TheBanyanTree: Sun, 26 May 1996 SCUBA anyone?

[Laura Hicks]

(by special request, this is a piece I wrote just after I got my Advanced
Open Water certificate, way back when in 1996)


I got my Advanced Open Water (I'm PADI trained) at a limestone quarry,
abandoned when they hit a fresh water spring which promptly filled the
quarry with water and which has been turned into a diver's retreat.  They
have even sunk some old wrecks, boats and trucks, and stocked some fish so
you'll have something to look at.  The only problem with diving there is
that if you go below about 20 feet there is a *killer* thermocline. The
water temp drops to about 50.  A bit too cold for my tastes, even in a 1/8"
wet suit!  They have an old boat sunk in about 70 feet of water which is
pretty interesting, but I couldn't stand to stay under the thermocline for
long enough to look around.  We probably stayed down for 8 minutes or so,
and when we surfaced, my fingernails were blue.  Too damn cold.



My Open Water I got at West Palm Beach down there in good ol' Flahdeeda.
'Course there was a hurricane about 300 miles offshore, and by the end of
the day the water was just about like swimming in oatmeal, but we got two
good dives in.  It was quite an exhilarating boat ride, too! There were 4 -
6 foot seas, and absolutely *everyone* on board was chumming for sharks.
Everyone except me, my instructor, the capt'n, and the divemaster.  So, my
instructor, the divemaster, and I went diving while everyone else prayed to
die.  I had a few problems that day, all from the strong surge and low
visibility.



As I held onto the anchorline during the first dive of the day, the surge
slammed me into a nice healthy patch of fire coral.  I finished the dive,
and we surfaced, clinging to the anchorline all the way up. At the surface,
I had a bit of trouble entering the boat.  The waves would toss me up over
the stern, and then drop me way down below it.  I don't have enough upper
body strength to hold on during that kind of pounding. So, my instructor
managed to get aboard and haul me up one handed and dump me rather
unceremoniously onto the deck.  After getting my gear off, rinsed, and
stored (you *don't* want air tanks rolling around the deck loose!), we
dared to look at my leg.  It was stinging like hell, and looked like it
too.  A bright red patch the size of a softball right in the middle of my
calf.  My instructor treated it with vinegar (I think), and it did feel
some better.  I forgot about it during the rest of the day.



The second spot of trouble I had that day was during the second dive of the
day.  We submerged, did the required exercises, and ascended to do the
surface work.  That consisted of restoring positive bouyancy (inflating my
vest), dropping my weight belt (a nylon web belt carrying about 8 pounds of
lead weights), and removing my gear.  Then I had to put it all back on.
The problem came while I was trying to remove it. My *very* long hair had
been braided back tightly when we started the day, but during our rough
boat ride and one dive, a great deal of it had come loose.  Sometime during
my second dive, quite a lot of it had managed to wrap itself around my
first stage regulator (the bit that sits on top of your air tank).  I
didn't realize it until I had my gear more than halfway off. I stopped to
try to untangle it, but that's pretty hard to do when it's behind you, and
you have to keep a mouthpiece attached to a hose attached to your tank in
your mouth to keep from drowning.  I was not having much luck, and my
instructor didn't understand what the trouble was.  He thought that I was
tired, and couldn't get the gear off of my back, so he reached over and
grabbed my tank to help.  Just at that moment, another wave passed us, and
he went up as I went down.  He still had hold of my tank, and when he went
up, so did my gear.  It yanked my entire body around 180 degrees, and tore
a huge hunk of hair right out of my scalp. When I say huge, I mean a 1 inch
diameter circle of hair.  Do I need to tell you that it hurt like hell?  It
also pulled my mouthpiece, and consequently my air, out of my mouth.
Fortunately I am an excellent swimmer, and not at all afraid of the water.
I took a breath, turned myself around, and took two strokes back to my
instructor, who was looking in horror at the large handful of hair still
attached to my regulator.  I retrieved my gear, popped my mouthpiece in,
purged it, and got a breath.  Then I put my gear back on.  He had already
tossed my weight belt on deck, so I didn't have to fool with that, thank
God. We had to go through the one armed re-entry again to get me back
aboard.  We treated my oozing scalp with antibiotic ointment, and sat down
to rest. By this time, I was getting *really, REALLY* tired, but we decided
to try to do a final dive.



When we got to our last dive site, the divemaster almost decided against
letting us go.  The water was murky, the seas were high, and the surge was
very, very strong.  This dive was a simple one however, and he decided that
if we would maintain contact with the anchorline at all times, we could
go.  We did giant step entries instead of sitting entries because of the
waves, and when I hit the water my mask slipped, even with my hand on it.
I readjusted it - no problem.  The divemaster submerged first, one hand on
the anchorline.  Then my instructor, then me.  The water was so full of
sand that we literally could not see more than 10 inches in front of our
faces.  The deeper we got, the murkier it got.  Suddenly, something hit my
face, and my mask strap snapped.  I was blind.  I managed to catch my mask,
how I don't know.  I quickly tucked the strap end into the octopus (that's
the extra mouthpiece you carry - all the hoses hanging off make you look
like a multi-armed creature) loop on my vest, and then grabbed for my
instructor's leg.  What I got was a fin in the face.  I never saw it.  Just
after it hit me, I grabbed it and yanked.  My instructor (he told me later,
I couldn't see it) grabbed at the divemaster, stopped him, and turned
around.  I gave him the thumbs up sign that I wanted to surface, pointing
to my bare face, and the broken strap hanging from my vest.  He took my arm
and all three of us surfaced as fast as we safely could.  I decided that
*that* was going to be *it* for the day!  As it turned out, it was the last
dive of the week.  The water never got clear enough to dive in the rest of
the week we were there.  I got my Open Water certificate even though we
never finished that third dive - he said that anyone who could handle
themselves the way I did during that second dive would *not* be a saftey
risk!  By the way, just for the record, I did do the third dive
successfully later at a lake, so I am "official".  So at the end of a hard
day at sea, I had an itchy leg, a sore head, and a pretty certificate to
hang on the wall.  It was worth every minute!  I haven't been diving in a
few years, it's hard to make the time and money commitments with two little
boys, but someday I plan to go again.  After a refresher course,
naturally.  Preferably *not* at West Palm Beach!! :-)


(I no longer have two little boys, they are now 20 and 19, but I do still
want to dive again, preferably in shallow, warm water. <grin>)

-- 
Wolfie
aka
Laura
wolfljsh at gmail.com