For my 27th birthday, my wife enrolled me in the PADI Advanced Open Water diving course at a local dive shop. While this was a fantastic gift, it wasn't entirely altruistic. She wanted to bring me up to her certification level so our diving options would open up a bit (she was already at the "advanced" level through NAUI).
The class started in March and the classroom and pool sessions went for a few weeks. Nothing real mind-blowing here, but it was interesting stuff and playing around in a pool wearing scuba equipment is fun. Except that when you're sitting on the bottom of the pool you see all the nasty shit that sinks: hair (from all parts of the body), navel lint, toe jam, gum, and something so nasty I can't even describe it. Humans are disgusting, foul creatures. I can't believe I still go into swimming pools after seeing all that. Thank god for chlorine.
For the actual diving part of the class, we went down to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, for two days to dive in Blue Hole. No, it is nothing like the Blue Hole in Belize. This is a natural shaft about 80 feet across, 85 feet deep, and fed by a constantly-flowing spring. Not much to look at, but damn-near perfect for scuba training.
We arrived early on Friday and checked into the motel. It was very simple, and the rooms stank of damp and mildew from the gear of many previous divers. They were clean enough, though, and the price was right.
Our first day at Blue Hole we started with the navigation dive. This was really a bit pointless to do in Blue Hole since you could see all the sides -- all you had to do was pick out a spot on the opposite wall and swim toward it, "checking" your compass as you went.
We broke for lunch, and I went to McDonald's with another guy from the class. It didn't occur to us change out of our wetsuits, so we got some curious looks from the other patrons. I felt like a fucking tool sitting in a McDonald's booth eating a Big Mac while wearing a wetsuit.
The afternoon dive was the multilevel dive. One guy in the class just couldn't get his buoyancy right and kept bobbing up and down; which, by itself isn't that notable, except his name was "Bob." That thought made me laugh -- 50 feet underwater -- so I gagged on my regulator and damn-near got a lungful of water. Great. Now the instructor thinks I'm the dumbass that has to be watched carefully so I don't drown.
The class went over some review material back on land and we lounged around, waiting for it to get dark enough to do the night dive. Soon we were gearing back up and climbing into the water.
Night dives sound so cool, and they probably are -- somewhere else. In Blue Hole, there is nothing to see except a small group of divers gawking at each other with flashlights. All we did was hang out at a suspended bar 30 feet down. The only interesting bit was when the instructor cut open a Cyalume light stick and we watched thousands of tiny glowing drops spread out around us like stars.
Pretty cool, but I can't imagine that it's a very "eco-friendly" practice.
The next morning we did the deep dive. This dive at least had the potential to be fun. We dropped to the bottom of Blue Hole and sat around waiting to see if someone would get nitrogen narcosis (no one did). The instructor had various puzzles for us to do, presumably to demonstrate how the increased nitrogen in our systems impaired our thinking and motor functions. Riiiight. I don't think we were deep enough. In actuality, the puzzles were harder just because we were under fucking water!
A couple of us hung around and did another "fun" dive, but by late morning we had all packed up and headed back to Colorado Springs.
I am now an "advanced" scuba diver along with my wife. Though, she does lord it over me that hers is through NAUI and mine is "only" through PADI. Pretentious NAUI weenie. (Just kidding, sweetheart!)
The class started in March and the classroom and pool sessions went for a few weeks. Nothing real mind-blowing here, but it was interesting stuff and playing around in a pool wearing scuba equipment is fun. Except that when you're sitting on the bottom of the pool you see all the nasty shit that sinks: hair (from all parts of the body), navel lint, toe jam, gum, and something so nasty I can't even describe it. Humans are disgusting, foul creatures. I can't believe I still go into swimming pools after seeing all that. Thank god for chlorine.
For the actual diving part of the class, we went down to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, for two days to dive in Blue Hole. No, it is nothing like the Blue Hole in Belize. This is a natural shaft about 80 feet across, 85 feet deep, and fed by a constantly-flowing spring. Not much to look at, but damn-near perfect for scuba training.
We arrived early on Friday and checked into the motel. It was very simple, and the rooms stank of damp and mildew from the gear of many previous divers. They were clean enough, though, and the price was right.
Our first day at Blue Hole we started with the navigation dive. This was really a bit pointless to do in Blue Hole since you could see all the sides -- all you had to do was pick out a spot on the opposite wall and swim toward it, "checking" your compass as you went.
We broke for lunch, and I went to McDonald's with another guy from the class. It didn't occur to us change out of our wetsuits, so we got some curious looks from the other patrons. I felt like a fucking tool sitting in a McDonald's booth eating a Big Mac while wearing a wetsuit.
The afternoon dive was the multilevel dive. One guy in the class just couldn't get his buoyancy right and kept bobbing up and down; which, by itself isn't that notable, except his name was "Bob." That thought made me laugh -- 50 feet underwater -- so I gagged on my regulator and damn-near got a lungful of water. Great. Now the instructor thinks I'm the dumbass that has to be watched carefully so I don't drown.
The class went over some review material back on land and we lounged around, waiting for it to get dark enough to do the night dive. Soon we were gearing back up and climbing into the water.
Night dives sound so cool, and they probably are -- somewhere else. In Blue Hole, there is nothing to see except a small group of divers gawking at each other with flashlights. All we did was hang out at a suspended bar 30 feet down. The only interesting bit was when the instructor cut open a Cyalume light stick and we watched thousands of tiny glowing drops spread out around us like stars.
Pretty cool, but I can't imagine that it's a very "eco-friendly" practice.
The next morning we did the deep dive. This dive at least had the potential to be fun. We dropped to the bottom of Blue Hole and sat around waiting to see if someone would get nitrogen narcosis (no one did). The instructor had various puzzles for us to do, presumably to demonstrate how the increased nitrogen in our systems impaired our thinking and motor functions. Riiiight. I don't think we were deep enough. In actuality, the puzzles were harder just because we were under fucking water!
A couple of us hung around and did another "fun" dive, but by late morning we had all packed up and headed back to Colorado Springs.
I am now an "advanced" scuba diver along with my wife. Though, she does lord it over me that hers is through NAUI and mine is "only" through PADI. Pretentious NAUI weenie. (Just kidding, sweetheart!)
