Scuba IV

So, technically and officially, my scuba lessons are complete. That went by fast, or was it just me? My third lesson consisted of equipment checks and procedure discussion, but go cut short because we were unexpectedly locked out of the pool. We followed up the next day with an extended pool session, and covered a whole heck of a lot of ground, er... water.

After a quick review of skills learned last week, I was introduced to deep-water entry. Then we went through air share and other emergency procedures. I learned what it feels like when you run out of air (believe me, it's unmistakeable). I learned that it's possible to have a severe coughing fit with your regulator in place and come out no worse for the wear (that wasn't in the lesson plan--I just kinda winged it). Finally, we did rescue procedures. The last was a bit complicated--NAUI is one of the few scuba certification organizations that still includes this training, but I feel it's important information to know, if only to prevent a well-meaning diver from making a bad situation worse and endangering more lives.

And... that's it. By taking private lessons because of my hectic schedule, I've completed the entire pool training component in a two-week period. The learning curve is amazing. Even more amazing, I've successfully mastered all the skills--at least enough to satisfy the novice-level requirements. All that remains for me to earn my scuba certification is A) complete the online testing (which I'm in the process of working through now) and 2) complete my two-day open water certification dives. There's good news/bad news on that last front. The bad news first: The next scheduled open water certification dives are this weekend at Lake Travis, which I can't make because of preexisting schedule conflicts. The good news? There's a dive trip scheduled for Balmorhea State Park in early December that will count for my certification dives. Even though it's a bit of a drive, Balmorhea offers warmer, crystal clear waters that makes for a far better dive experience than Lake Travis or Canyon Lake. Score me!

Since that dive is several weeks weeks away, there's a concern that my newly-learned skills would atrophy in the interim, so we've set up one additional pool session to revisit all the things I've learned these past two weeks, and also to give me a chance to work on buoyancy control (which is one area I still haven't got a handle on 100 percent).

But still, wow. Almost there. Hard to imagine, but 20-plus years of delayed gratification is about to be resolved in my favor!

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