As of about 2 pm this afternoon, Randal and I are certified Open Water divers. I would like to have opened with something more profound about the beauty of undersea exploration. But the truth is most of the course was a profound struggle for me. The actual swimming around underwater looking at neat stuff was fine. It was everything else that was really hard for me. Hard enough that at one point Simon was making me tell him why I was doing the course, for me or for Randal. Simon was our instructor and the question was asked because I was stumped at a very important part of the training. If I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t go on to complete the course. No way around it.
The course to become an Open Water diver is the first level of Scuba diving. You only are advised to go down to the depth of 60 feet. If you only go down that far, you don’t run into the issues that deeper dives can have, like decompression sickness. You also aren’t trained for high altitude dives or really cold water diving. We are certified as beginner divers who can do recreational dives to see fish, coral reefs, and what is hanging onto our propeller or anchor. Those were our goals. Simple. Reaching them, not so simple.
Of the two of us, I’m the one who really likes being in the water. If there is a chance to swim, I’ll go in. I grew up by the ocean. Randal grew up in the mountains and can swim, but it isn’t just great fun for him. But, of the two of us, he had the easier time learning the basics of SCUBA. The tanks, regulators (breathing apparatus,) underwater compass all made sense to him almost instantly. I still need to be told lots of the steps to hook up the equipment and take it apart. By the 4th day I was better than the first, but not competent, not yet. I even managed to put my leg through the arm of the wet suit preparing for dive 3. And our 4th day, I put the suit on backwards, at least as far as I could before Randal pointed out what I had done. That wasn’t so bad to undo. But getting my leg out of the sleeve was a real task. These suits fit snug as it is, so the sleeve was way tighter than the leg. I can laugh now. Then I was hot and stuck! Simon was kind enough to say he had seen it all before. He also said some folks had quit the course when asked for whom they were doing it. Simon looks like a British version of Matt Lauer of the Today Show.
Over the 4 day course we had to learn emergency procedures. How to drop off your weight belt with one hand; how to take off and put on your BCD vest underwater (vest that holds the tank and every other piece of equipment and helps you go up, down, or float around.) We had to learn to switch from our main regulator to an alternate regulator, our own and our diving buddy’s. We had to simulate being out of air and take our buddy’s alternate regulator. To teach us what it would feel like to be out of air, Simon turned off our air supply from the tank to the regulator. Randal went first. He did fine. I didn’t even let Simon get half way with turning it off before I made the out of air motion and grabbed for Randal’s alternate air supply. I felt like I was out of air. None of the tasks that got between me and my supply of air were easy for me. And it is air, not oxygen in those tanks. Filled they weigh 20 lbs though felt like 200 to me wearing it and my 12lb weight belt out of the water back to the dive shop.
We did class work, beach work, and a dive each of the first two days. Each dive itself was about 45 minutes. Randal and I got to Action Divers at 9 am in the morning. The first day we ate lunch about 2:30pm. The second day it was 4 o’clock before we ate lunch! Full days. I was totally exhausted at the end of day 2. We also then had to walk the mile from the shop to catch a jeepney from Sabang back to PG. Very tired. Our 3rd and 4th dives were several days later. Randal had developed an ear infection. No diving with ear infections. He put in ear drops and took amoxicillin and we were able to resume diving 6 days later. I honestly felt as if the reprieve were over. Our 3rd dive was the watershed for me. It was do the emergency tasks that scared me, or quit. There was no way around it To pass the course you have to be able to deal with water filling your face mask or even losing your face mask. You can’t just pop up to the surface, fix it all and go back down. And you can’t hold your breath while you replace your mask. That actually would make it easier so you don’t accidently breathe in through your nose. You have to keep breathing through your regulator and not breathe in through your nose at the same time. You can NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH WHILE SCUBA DIVING. The air in your lungs compresses as you go down. It expands as you go up. If you hold your breath and go up, your lungs over expand and cause significant problems. Plus, it might take a bit of time for you or your dive buddy to find your mask. And, you may be down too far to just shoot up, while exhaling, without hurting your ears or causing other problems. EXHALING IS NOT HOLDING YOUR BREATH. And besides all of the safety issues, you don’t want to waste the time or air. Your dive buddy has to stay with you so would have to go up too. Lots of reasons why you have to deal with the mask skill. I struggled and struggled. When our friend Audrey took us for a scuba lesson in Subic, she tried to teach me to clear my mask. It is very helpful for snorkeling too. I couldn’t do it. Even though Audrey is a professional dive instructor, she didn’t push it; we were just there for an introduction to diving, not a real course. With Simon we had to try it during dive day 2, but only to begin to try. I actually didn’t understand how it worked so was doing it wrong. Simon showed me and Randal practiced with me on our boat. I even practiced with my snorkel, putting my face in the water with no mask and breathing through my mouth (snorkel) and not also up my nose. I got one tiny, very tiny bit better. Yesterday, dive day 3, it all came to a head. I couldn’t fill my mask and clear it. Each time I would try I’d get water up my nose or down my throat. I would shoot to the surface and yank off my mask. Simon would have to come up. Randal too. Randal to check on me. Simon to make me go down and try it again. Simon actually let me get away with only half filling my mask. But then we had to take the mask completely off and replace it. At that point my nose and throat still burned and I just wanted to cry. I wanted Simon to say, I could skip it, but I would have to learn on my own. Simon couldn’t do that. He is a professional dive instructor and we were doing this for certification. Randal was able to do it. He tried to help me. Simon told me I could do it. Any time I questioned