or 400 feet when i hit my thirds, i certainly was thinking about the fact that the entrance was getting further and further away. I also didn't see my instructors light at one point for like 5-10 seconds and i turned around to see him there, but it was enough to get my heart beating a bit. On the way out i started to think about why that scared me, and realized, you know what? That line is my lifeline, not Nick and if i did loose him, i have that line to safely get out, so it wouldn't mean instant death!!! (this is before the lost buddy drill i did later in the week). Its never good to just rely on someone so much like that, and i kept that in mind for the rest of the trip. The next dive i believe was the Peanut tunnel Peacock for my lights out exit. WOW was i nervous for this!!!! When we got to the spot and Nick turned around, asked if i was ok and then signaled me to turn the light off, i definitely hesitated!! I didn't think i could do it, and was totally scared to be the the cave 400 feet back in complete darkness, but i suddenly heard this little voice that said, "stop being such a damn baby and switch off your stupid light" so i did......geez that was creepy, but i was calm and did everything just fine, i kept my eyes closed mostly, but did open them a few times, it is better to keep them closed!!!!! I was happy to turn that light back on when we hit the cavern!!!!
Day 3 and 4
I should say i was no longer fighting my trim, although it wasn't perfect yet, at least i wasn't fighting!!!! We did around 3 dives this day. So this day was share air lights out exit, but it was the same cave as i did the day before which i found very comforting. Now i wasn't nervous at all for switching my light off this time and was very calm on this exit, but one funny thing did happen on this dive that i thought i would share for all you to have a laugh. Well, when we got to the spot where we had to cross over the line, i think i was a little too eager to grab a hold on him again, and when i did, i thought "hmm...this is strange, this doesn't feel like his arm! So i started to feel around a little and thought it was probably his back so i moved my hand up to follow over to his arm when i felt his safety spool!!!!!! OH MY, I'VE GOT MY HAND ON HIS........YEAH!!! I was totally laughing when i realized this, hehehehehe, funny how Nick didn't say one word about it after the dive lol Sorry Nick hahaha
I believe i also did my lost line exercise at the end of this dive. Got myself a wee tangled with my spool, but i worked it out and found the line, could have been more graceful, but i found the line which was the main thing right?
I want to mention that i went to Ginnie Springs the one day while i was there, wow when they say high flow they mean it!!!!!!!! I dove Devils eye and devils ear. These are the dives that i figured out how much my fins suck! I would have liked to enjoy these caves more, but i was so damn busy swimming my *** off against this current, course once you turn around you just fly out in like 200psi When we got to the section called i think "the lips" wow, felt like i was going to get blown against the wall!!! Now heres the interesting part about the second dive in devils ear. I ran the line on this dive of course and once we got close to the exit of the cavern, i was reeling in my line and all was going well when SWOOOSH I got sucked through the hole and shot out like being sent through a blow hole. I could not believe it!!! I think i was saying every swear word in my head at this point. Poor Nick stood no chance with me coming right at him and he was blown out with me. I managed to grab the wall as i was flying out and hung on for dear life, now the flow was so strong it flooded my mask and almost took it off, my reg around my neck was half way up my face hitting me, i still had the reel in my hand (the least of my concerns) but most important, i had too much air in my wings but couldn't let go of that damn wall!!!! I felt like laughing actually, because the flow was so strong it was ridiculous!!!!!! Once i managed to lodge myself under a log and sort myself out i was ok, but now i had to go back in to untangle my line that was still wrapped around some rock. It all worked out in the end but GEEEZ what a dive that was!!!!! I think it ended up being one of my favourite because it was so difficult and i handled myself well and worked out everything in the end. So any of you new cave divers that haven't dove Devils Ear, make sure you dump your air before you get too close to that exit hole!!! I really did like diving at Ginnie though, it certainly makes one thing clear, you HAVE to have your trim and buoyancy down otherwise, good luck with running that reel in high flow!
Those were the highlights of the course. I dove a lot of different caves on this trip, which was great to see the different conditions. I did a dive at Telford, the vis was bad on this one and i also put my hand on broken beer bottle in the cavern when i was pulling myself in, so be careful. Why on earth the locals would dump thier garbage all over such a beautiful spot is beyond me. We rented a boat out at Mills pond in Marianna and did a couple dives in "Hole in the Wall" Those were cool dives, this was after i passed my intro. There were a bunch of catfish in this cave that stirred up the bottom real well!!! grrrrr, but i did see a blind salamander! I did 2 dives in Jackson Blue AWESOME cave!!!! My favourite so far!!!!
I've decided to just tell all, as my experience may help someone else out....so here goes.....My instructor was Nick Leone
Now remember where I was starting from when i took this class, i only had advanced open water and i had never even seen the equipment in real life that i had to use. On the flight down i started to doubt myself and question what exactly i had gotten myself into. The first day of diving was a story in it of itself. After doing all the line drills on land we finally get into the water (Royal) to see exactly how i will do with my new gear and set up. WELL, lets just say this dive was not my finest moment at all. I had to fight with my trim the entire dive, i felt like i would do cartwheels if i didn't!! It was absolutely terrible, right away i noticed that my webbing wasn't tight enough and the tank was moving around on my back, not helping with the cartwheel situation, i also didn't zip up my wetsuit completely on my chin and i would get air down into my suit and it would sit at the small of my back (although i didn't figure this out until dive 3) I was completely discouraged after this first dive and totally exhausted from all the fighting, funny my instructor didn't think i looked that bad, but i certainly felt like a newbie that had no control of herself. After we tightened my webbing, we went down to do the mask off follow the line drills. It was probably painful to watch me run the reel that first time, as i was still fighting with the trim and buoyancy (not as much this dive) The skills went fine and funny how i didn't have any trouble with my trim with my mask off at all!!! I was a little concerned how i would react without my mask only because i haven't done that since open water, but i felt very comfortable, so i was happy about that.
