Currently listening to: All-American Rejects
Mood: Smelly (not a mood, but it's what I feel like)
It certainly has been a while since I've updated! I meant to do it weeks ago, but my SCUBA certification was delayed due to Hurricane Irene, so my post was postponed. Until now! I can officially guarantee that I am now a PADI-certified SCUBA diver. I now have my open water certification, and have two ocean dives under my (weight) belt. My first day (about 4 weeks ago) was learning how to gear up and take down, your basic skills in the water with your regulator, BDC (buoyancy control jacket), how to maneuver, how to manage your oxygen cylinder, among other things, as well as what to do in case each piece of equipment fails. I did that in Tiger Tail Lake, down by the OC, and that was an all-day event. My instructor, Kristina (with me in the picture below) is also one of my classmates, and she was awesome and taught me everything I needed to know, like how to manually fill my jacket with air, how to clear a mask, how to give someone else air in case of an emergency, how to maintain neutral buoyancy with your lungs...all kinds of stuff. That was the real gritty stuff.
Then, while we had the hurricane, I had to take a written exam. I assume I passed. Kristina said I was certified, so I'm taking that as I did okay on the written portion. Then this morning, I had to be in Pompano Beach at 8:30am, which is a bit north of Ft. Lauderdale. It was a perfect morning. I got in, and we got right on the boat. Dive boatsa are set up so that there are placements for your tanks so no one dies from being crushed under their weight. Our captain Mike, and dive master Dennis, gave us a briefing. It took about 10 minutes to drive out to our first site, Anglin Reef. We suited up (which can take a while) and then I took a giant step off the end of the boat, and we were in the water. Kristina had a dive flag attached to the surface so that boaters knew there were divers in the area. We descended to 60ft (after my ears equalized) and got to see cool stuff! I saw all kinds of coral, parrot fish, lionfish, a bunch of fish I don't know, and apparently there was a Moray eel, but I didn't see it. I had a bit of trouble staying lateral, but by our second dive, I mastered it. Our second dive was farther north, at Sunkist reef, which was very similar to the other one. We only went down about 50ft on that one, but both lasted about 45min. We got out and relaxed, to let the nitrogen seep out of our bodies (done between dives as well, to avoid decompression sickness), and ate some pineapple. Then we came back and we were done!
I'm glad to say that I didn't need to use my dive knife to fend off any ravenous sharks, and that I didn't run out of air, or that I didn't panic. It was a calm, smooth experience. I can't believe it's over, it happened so fast! Anyways, I dried off half-way, got in my car, and drove back. There's nothing better than pulling up next to a corvette at a light with some stuffy business woman at the wheel staring at you with your insane dive-mask hair, soaking t-shirt, car full of crap, and blasting foreign music with the windows down. She looked at me as if I were an alien. I probably did look that bad. Anyways I had fun.
Now, it is pouring outside, but I am inside and about to pass out from exhaustion (diving really saps your energy-breathing compressed air makes you dehydrated). I also have biostat tonight (boo), so I have to recharge! Speaking of which, I guess I should update quickly on some other stuff. Let's see...I'm currently taking biostatistics, and population ecology, which is hard as hell. It's basically modeling with calculus equations. So this semester is a math-filled one (son of NUTCRACKER!) Anyways, so far I've been okay. Work is the same-it's a library, so it's not too exciting. Oh yeah, hip-hop started again, so I'm super-pumped for that. Oh, and for Labor Day Fran and I went to the riverfront down by Hollywood to take the water taxi, which is basically Ft. Lauderdale's version of the Ducky Tours. We took a two-hour tourboat ride along the intercoastal and saw all the rich people's houses and their ridiculous yachts. Vivien Leigh's historic house was there, along with Theresa Heinz, and a bunch of other rich people I didn't recognize. I liked looking at the yachts the most-they were gorgeous. There was one that was especially made in Holland-the hull alone costs a few million. The whole ship was worth $55 million. And this guy owned 12 of them. Um, what?!
