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trinityvixenAnyway, this is the longer version of this weekend.
At far too early on Saturday morning, I went to the MUUC (Melbourne University Underwater Club) shed to get my scuba gear. This was made worse for the having gotten only 2 hours--TWO HOURS!!!--of sleep the night before. I tried everything to sleep, but my brain wouldn't shut up. I woke right the hell up after our first dive, though, let me tell you. There were three others going for their certification, Johnni (Danish fellow), Darren (the only Aussie besides our instructor, Terri), and Armando (Colombian). I got paired with Armando, which turned out to be a problem (will discuss later). Our first dive was a "Hello, this is the world of SCUBA outside the pool" and "my, this is even colder than you imagined it would be" dive. Then we took a break, the hardest part of the day if you ask me, because we had to walk up and down steps in our gear. It took me 10-11 kilos of weight to keep me down because of 7mm of neoprene, and let me tell you, all of that rode on my hip bones (fantastic bruises I got though).
And man, was it cold! Like imagine the coldest you've ever been (I know, this is hard for the New Yorkers and Pooch in Japan) then make it a bajillion times colder. I have burst blood vessels in my right hand from where I had a broken glove on (I was borrowing a pair for the first two dives), and my fingertips after this weekend felt frost-bitten. Our second dive involved some skills, the best part of which was the tired diver tow, which meant you seriously had to swim and swim hard for about 50 meters, which warmed you up some. We left the South Road Beach at that point for lunch and a dive shop, and I picked up my own pair of about 3 mm gloves. I can't do SCUBA it seems without buying gear. Next time I dive, I'll end up with a wetsuit I can't afford.
The third dive was from a pier, and was by far the coldest because, well, by then it was late, bottom temp reached about 9 C, which is cold cold cold. Saw a pufferfish, though! I'm going to be the world's easiest to please diver. I sat and did my skills, and as soon as Terri moved on, I stuck my nose right back towards the pufferfish. The little guy was moving LESS than the giant starfish (which I also watched with amazement as it moved one leg veeeeery slowly), but I couldn't have cared less. Woo! Look, fish! It was about all I could see, visibility was terrible. We hopped out, got hot showers at our night's accomodations, got food, watched Hawthorn win, and collapsed.
Sunday was, as I've mentioned, a boat day. Yipes. I took bonine, which had previously worked when I was on choppy seas in the cruise boat my family took to Alaska. Not so yesterday. Darren was helpful, suggesting I look at the horizon or anything not moving. It did help, but I didn't feel better till I was in the water. We dove the fourth dive at a place called Pope's Eye, an unfinished fort that had lots of kelp, coral, sponges, and fish fish fish fish fish!!! I kinda faltered on the removing mask and replacing it skill, but I managed. Armando really flubbed up our teamwork on the underwater navigation part, but Terri let us go, as we basically knew it.
Where Armando REALLY flubbed my dives was our fifth dive. We had along a divemaster in training, Madeline, who just needed to take out certified divers to have earned her divemaster's status. Well, after our fourth dive, we were certified, so she lead the dive. Of course, what happens? There's a terrific current going, so we have to swim hard to keep together, meaning for the first time in a while, I was actually comfortable underwater in terms of temperature. Which is why Armando has to go and get his mask flooded. Terri told me that she was considering not passing him as he could never seem to be able to clear it. As my buddy, I couldn't just leave him, so I stayed for a couple of minutes to make sure he'd cleared it. So we lost Madeline. I felt horrible, especially as, with no one else in sight, I thought we had to surface to look for them. The boat came and got us and that was the end of my dive--ten minutes before everyone else. Grrrr. Poor Madeline, I felt terrible that we went and lost her on her first leading the group dive, but I felt worse still that I warmed up and then Terri surfaces--so only after I am comfortable does she show and say she'd go back down with me. Sigh.
However, the day was overall fun. I saw a dolphin breach! Hehehe. And the deckie showed us a place where there is some seal diving--he also mentioned a place where there's a submarine wreck at 26 meters, and said that out of 5 people who did their deep dive for Advanced Open Water, 3 immediately signed up for wreck diving because they did the deep dive on that sub. So, I may just have to sign up for Advanced courses in September if they're running while I'm here (and not in New Zealand). The saddest part of the day was coming back to the boat dock to see a seven-gilled shark on the pier. It had already been finned by the fishermen who'd caught it. I don't care if you guys hate or just think sharks are menaces, there's nothing more pathetic and sad than a shark without its fins. These fellows used the meat as well as the fins, but still, just to see it there, arguably one of nature's most beautiful creatures, without it's fins, being poked and prodded by the fishermen to the delight of onlookers...I wanted to cry. Terri was upset, too, which made me feel better. Sharks are beautiful animals, they really are, and to see them toss the pieces they didn't want (the head and skin) over the side for seagulls and pelicans...I was soooo just mad and upset and grrrr at it all. It was kind of thrilling to see a dead shark, a real wild animal, but I would have given anything never to have seen it that way at all.
So, yeah, I came home, washed up (oooh, showers never felt so good) and then started to read to music. I woke again to find Alicyn moving my reading off the bed so I didn't end up with creasy-marks all over my face. She was also trying to figure out how to turn off my music on my laptop. I told her, in the future, just to yell at my ass to turn it off so she could sleep.
Darren and Johnni are planning another dive to a pier with sea dragons and horses, think I'll go for that one if I can, and the fellow whose house we stayed at was going to organize cross-country skiing. Coupled with Hawthorn's Win, well, it's been a great weekend, and now I just need to get things done...riiiiiight...
