2011 off to a great start
A big HELLO to everyone monitoring my blogs!!
First, let me apologize for not blogging last year. I dove in Oahu in May, Bonaire in June and Kona in August.
I just got back from my first dive trip of the year. Being that it is still January, I know I'm off to a great start. Of course, starting off easy is important and so Bonaire is the place to review the basics. I again stayed at the Divi Flamigo beach resort & dive shop, like most Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) people normally do. As it turned out, I happened to be there at the same time as the HSA crew from Canada and it was a good thing. I discovered that they are there every January.
My dives went great and I learned a lot. Fourteen dives in five days, including one night dive and two shore dives (one at sunrise- yeaaa.)
The night dive was a little freaky for me because it was only my third night dive and I was a little stressed about that. As my breathing became more rapid it became harder for me to stay down (because I never dive with too much weight, if I become a little too buoyant for any reason, it requires me to be more focused on each component of buoyancy- especially breathing.) I also came to fully understand how hard it is to control buoyancy while holding a light in my hand. Remember, I can't use my legs at all so my hands are extremely important. If I delay controlling an unintended ascent even for a moment, like to shut a light off for example, then I will ascent much too quickly.
Another important lesson was stressed on that night dive- If you are a buddy to a non-ambulatory diver, never try to assist that handi-diver without first asking (unless there is a safety issue happening). My buddy thought I was taking too long to descend (even though we had already been on the last several dives together on the past couple days) so he thought that night would be a good time to experiment with me and try to "assist" my descent. Unfortunately he did not bother to look me in the eye first. Had he looked at my mask, he would have seen what trouble I was having clearing my mask and that was the reason for my slow descent. Instead, he just grabbed me from behind and started dragging me to the bottom, as if this is somehow part of our dive plan.
Of course, having someone drag me to the bottom was never part of any dive plan we talked about, so I had no idea I was being dragged to the bottom. I couldn't check my gauges because my mask was flooded and I thought I was still only a few feet from the surface. I just inflated my BC a little to get my head about the waterline. Unfortunately, this buddy had already dragged me down a more than a few feet. I got to the surface and then he told me what he did. Then I understood what was happening. Needless to say this was distressful but there is still some benefit. It got me out of my comfort zone, which is important. Luckily there were no injuries, so it was a good training exercise, probably more useful for his training than mine, but that's ok.
Two days later, when we did the sunrise dive together from the shore, he did help me without communicating first, but we both understood it was for safety, so there was no problem. The situation was that we were coming back to the shore from our dive. Coming back to the pier during a time when the dive boats may start to arrive to begin the day of taking us out to the other reefs. Since he was not entirely certain that I would not ascend before reaching the pier, he decided to help me by grabbing my tank and helping push me as I continued to swim along the bottom towards the steps. He started helping me at about 25 feet of depth and stopped just as we reached the pier. I could feel him pushing and that was no problem. I understood that he was helping me reach the pier. We understood each other and there was no problem. Especially because it was for ensuring safety (avoiding boat traffic that we were expecting) I was totally ok with him pushing me those last 50 yards. I was helping the whole time of course, he was just speeding up the process by pushing me as we both went in the same direction.
Buoyancy control is important and I worked on that all week. Mostly I was working on that with my Sea Doo GTi scooter. I used that scooter on all dives except the night and shore dives mentioned above. I love it and I will continue using it. I feel that it replaces my legs and that because I can't use my legs, the scooter helps me be a better diver. It is important to not to use the scooter to control buoyancy, and I don't. That said, Using the scooter is as important to me as having fins are to an ambulatory diver. If ambulatory divers are willing to take off their fins for the next 100 dives, then I'll leave my scooter at home for the next 100 dives. The truth is that no ambulatory diver would go diving without their fins; even in an easy place like Bonaire and even on the especially easy fifty foot deep reef dives with almost no current.
Now that I'm tuned up for the year, I'm ready to "head out to the highway." Harder dive locations are now possibilities I can consider with confidence. I'll start in Hawaii. While those aren't all harder, there are some challenges that come with the Pacific which are not present in Caribbean diving. Probably I'll go back to Maui since I haven't been there in a few years, then maybe back to Kona because I love it there. I was there in August and really loved it. I'll do the night dives there in Kona because that is how we can watch the manta rays feed. I'd like to do Oahu again too because I just love it there. So if I do those three islands on one trip, it will be expensive but super fun & rewarding.
Will I make it back to the Marshall Islands this year? I hope so. Back to Key Largo this year? I hope so. Will I finally make it to Cairns Australia? I hope so.
