We Are Certifiable!!
August 18, 2010
Those that know me already believe I am certifiable, but this is a different type of certification...
Brenda and I, as volunteers in the Dive Immersion Program (lovingly refereed to as DIP) have earned a couple of swim/dive certificates for our service at the aquarium. We have both done the swim program twice and enjoyed it, but decided that it was time to move it up a notch and do the dive. But, you have to be open water dive certified to do it.
Another volunteer at the aquarium, Art Eberhart, and his wife Patti (who is a divemaster at the aquarium) are both dive instructors and they said they would help us become dive certified. We started reading the manuals a couple of months ago, but with work schedules (of all parties) we were finally able to do our classroom and confined swims on the weekend of July 31st. We had no major issues (Brenda had some minor issues that she needed to overcome) so we scheduled our certification dives for the weekend of August 15th.
On the 14th we headed up to Loc-Low Minn dive quarry in Athens, TN (the home of Mayfield dairy - great tour if you get the chance) for what we hoped would be 3 of the required 4 dives. The weather was a bit iffy, but luckily it cooperated for the day. After checking in and putting our gear on, we hit the water for our first dive. We had to do a number of skills on each dive to show that we had mastered/understood the skills involved. This included flooding of our masks and then clearing th mask (ask Brenda about this one), underwater compass navigation, removing our bcd and then putting it back on, and others.
My biggest issue was achieving neutral buoyancy. After a few attempts I was final able to find my "sweet spot" and achieve it. This is the one skill I will practice in future dives. I enjoyed being in the water and believe this will also help me in my triathlon swims. We did our 3 dives for the day, for a total bottom time of about 2 hours. Now when you dive you cannot come back to the surface, get another air tank and then jump back in (well you can, but it is not advisable.) Nitrogen builds up in your system and you need to have some time between dives to let your body get rid of some of the nitrogen. But I digress.. We decided to go to another dive quarry the following day that was a bit closer to home for our final certification dive (Athens TN, is a 3 hour drive from Atlanta.)
We are already planning our first dives with a return trip to Dive Haven to get some bottom time in and to work on our neutral buoyancy skills. As for the dive at the Aquarium? That is being scheduled for the 16th of October. We decided to try to do a couple of dives before we hit the "big tank." And we are also going to take the Whale Shark Specialty during the dive at the aquarium.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you all an update on what I have been doing. I am currently into week 5 of my 16 week training program for the NYC marathon. This is a structured program and I really like it. Wonder why it took me so long to get into a program?? Anyways, time to let you all go. The picture below is one of the many "sights" we saw when we did our dive in Low-Loc Minn. How appropriate, a dragon. Later..
Brenda and I, as volunteers in the Dive Immersion Program (lovingly refereed to as DIP) have earned a couple of swim/dive certificates for our service at the aquarium. We have both done the swim program twice and enjoyed it, but decided that it was time to move it up a notch and do the dive. But, you have to be open water dive certified to do it.
Another volunteer at the aquarium, Art Eberhart, and his wife Patti (who is a divemaster at the aquarium) are both dive instructors and they said they would help us become dive certified. We started reading the manuals a couple of months ago, but with work schedules (of all parties) we were finally able to do our classroom and confined swims on the weekend of July 31st. We had no major issues (Brenda had some minor issues that she needed to overcome) so we scheduled our certification dives for the weekend of August 15th.
On the 14th we headed up to Loc-Low Minn dive quarry in Athens, TN (the home of Mayfield dairy - great tour if you get the chance) for what we hoped would be 3 of the required 4 dives. The weather was a bit iffy, but luckily it cooperated for the day. After checking in and putting our gear on, we hit the water for our first dive. We had to do a number of skills on each dive to show that we had mastered/understood the skills involved. This included flooding of our masks and then clearing th mask (ask Brenda about this one), underwater compass navigation, removing our bcd and then putting it back on, and others.
My biggest issue was achieving neutral buoyancy. After a few attempts I was final able to find my "sweet spot" and achieve it. This is the one skill I will practice in future dives. I enjoyed being in the water and believe this will also help me in my triathlon swims. We did our 3 dives for the day, for a total bottom time of about 2 hours. Now when you dive you cannot come back to the surface, get another air tank and then jump back in (well you can, but it is not advisable.) Nitrogen builds up in your system and you need to have some time between dives to let your body get rid of some of the nitrogen. But I digress.. We decided to go to another dive quarry the following day that was a bit closer to home for our final certification dive (Athens TN, is a 3 hour drive from Atlanta.)
The following day we headed up to White, GA and Dive Haven quarry. The visibility in this location was not as clear as it was in Loc-Low Minn, but from what we were told, it was clearer than normal. Now I only had a couple of skills left to do, but Brenda had a panic attack the previous day so she had about 4 left. I did like the entry point into the quarry at Dive Haven, it was basically a dock that had stairs down to a submerged dock (about 5 ft) so it made a great training platform. We spent about 45 minutes in the water, going through or skills as well as a "tour" of the site. We saw a submerged van, and I laughed at the fish that kept nibbling on the ear of my instructor, Art. Didn't know it was possible to laugh underwater. Anyway, after all was said and done, Brenda and I were now open water certified divers. WOOT!!
We are already planning our first dives with a return trip to Dive Haven to get some bottom time in and to work on our neutral buoyancy skills. As for the dive at the Aquarium? That is being scheduled for the 16th of October. We decided to try to do a couple of dives before we hit the "big tank." And we are also going to take the Whale Shark Specialty during the dive at the aquarium.
Anyway, I just wanted to give you all an update on what I have been doing. I am currently into week 5 of my 16 week training program for the NYC marathon. This is a structured program and I really like it. Wonder why it took me so long to get into a program?? Anyways, time to let you all go. The picture below is one of the many "sights" we saw when we did our dive in Low-Loc Minn. How appropriate, a dragon. Later..
Posted by John Tackett. Posted In : Diving
Self described computer geek, who works as a data analyst for a large multinational telecommunication company that has a death star like logo. When I am not at work, I can be found, running or cycling the streets of the Atlanta area. Sometimes I can be spotted at the Georgia Aquarium where I am a volunteer. And for one week out of the year, I am found at Dragon*Con, where I am the Director of Charity Events.
I believe that PC stands for "personal computer" and not "politically correct" so sometimes I can say things that others don't agree with. I am an advocate for bicycling and strongly believe that the political powers in ATL are anti-bike and could not pedal their way out of a paper bag.
I live with my wife in a community just south of Atlanta (but the City name starts with East, go figure) with my 2 dogs, Tiffie and QT, where the dogs and I plot the takeover of the Atlanta road infrastructure freeing it to pedestrians, runner, cyclists and dogs (on leashes of course.)
And the dogs wanted me to say.. "woof, woof, bark, growl -stop for a butt sniff - woof" Apparently their dog friends will know what that means.
