3 By Sea

I’m going to combine day eight and nine together. Not because they were much alike, but because I was so violently sick on Wendsday night and Thursday that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to do the training. Even under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be a good thing, but especially here where the training is time intensive. Even more so for these two days. We started the pool phase of traing this week. But I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it out of my room for more than 14 minutes at a time, let alone swim in a pool for a couple of hours. Luckily, the medics here see this on a regular basis and hooked me up with some decent meds to control the flow issues.

Thursday we concentrated on pool basics. But before we could get in the water, all of the Coasties had to spend a little time in a pressure chamber. Everything went well and we were all cleared to continue training. Once we were in the pool we basically had to show that we could breate on and purge a regulator. We also had to ditch all of our gear (tanks, fins, mask) in the deep end, surface then dive back down and put everything back on. Overall, it was a pretty easy day in the pool.

Friday was the first day of “pool week.” Pool week is basically one week of getting kicked around by a bunch of instructors who swim around all day coming up with new ways to impose underwater problems on scuba students.

Once we’re suited out and in the pool, 5 or 6 guys at a time start swimming laps on the bottom of the deep end of the pool waiting for and imposer to strike. Depending on the severity of the problem or “hit” there are certain things that can or can not be done. For instance, on a light hit an instructor will only pull your regulator out of your mouth (although they can not secure your air), remove your mask, remove your fins, undue one strap on your tanks, or any combination of the above. A moderate hit is just like an easy hit except that now, the instructor can secure your air and undue all of the straps on your tank, spin and roll you around. Each of these was done in a series of three hits. You have to pass two of the three to pass the phase and continue the training and stay in school.

Everyone passed their hits and Monday we start heavy hits and buddy hits. It should be an exciting week at dive school.

Hoo yah!