Incredulity aside, Fran and I had a nice time. We ate at this restaurant called Pirate's Republic where you can eat on the dock and pull your yacht (in my case, dingy) up and order. It was gorgeous out-I got some sort of fancy fish that was delicious, and then right there was where we got the water taxi. So, all-in-all, it's been a good week. Now if you people don't mind, I need to go do some math :(
Mood: Smelly (not a mood, but it's what I feel like)
It certainly has been a while since I've updated! I meant to do it weeks ago, but my SCUBA certification was delayed due to Hurricane Irene, so my post was postponed. Until now! I can officially guarantee that I am now a PADI-certified SCUBA diver. I now have my open water certification, and have two ocean dives under my (weight) belt. My first day (about 4 weeks ago) was learning how to gear up and take down, your basic skills in the water with your regulator, BDC (buoyancy control jacket), how to maneuver, how to manage your oxygen cylinder, among other things, as well as what to do in case each piece of equipment fails. I did that in Tiger Tail Lake, down by the OC, and that was an all-day event. My instructor, Kristina (with me in the picture below) is also one of my classmates, and she was awesome and taught me everything I needed to know, like how to manually fill my jacket with air, how to clear a mask, how to give someone else air in case of an emergency, how to maintain neutral buoyancy with your lungs...all kinds of stuff. That was the real gritty stuff.
Then, while we had the hurricane, I had to take a written exam. I assume I passed. Kristina said I was certified, so I'm taking that as I did okay on the written portion. Then this morning, I had to be in Pompano Beach at 8:30am, which is a bit north of Ft. Lauderdale. It was a perfect morning. I got in, and we got right on the boat. Dive boatsa are set up so that there are placements for your tanks so no one dies from being crushed under their weight. Our captain Mike, and dive master Dennis, gave us a briefing. It took about 10 minutes to drive out to our first site, Anglin Reef. We suited up (which can take a while) and then I took a giant step off the end of the boat, and we were in the water. Kristina had a dive flag attached to the surface so that boaters knew there were divers in the area. We descended to 60ft (after my ears equalized) and got to see cool stuff! I saw all kinds of coral, parrot fish, lionfish, a bunch of fish I don't know, and apparently there was a Moray eel, but I didn't see it. I had a bit of trouble staying lateral, but by our second dive, I mastered it. Our second dive was farther north, at Sunkist reef, which was very similar to the other one. We only went down about 50ft on that one, but both lasted about 45min. We got out and relaxed, to let the nitrogen seep out of our bodies (done between dives as well, to avoid decompression sickness), and ate some pineapple. Then we came back and we were done!
I'm glad to say that I didn't need to use my dive knife to fend off any ravenous sharks, and that I didn't run out of air, or that I didn't panic. It was a calm, smooth experience. I can't believe it's over, it happened so fast! Anyways, I dried off half-way, got in my car, and drove back. There's nothing better than pulling up next to a corvette at a light with some stuffy business woman at the wheel staring at you with your insane dive-mask hair, soaking t-shirt, car full of crap, and blasting foreign music with the windows down. She looked at me as if I were an alien. I probably did look that bad. Anyways I had fun.
Now, it is pouring outside, but I am inside and about to pass out from exhaustion (diving really saps your energy-breathing compressed air makes you dehydrated). I also have biostat tonight (boo), so I have to recharge! Speaking of which, I guess I should update quickly on some other stuff. Let's see...I'm currently taking biostatistics, and population ecology, which is hard as hell. It's basically modeling with calculus equations. So this semester is a math-filled one (son of NUTCRACKER!) Anyways, so far I've been okay. Work is the same-it's a library, so it's not too exciting. Oh yeah, hip-hop started again, so I'm super-pumped for that. Oh, and for Labor Day Fran and I went to the riverfront down by Hollywood to take the water taxi, which is basically Ft. Lauderdale's version of the Ducky Tours. We took a two-hour tourboat ride along the intercoastal and saw all the rich people's houses and their ridiculous yachts. Vivien Leigh's historic house was there, along with Theresa Heinz, and a bunch of other rich people I didn't recognize. I liked looking at the yachts the most-they were gorgeous. There was one that was especially made in Holland-the hull alone costs a few million. The whole ship was worth $55 million. And this guy owned 12 of them. Um, what?!
Incredulity aside, Fran and I had a nice time. We ate at this restaurant called Pirate's Republic where you can eat on the dock and pull your yacht (in my case, dingy) up and order. It was gorgeous out-I got some sort of fancy fish that was delicious, and then right there was where we got the water taxi. So, all-in-all, it's been a good week. Now if you people don't mind, I need to go do some math :(
The Pirate Republic Restaurant & Pub-from this view I'm sitting on dock. There's a swimming pool, pirate statues all over the place, and all kinds of flags.
One of the yachts coming up the intercoastal.
The Riverfront.
Starting off on our boat trip.
One of many waterside restaurants.
Coming up on the fancy houses.
The dive headquarters where our dive boat took off, in Pompano Beach.
Where all the dive boats are stationed.
At the end of our two dives, posing with my tank. I was pretty water-logged!
My instructor Kristina, and I.
