Advanced Open Water Day 1

Saturday was the first day of our advanced open water class. We went to Pro Dive and took care of final details with Rich, our instructor. Rich then took us up to the Pro Dive classroom where we introduced ourselves to the rest of the class. There are eight people in the class, many of whom are actually going straight through to instructor classes. The knowledge review was very short and consisted of Rich asking us if we had any questions. He covered a few points in detail and then we went outside to practice our navigation skills.

Navigation consisted of measuring the amount of time and the number of kicks it takes to hit 100 feet, navigating a reciprocal, and navigating a box pattern. Doing this on land yielded some interesting looks from people passing by who were having some trouble figuring out why we were walking around in odd patterns in groups of two.

After the navigation practice we met Dave at The Oasis, a seaside cafe, for lunch. I had an excellent white fish/caesar wrap and french fries. It was an interesting place, not least because the booths were actually on rolling tracks, allowing you to "swing" back and forth during your meal. After lunch Susan and I hurried over to Pro Dive so that we could take care of last minute preparations before boarding the boat. Once on the boat, we learned that our first dive was going to be a wreck named the Tracy.

The Tracy was a good wreck, somewhere between 100 and 150 feet long. It was coral encrusted and we found some cool sea anenomes on one portion. The deck has been cut away in one spot, allowing you to see the piping beneath the deck. We circumnavigated the ship once and then went up over the top to check out some stuff around the boat house. The only real problem was that I lost track of Susan for about twenty seconds. I was looking all around for her but couldn't find her. I was getting very worried until she reappeared next to me. As it turns out she was directly above me, having had some trouble with her ears for a minute.

The next dive we did was the navigation dive. It went fairly well although my first attempt at a square pattern was more of a triangle. I tried it again after we were let loose to play and managed to navigate a very nice square so I felt somewhat redeemed.

After the second dive, Susan and I went back to her car to grab the dinner that Dave had left us. As it turned out, Dave had prepared a gourmet feast. There were bagel sandwiches, each wrapped individually in paper. He had prepared two bags of cheese, a Havarti with Dill and a good smoked Gouda. There were whole pickles, fresh fruit and even a mint in each "lunch box". Several beverage options were even included (I went for the cream soda). It was a great dinner.

After dinner we went back out for our night dives. The first night dive went well and, during the dive, we found a four foot nurse shark laying under a small overhang. We hung out for a while to check it out and we were all pretty geeked. According to Rich, our instructor, the odds of seeing a nurse shark on your first night dive are pretty darn low. Rich also gave us an option to do a second night dive on our own. Susan and I were pretty tired so we decided to do the dive but to make it fairly short. By the time the second dive was done, both of use were completely wiped out. We very slowly got out of our gear and changed clothes. By this point the rocking the ship along with the thoughts of the couple people who had been sick were messing with me a bit and I had to go to the stern at one point to get some fresh air. I won't say I was going to get sick, but I was certainly thinking about it.

When we got back to the dock we got in the car and headed back to Dave and Susan's place. We were both ridiculously tired. I have no idea how divemasters do six dives in a day and also haul around others peoples tanks and gear while they're at it. It was a good day but I think in retrospect I might have skipped the last dive. I remember at one point being underwater and wondering if one could take a nap while breating off scuba. Probably not a good idea...

It was a good day and a tiring day. Sunday brings two more dives after which we should have our advanced certifications. We're almost there!

I Thought it was a Metaphor

Friday night Dave, Susan, and I all went out to dinner. They had previously been to a Thai/Sushi restaurant and had greatly enjoyed the Thai menu. We talked about it and decided to go back and take their sushi menu for a spin. The restaurant itself is in a mostly vacant strip mall but the inside is very nice. After a minimal wait we were seated at a booth and given two menus, the Thai menu and the sushi menu. We ordered a Thai appetizer which had spring rolls, fried wontons, some sort of battered shrimp, and at least one other thing I can't recall.

For dinner we decided on the "Boat for Three", a "boat" of a variety sushi in several styles. When the boat arrived we were startled to learn that it was an actual wooden boat, about three feet long. It was packed with ice at the bow upon which sashimi style sushi was presented. The boat was a great way to present the massive amount of sushi but to be honest I really, truly believed that when they said "Boat for Three" that it was a metaphor. At no point did I expect the relatively small waitress to come out carrying a massive wooden boat.

The sushi was good and I really enjoyed the experience. Throughout the meal I noticed other people looking over our way at the massive boat on our table. At one point a lady came up and actually asked about it. We had a great time.

Drift Dives

We started Friday with bagels and some excellent flavored cream cheese that Dave made. Well, technically he didn't make the cream cheese, but he did add all the flavoring. There was a good blueberry cream cheese as well as a scallion cream cheese. I ended up having two bagels, one of each cream cheese. This worked out well as we were so busy that we never got around to eating lunch.

After breakfast we packed all our gear up to head down to the dive shop for two drift dives. The dives were done at Pro Dive, located right on the water in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Dave, Susan, and I made it to Pro Dive at about 11:45, fifteen minutes early. We bought a couple odds and ends and then went to wait by the boat which wasn't scheduled to leave until about 12:30. We hadn't realized that departure was 30 minutes after we had to be there but it was nice since we had felt a little rushed to make it by noon. We had a bit of time to hang out on the dock before getting on the boat.