Day 2
This day we got up and went over to orange grove to do my first cavern dive, i was excited to see if i would like it or not, and of course a little nervous. So down we go, i was following Nick as he ran the reel, my buoyancy and trim weren't that bad going in, but once we got to the stop sign and turned around (of course now when Nick can see me) all hell broke loose with my trim and buoyancy (the air bubble in my suit, this is when i figured out what was going on) So the exit was terrible and the worst thing about it was i was dreading what Nick was going to have to say when it was all over. I was totally aware of how crappy i looked i didn't need him to tell me that, but there was nothing i could do. We had a long talk after this dive about my trim, but he was clear that i could not act like that in a cave!!!
I just wanted this dive to be over, i was a complete disgrace and just felt like a major fluster F...! We did another dive with me leading with the reel, but it wasn't a whole lot better.I believe the next dive was in Peacock/Pothole tunnel; this would be my first cave dive!!! I was a little nervous going in, i led and ran the reel to the main line and off we went. I think we went in to about 300 or 400 feet when i hit my thirds, i certainly was thinking about the fact that the entrance was getting further and further away. I also didn't see my instructors light at one point for like 5-10 seconds and i turned around to see him there, but it was enough to get my heart beating a bit. On the way out i started to think about why that scared me, and realized, you know what? That line is my lifeline, not Nick and if i did loose him, i have that line to safely get out, so it wouldn't mean instant death!!! (this is before the lost buddy drill i did later in the week). Its never good to just rely on someone so much like that, and i kept that in mind for the rest of the trip. The next dive i believe was the Peanut tunnel Peacock for my lights out exit. WOW was i nervous for this!!!! When we got to the spot and Nick turned around, asked if i was ok and then signaled me to turn the light off, i definitely hesitated!! I didn't think i could do it, and was totally scared to be the the cave 400 feet back in complete darkness, but i suddenly heard this little voice that said, "stop being such a damn baby and switch off your stupid light" so i did......geez that was creepy, but i was calm and did everything just fine, i kept my eyes closed mostly, but did open them a few times, it is better to keep them closed!!!!! I was happy to turn that light back on when we hit the cavern!!!!
Day 3 and 4
I should say i was no longer fighting my trim, although it wasn't perfect yet, at least i wasn't fighting!!!! We did around 3 dives this day. So this day was share air lights out exit, but it was the same cave as i did the day before which i found very comforting. Now i wasn't nervous at all for switching my light off this time and was very calm on this exit, but one funny thing did happen on this dive that i thought i would share for all you to have a laugh. Well, when we got to the spot where we had to cross over the line, i think i was a little too eager to grab a hold on him again, and when i did, i thought "hmm...this is strange, this doesn't feel like his arm! So i started to feel around a little and thought it was probably his back so i moved my hand up to follow over to his arm when i felt his safety spool!!!!!! OH MY, I'VE GOT MY HAND ON HIS........YEAH!!! I was totally laughing when i realized this, hehehehehe, funny how Nick didn't say one word about it after the dive lol Sorry Nick hahaha
I believe i also did my lost line exercise at the end of this dive. Got myself a wee tangled with my spool, but i worked it out and found the line, could have been more graceful, but i found the line which was the main thing right?
I want to mention that i went to Ginnie Springs the one day while i was there, wow when they say high flow they mean it!!!!!!!! I dove Devils eye and devils ear. These are the dives that i figured out how much my fins suck! I would have liked to enjoy these caves more, but i was so damn busy swimming my *** off against this current, course once you turn around you just fly out in like 200psi When we got to the section called i think "the lips" wow, felt like i was going to get blown against the wall!!! Now heres the interesting part about the second dive in devils ear. I ran the line on this dive of course and once we got close to the exit of the cavern, i was reeling in my line and all was going well when SWOOOSH I got sucked through the hole and shot out like being sent through a blow hole. I could not believe it!!! I think i was saying every swear word in my head at this point. Poor Nick stood no chance with me coming right at him and he was blown out with me. I managed to grab the wall as i was flying out and hung on for dear life, now the flow was so strong it flooded my mask and almost took it off, my reg around my neck was half way up my face hitting me, i still had the reel in my hand (the least of my concerns) but most important, i had too much air in my wings but couldn't let go of that damn wall!!!! I felt like laughing actually, because the flow was so strong it was ridiculous!!!!!! Once i managed to lodge myself under a log and sort myself out i was ok, but now i had to go back in to untangle my line that was still wrapped around some rock. It all worked out in the end but GEEEZ what a dive that was!!!!! I think it ended up being one of my favourite because it was so difficult and i handled myself well and worked out everything in the end. So any of you new cave divers that haven't dove Devils Ear, make sure you dump your air before you get too close to that exit hole!!! I really did like diving at Ginnie though, it certainly makes one thing clear, you HAVE to have your trim and buoyancy down otherwise, good luck with running that reel in high flow!
Those were the highlights of the course. I dove a lot of different caves on this trip, which was great to see the different conditions. I did a dive at Telford, the vis was bad on this one and i also put my hand on broken beer bottle in the cavern when i was pulling myself in, so be careful. Why on earth the locals would dump thier garbage all over such a beautiful spot is beyond me. We rented a boat out at Mills pond in Marianna and did a couple dives in "Hole in the Wall" Those were cool dives, this was after i passed my intro. There were a bunch of catfish in this cave that stirred up the bottom real well!!! grrrrr, but i did see a blind salamander! I did 2 dives in Jackson Blue AWESOME cave!!!! My favourite so far!!!!