At far too early on Saturday morning, I went to the MUUC (Melbourne University Underwater Club) shed to get my scuba gear. This was made worse for the having gotten only 2 hours--TWO HOURS!!!--of sleep the night before. I tried everything to sleep, but my brain wouldn't shut up. I woke right the hell up after our first dive, though, let me tell you. There were three others going for their certification, Johnni (Danish fellow), Darren (the only Aussie besides our instructor, Terri), and Armando (Colombian). I got paired with Armando, which turned out to be a problem (will discuss later). Our first dive was a "Hello, this is the world of SCUBA outside the pool" and "my, this is even colder than you imagined it would be" dive. Then we took a break, the hardest part of the day if you ask me, because we had to walk up and down steps in our gear. It took me 10-11 kilos of weight to keep me down because of 7mm of neoprene, and let me tell you, all of that rode on my hip bones (fantastic bruises I got though).
And man, was it cold! Like imagine the coldest you've ever been (I know, this is hard for the New Yorkers and Pooch in Japan) then make it a bajillion times colder. I have burst blood vessels in my right hand from where I had a broken glove on (I was borrowing a pair for the first two dives), and my fingertips after this weekend felt frost-bitten. Our second dive involved some skills, the best part of which was the tired diver tow, which meant you seriously had to swim and swim hard for about 50 meters, which warmed you up some. We left the South Road Beach at that point for lunch and a dive shop, and I picked up my own pair of about 3 mm gloves. I can't do SCUBA it seems without buying gear. Next time I dive, I'll end up with a wetsuit I can't afford.
The third dive was from a pier, and was by far the coldest because, well, by then it was late, bottom temp reached about 9 C, which is cold cold cold. Saw a pufferfish, though! I'm going to be the world's easiest to please diver. I sat and did my skills, and as soon as Terri moved on, I stuck my nose right back towards the pufferfish. The little guy was moving LESS than the giant starfish (which I also watched with amazement as it moved one leg veeeeery slowly), but I couldn't have cared less. Woo! Look, fish! It was about all I could see, visibility was terrible. We hopped out, got hot showers at our night's accomodations, got food, watched Hawthorn win, and collapsed.
Sunday was, as I've mentioned, a boat day. Yipes. I took bonine, which had previously worked when I was on choppy seas in the cruise boat my family took to Alaska. Not so yesterday. Darren was helpful, suggesting I look at the horizon or anything not moving. It did help, but I didn't feel better till I was in the water. We dove the fourth dive at a place called Pope's Eye, an unfinished fort that had lots of kelp, coral, sponges, and fish fish fish fish fish!!! I kinda faltered on the removing mask and replacing it skill, but I managed. Armando really flubbed up our teamwork on the underwater navigation part, but Terri let us go, as we basically knew it.
Where Armando REALLY flubbed my dives was our fifth dive. We had along a divemaster in training, Madeline, who just needed to take out certified divers to have earned her divemaster's status. Well, after our fourth dive, we were certified, so she lead the dive. Of course, what happens? There's a terrific current going, so we have to swim hard to keep together, meaning for the first time in a while, I was actually comfortable underwater in terms of temperature. Which is why Armando has to go and get his mask flooded. Terri told me that she was considering not passing him as he could never seem to be able to clear it. As my buddy, I couldn't just leave him, so I stayed for a couple of minutes to make sure he'd cleared it. So we lost Madeline. I felt horrible, especially as, with no one else in sight, I thought we had to surface to look for them. The boat came and got us and that was the end of my dive--ten minutes before everyone else. Grrrr. Poor Madeline, I felt terrible that we went and lost her on her first leading the group dive, but I felt worse still that I warmed up and then Terri surfaces--so only after I am comfortable does she show and say she'd go back down with me. Sigh.
However, the day was overall fun. I saw a dolphin breach! Hehehe. And the deckie showed us a place where there is some seal diving--he also mentioned a place where there's a submarine wreck at 26 meters, and said that out of 5 people who did their deep dive for Advanced Open Water, 3 immediately signed up for wreck diving because they did the deep dive on that sub. So, I may just have to sign up for Advanced courses in September if they're running while I'm here (and not in New Zealand). The saddest part of the day was coming back to the boat dock to see a seven-gilled shark on the pier. It had already been finned by the fishermen who'd caught it. I don't care if you guys hate or just think sharks are menaces, there's nothing more pathetic and sad than a shark without its fins. These fellows used the meat as well as the fins, but still, just to see it there, arguably one of nature's most beautiful creatures, without it's fins, being poked and prodded by the fishermen to the delight of onlookers...I wanted to cry. Terri was upset, too, which made me feel better. Sharks are beautiful animals, they really are, and to see them toss the pieces they didn't want (the head and skin) over the side for seagulls and pelicans...I was soooo just mad and upset and grrrr at it all. It was kind of thrilling to see a dead shark, a real wild animal, but I would have given anything never to have seen it that way at all.
So, yeah, I came home, washed up (oooh, showers never felt so good) and then started to read to music. I woke again to find Alicyn moving my reading off the bed so I didn't end up with creasy-marks all over my face. She was also trying to figure out how to turn off my music on my laptop. I told her, in the future, just to yell at my ass to turn it off so she could sleep.
Darren and Johnni are planning another dive to a pier with sea dragons and horses, think I'll go for that one if I can, and the fellow whose house we stayed at was going to organize cross-country skiing. Coupled with Hawthorn's Win, well, it's been a great weekend, and now I just need to get things done...riiiiiight...
