Diving

I have completed my Open Water Dive Training this week which involved several evenings of videos and theory training a day in the swimming pool, a day doing beach entries and a day doing two boat dives. The theory was mind-bogglingly boring! Fortunately, due to technical difficulties (no power) we skimmed quickly through the videos which are just a repeat of the stuff I read in the manual (missed a really bad lecture to get my readings done, now that’s dedication!). Pool time consisted of skill development: neutral buoancy, mask removal, buddy breathing, etc. The shore dives were also used to continue the technical training by dragging one’s buddy, compass work, five-point-ascents/descents, etc. It was the boat dives that were truely memorable. There was a lot of chop that day so a lot of the other dive companies cancelled their trips fearing poor visibility but it was some of the best diving many of the instructors had ever seen. At the count of three we all rolled backwards off the side of the boat and began our descent down the anchor line. The wreck that we explored led the Normandy invasion before being sold to South Africa as a training vessel. In 94 it was scuttled perfectly upright at a depth of 20m, perfect for dive training! Swimming up and over the superstructure, covered with anenomes and urchins, getting to see an octopus up close, was amazing! Even better however was the second dive through a series of boulders covered in reef growth. Coral, fish, crayfish and many other things that I don’t have any clue what they were covered the area. I could have quite easily stayed in one spot just looking at the vaste array of life. A lot of energy is put into making sure my buoancy is proper, my fins aren’t disturbing too much life or my buddy hasn’t disappeared on me. I’m looking forward to doing more dives so that will eventually become more instinctive. Plans are underway to do my Advanced Training this weekend so I can go diving with manta rays in Mozambique.