Saturday morning I had to be up by 5:30 to get ready and meet up with my friends Claire and Adrian to get a taxi to scuba diving. We had to be there by 7 and we thought it took 45 minutes to get there so we left at 6, but it turns out that it only took 20 minutes so we ended up getting there a little bit early. Once we got there we had to fill out a bunch of paper work and then take a quick review test just to make sure we knew the most important information about diving. We then got all our gear sized up and they drove us to a pool at the Gold Coast. Once at the pool we had to take our swimming test, which consisted of swimming 200 m without stopping (there and back twice in an Olympic sized pool), and treading water for 10 minutes. The hardest part was probably the 200 m swim but even that wasn’t that bad. Once we finished the test (all 5 of us passed) we began our dive training, which on Saturday began with 3 pool dives. On these dives our instructors would show us something such as how to get water out of your mask when you’re underwater and then we would have to repeat it. We also learned a lot about what to do if you run out of air. Since you always dive with a buddy it’s not actually that bad of a situation and there are many simple quick solutions. After our three pool dives we went to Tweed River and did two dives there. The visibility in the water wasn’t too great because of the changing tides, but that worked out better for us because it taught us how to deal with low visibility situations so we’ll be incredibly comfortable when we go to places such as the reef. On the two open water dives we basically did the same skills we practiced in the pool, but it was slightly more difficult in open water due to currents. While on the dives we saw a bunch of schools of fish and I saw a puffer fish. I also got to see a sea turtle. Granted it wasn’t while we were diving, but it was still pretty cool. I must say, diving for the first time was a strange feeling, especially when you thought about the fact that you’re breathing underwater, but it was so much fun and I can’t wait to go again. The only part I don’t like is putting on the wet suits. In order for them to be effective they have to be incredibly tight, which makes them incredibly difficult to put on. Dad you’ll appreciate this story…When we finished diving, we were packing up our gear into the cars and looked across the river at an island where cars can drive along the beach. Well, high tide was coming and some idiot decided to park fairly close to the edge of the water and his suv got stuck in the sand. He was all by himself and couldn’t get his car out so he had to watch it go underwater as the tide came in. Granted we felt bad just watching but there was nothing we could do. After we got home that night Claire and I decided to go out for some cheap sushi and ice cream. We thought we deserved it after diving all day, which turns out to be very exhausting. Needless to say, I did not go out that night, but I still hung out with everyone for a little while before going to bed.
Sunday I got to sleep in an extra half hour since we knew how long it actually took to get there. From the dive shop our instructors drove us to the pool where we had two more pool dives to do. Again we just practiced some general skills, which we would later have to apply in the open water. After the pool dives we headed back to Tweed River to complete our last two open water dives before being officially certified. The visibility today was much better and we got to see a ton of different fish. Our first dive was typical shore dive, but our second dive was a drift dive, which was awesome. It’s exactly what it sounds like; you get into a current and just let it carry you along. We took the current, which made you go really fast, down to a beach, and along the way saw a huge assortment of fish from pipe fish to puffer fish to fish like Gill from Finding Nemo. It was absolutely incredible! After the drift dive we walked back to our site, packed up our gear and then hung out for a little while with a couple that had just finished their advanced diver certification course. I think the best part about diver certifications is that they work all over the world and never expire so this is something that I’ll always have. When we got back to the dive shop we got our dive logbooks, filled them out, got our certificates and obviously took some pictures. That night once we got home I relaxed and then just crashed. I was so exhausted from the weekend, but it was well worth it! That’s all for now, but I’ll post again soon (and I actually mean that this time). Love you and miss you!
Britt
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