Best wishes to all of you!!
First, let me apologize for not blogging last year. I dove in Oahu in May, Bonaire in June and Kona in August.
I just got back from my first dive trip of the year. Being that it is still January, I know I'm off to a great start. Of course, starting off easy is important and so Bonaire is the place to review the basics. I again stayed at the Divi Flamigo beach resort & dive shop, like most Handicapped Scuba Association (HSA) people normally do. As it turned out, I happened to be there at the same time as the HSA crew from Canada and it was a good thing. I discovered that they are there every January.
My dives went great and I learned a lot. Fourteen dives in five days, including one night dive and two shore dives (one at sunrise- yeaaa.)
The night dive was a little freaky for me because it was only my third night dive and I was a little stressed about that. As my breathing became more rapid it became harder for me to stay down (because I never dive with too much weight, if I become a little too buoyant for any reason, it requires me to be more focused on each component of buoyancy- especially breathing.) I also came to fully understand how hard it is to control buoyancy while holding a light in my hand. Remember, I can't use my legs at all so my hands are extremely important. If I delay controlling an unintended ascent even for a moment, like to shut a light off for example, then I will ascent much too quickly.
Another important lesson was stressed on that night dive- If you are a buddy to a non-ambulatory diver, never try to assist that handi-diver without first asking (unless there is a safety issue happening). My buddy thought I was taking too long to descend (even though we had already been on the last several dives together on the past couple days) so he thought that night would be a good time to experiment with me and try to "assist" my descent. Unfortunately he did not bother to look me in the eye first. Had he looked at my mask, he would have seen what trouble I was having clearing my mask and that was the reason for my slow descent. Instead, he just grabbed me from behind and started dragging me to the bottom, as if this is somehow part of our dive plan.
Of course, having someone drag me to the bottom was never part of any dive plan we talked about, so I had no idea I was being dragged to the bottom. I couldn't check my gauges because my mask was flooded and I thought I was still only a few feet from the surface. I just inflated my BC a little to get my head about the waterline. Unfortunately, this buddy had already dragged me down a more than a few feet. I got to the surface and then he told me what he did. Then I understood what was happening. Needless to say this was distressful but there is still some benefit. It got me out of my comfort zone, which is important. Luckily there were no injuries, so it was a good training exercise, probably more useful for his training than mine, but that's ok.
Two days later, when we did the sunrise dive together from the shore, he did help me without communicating first, but we both understood it was for safety, so there was no problem. The situation was that we were coming back to the shore from our dive. Coming back to the pier during a time when the dive boats may start to arrive to begin the day of taking us out to the other reefs. Since he was not entirely certain that I would not ascend before reaching the pier, he decided to help me by grabbing my tank and helping push me as I continued to swim along the bottom towards the steps. He started helping me at about 25 feet of depth and stopped just as we reached the pier. I could feel him pushing and that was no problem. I understood that he was helping me reach the pier. We understood each other and there was no problem. Especially because it was for ensuring safety (avoiding boat traffic that we were expecting) I was totally ok with him pushing me those last 50 yards. I was helping the whole time of course, he was just speeding up the process by pushing me as we both went in the same direction.
Buoyancy control is important and I worked on that all week. Mostly I was working on that with my Sea Doo GTi scooter. I used that scooter on all dives except the night and shore dives mentioned above. I love it and I will continue using it. I feel that it replaces my legs and that because I can't use my legs, the scooter helps me be a better diver. It is important to not to use the scooter to control buoyancy, and I don't. That said, Using the scooter is as important to me as having fins are to an ambulatory diver. If ambulatory divers are willing to take off their fins for the next 100 dives, then I'll leave my scooter at home for the next 100 dives. The truth is that no ambulatory diver would go diving without their fins; even in an easy place like Bonaire and even on the especially easy fifty foot deep reef dives with almost no current.
Now that I'm tuned up for the year, I'm ready to "head out to the highway." Harder dive locations are now possibilities I can consider with confidence. I'll start in Hawaii. While those aren't all harder, there are some challenges that come with the Pacific which are not present in Caribbean diving. Probably I'll go back to Maui since I haven't been there in a few years, then maybe back to Kona because I love it there. I was there in August and really loved it. I'll do the night dives there in Kona because that is how we can watch the manta rays feed. I'd like to do Oahu again too because I just love it there. So if I do those three islands on one trip, it will be expensive but super fun & rewarding.
Will I make it back to the Marshall Islands this year? I hope so. Back to Key Largo this year? I hope so. Will I finally make it to Cairns Australia? I hope so.
Best wishes to all of you!!
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