1st Dive...
Took scuba diving in college, first dive was obviously in the pool.... WOW!!!!!! I can breath underwater!!!!! I really liked that class, just being underwater was enough to get me really excited (I mean this a pool, nothing to see). I remember the exercises being practiced a lot more than in my OW class, although this wasn't a real certification and the teacher had us for quite a while during the session in that pool so I guess we had more time to do stuff. The best one was, put your gear on, go to the bottom, remove gear, surface, then dive back and put everything back on.
At this point I decide not to do the certification because I don't have enough money.... a few years later I'm on a long vacation (after many years of not having any) in S-E Asia and I decide to do my OW class.
1st OW Dive...
We're off the boat near Ko Tao in Thailand, the water is very warm (29 C), I don't even need a wetsuit, there's no current, we jump off the boat, wait for the instructor to give the signal and start descending and equalizing.... WOW!!!!!! It's a cert dive but it's sure nicer than the pool, the ears actually equalize nicely, which was my biggest fear since I always had problems in the pool, turns out what the instructor/course told me (early & often, I surely don't remember being told that in college) is the way to get that done. I'm fascinated by what I'm seeing. At this moment I know I'm gonna be hooked on that. Dive went nicely, after 45 minutes everybody is back on the surface safely, everybody is smilling
Last Dive.....
Today, in the St-Lawrence river, water temp is 45F (7 C), it's sure colder than Thailand ; ) I wear a dry suit since the temperature outside is arround 24 F (-4 C), I just don't want to have to get out of a wetsuit at that temperature, and dry suits are very comfortable in the water. We dive the wreck of the Rhotesay near Prescott, Ontario. It's a shore dive, we swim to the white float marking the start of the underwater line to the boat, we descend in 0 vis (not deep enough and too much water movement) and follow the line to the wreck (well... after a false start). After a few meters vis starts clearing up (yay!) and after 300 feet we get to the wreck. The vis is really nice, and the wreck is nice too, it's an old wooden side wheeler who sank in 1889. We take note of how much air we used getting there and start exploring the wreck, there's some big fishes in there too. I found the place fascinating with many little corners to explore (and not enough time, should have brought more tanks). After a while air pressure says it's time to get back, so we wave the wreck goodbye and head back on the line. It was a very nice dive and not too much current down there (on the surface that's different). That's probably the last dive till we take the ice diving course, can't wait to try that!