equipment or anything, Simon said it was just because I was nervous and if I would just relax and do it, it would be fine. (I do think the regulator mouth piece was too big, but I obviously could use it.) Simon bases much of his teaching on the belief that people take the course because they want to dive and will do what it takes to learn, conquer any fear and learn any skill. If one can’t learn a skill, they just don’t want to enough. There is much truth in that. The confrontation came after I had taken off my mask, replaced it, cleared it and then shot to the surface and whipped off my mask. Simon was really frustrated that I could do it, but not stop panicking anyway. “Why are you doing this course? In your heart do you want to dive? Do you want to explore the ocean bottom and see fish and things? Or are you just doing it for Randal?” “If in your heart you want to dive, you’ll conquer your fears.” Simon asked me these questions to make me decide what I wanted to do, keep going, do the skill, and dive? Or did I want to quit? I certainly wanted to quit trying to learn that mask skill. But I knew I wanted to keep going, not just for Randal. But I couldn’t promise Simon that I could take off and replace my mask. I could hardly breathe at that point. I just wanted to cry. That had happened at Outward Bound one time when I was faced with a physical challenge that scared me. I stopped to cry for a bit, got it out of my system, started to breathe normally again and went on. I did the same thing, cried a bit. Put my mask back on, went down and found a way I could do it. It involved holding my nose part of the time. But I got my mask off, back on and cleared and stayed at the bottom. I felt like a kid who had cried about getting a shot and then it really didn’t hurt. I felt both successful and foolish that it had taken me so long with such a struggle. Simon dealt with it. He told me that people have stopped the course at the point when he asks them that question. I really do want to dive to clean our boat bottom, free snagged anchors and even see some neat fish and things. Not just for Randal. We did a dive and practiced other skills like going to the surface when almost out of air so just exhaling and not inhaling at all. That dive was 45 minutes also and then we had to walk forever back to the dive shop through the low tide. I thought my knees would buckle from the weight. When my friend Martha and I walked the Coastal Path in Wales we carried at least twenty pounds, all day for 3 days up and down hills and that didn’t seem so heavy. This partly empty tank weighed a ton. While we were taking apart the equipment and rinsing it in fresh water, Simon told us our 4th dive would be from a boat and we would learn new skills and do the mask removal again. I wasted time worrying about it all night and all the next morning until I actually did it during the dive and it was fine!
Yesterday was our 4th and final dive. It was the day I made sure I didn’t put my leg in the sleeve; instead I put the suit on backwards and had to change it around. It is like pulling on a very thick, wet, too small bathing suit that covers you whole body. Trying to pull it up over my hips and butt was a real challenge. We got our tanks ready and I remembered half of the steps, put on our booties and weight belts and, since it was a boat dive, climbed up the ladder into the banca that would take us about 10 minutes out to a cove for our dive. My friend Shelly Shuster said she fell off the ladder getting onto the boat for her 4th dive. I could see how it happened and almost did the same thing but for the boat person hanging onto me for dear life. You walk up a steep narrow ladder while wearing your weight belt. When we got to our dive spot, we anchored and put on our BCD and mask. Sticking our tank and butts over the side, one at a time we fell a few feet backwards down into the water. Doable, though I think I forgot to pump up my BCD as full as I should have. You keep one hand on your mask and regulator so they stay put and one hand behind your head in case you bang into something. I don’t remember having my hand behind my head, but I know I had my hand on my mask and regulator because they stayed put. Our next task was to learn to use our underwater compass. Randal got an A+, I got a D+ but I have an idea how to do better. Then we did an emergency ascent with Randal breathing from my alternate regulator. That was fine. Then we had to do the mask task. I did it first try with my convoluted nose holding method. I kept my eyes open so I could see what I was doing and that works better for me. You can’t see clearly of course, but well enough to make it less scary. Then we went for a dive to practice buoyancy. You use your inflatable/deflatable vest, weights, and your breath to keep yourself in place and not float away or float to the bottom or surface. Your weights are fixed but you can use your vest or breath. If you start to sink you inhale deeply and inflate your lungs. If you rise too high you exhale a lot more than you breathe in. It does work, though takes lots of practice. We practiced for about 30 minutes of that and then it was time to get back into the boat. I was actually sorry the dive ended, amazing since I had been dreading it earlier in the day.
Back at the dive shop I stayed in my wetsuit so Randal could take a photo. I have kind of a dazed expression and you can see the impression of the mask on my face. There was just too much activity with another boat of divers coming back for me to take a photo totally suited up. We changed and finished our final log entry. Simon filled out our temporary certification and we were done! Certified. Even me! Thanks Simon.
Randal and Simon before a class.
Another group of divers preparing for a dive. Just at the water’s edge right in front of the shop is where we practiced our skills. Then we would swim out further to the reef and look at fish and things and practice buoyancy.
Dazed and confused! The wet suit kept me warm in the water. Though the surface water was quite warm compared with Atlantic Ocean swimming, 15 ft down and 30 ft (our boat dive) it gets colder. Also, it kept the stinging things from being annoying. Randal and I had to do a swim and tread water test after one dive class and we had no wet suit. The stinging things were only annoying. Can you see the mask outline on my forehead and cheeks?
You keep track of your dives, locations, duration and conditions for proof that you did dives and to remember the conditions at a dive site. Simon stamped our log books as proof.
I cannot imagine wearing one of these contraptions though you certainly wouldn’t have to do the mask task. There are regulator apparatus on the wall and a mask and snorkel on the lower shelf