When the boat was ready to board, we checked in with one of the dive masters who checked our name off the list and told us which seat we were assigned. Behind each assigned seat there were two tanks, prefilled. I pulled out my regulator and checked the pressure on both tanks to be sure they were full and that I could get a good seal. Both my tanks were fine; however, Susan had one that only registered at 2100 lbs. The crew quickly swapped that one out and all was good.

Before leaving the dock we setup our scuba units. This went fairly well although after having done it once I think I'll change the pack order of my bag a little bit. The only real problem is that I had a brain fart and managed to put my tank on backwards... but corrected it after having a short debate with Susan who pointed out that I was, in fact, crazy. About that time, the boat was ready to go and Captain Stew took us out. Our first dive briefing indicated a drift dive. I was in the second team to go down along with Dave, Susan, and several others. The boat has a very narrow drop point for the dive which makes getting off the boat at exactly the right time important. Unfortunately this added a fair bit to the stress that we were all feeling for our first boat dive ever. Even worse, it was planned as a negatively buoyant entry. We were supposed to hit the water without air in our BCDs and immediately descend. Unfortunately, Dave and one other person were underweighted (despite Dave having pointed out to the guy on the boat that he had previously used more weight than they gave him). As a result, Dave had to wait on the surface while the boat came around for another pass with more weight. The funniest part is that rather than afix the weight to his equipment, the divemaster dumped a four pound lead weight down the front of Dave's wetsuit.

Once we all made it down the dive was decent but not outstanding. There was minimal fish activity but there was some nice coral. When the group started to get low on air we surfaced and beboarded the boat. Reboarding the boat is a difficult process as you need to haul yourself and your wet (read heavy) equipment out of the water so that you can stagger over to your spot on the boat. Since Dave was having some sinus problems he decided to sit the second dive out.

For the second dive, Susan and I buddied up and struck out on our own on Barracuda Reef. We didn't see any barracudas; however, the marine life was plentiful. We saw many sea fans, tube corals, damselfish, and some fish that was all black with the exception of the tips of its fins which were electric blue. The second dive was far more relaxing, had much better stuff to look at, and was generally much more enjoyable.

Overall the diving was good but it was unfortunatel that Dave had to sit out the second dive. I think he would have enjoyed that one far more than the first one. If we had done that dive first I think the stress level would have been lower as well since we didn't have to do a negative entry. Still, it was a good time and helped to assuage some of the concerns about the class dives the next day.

Fondue Fun

Yesterday I arrived in Fort Lauderdale to visit Dave and Susan. The trip was uneventful with two exceptions. First, I had a five hour layover in Detroit. This actually worked out well as I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before... the power nap in the airport helped quite a bit. Second, my luggage actually made it to Florida before I did. When I arrived in the airport I heard an announcement indicating I should go to the Northwest luggage office. When I went to the office, full of fear that my luggage was destroyed, I found my bags sitting in the office. Apparently they went from Kalamazoo to Detroit to Minneapolis to Fort Lauderdale faster than I was able to go from Kalamazoo to Detroit to Fort Lauderdale. It's a weird world we live in.

Dave picked me up at the airport and after making our way through traffic the likes of which I haven't seen since Puerto Rico, we made it to their apartment. The apartment is a very nice place. It's spacious, has vaulted ceilings, and a pretty good floor plan. After a short period of getting settled in we went out to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant.

The Melting Pot was awesome. We sat at a booth which had a heating surface built into the middle of the table. We decided to go for the "Dinner Event" which consisted of four courses. The first course was melted cheese fondue (Fontina, Blue Cheese, shallots, and white wine). In this we dipped a variety of breads, vegetables, and some very nice green apples. There's really nothing better than melted cheese.

Round two consisted of a very nice salad with Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, and spring greens. It was wonderfully tasty but didn't even compare to round number three, the main course. We had a fondue pot full of hot Canola oil. Our server, who was awesome, brought out two large plates of meat (prime rib, N.Y. Strip, chicken, shrimp, tuna), a big plate of vegetables, two types of batter, and a variety of sauces too numerous to mention though I will say that the table was completely full. The fun part of a fondue dinner is that you can cook exactly what you want to to the exact level of doneness that you find tasty. You can batter things then cook them or cook them plain. It was a huge amount of food and probably one of the most tasty experiences I've had recently.

Round number four was dessert. We went for the chocolate/s'mores fondue. We had cheesecake, strawberries, coated marshmallows, and pineapple to dip in the chocolate. It was a wonderful desert but once we had dipped everything we still had qutie a bit of chocolate left. Dave, Susan, and I had a discussion about whether it was appropriate to drink the chocolate with a straw. Though it seems unlikely that this is, in fact, an appropriate activity, I really liked the chocolate. With this in mind I salvaged the straw from my water and sucked up some very tasty chocolate. It was good and I'm not proud.

Dinner was fantastic and it wasn't just the food. Dave, Susan, and I had a great time hanging out, chatting, and generally having fun. Dinner lasted for about three hours which was great from my point of view. One of the things I love about Europe is that in many places they take their time about eating. Dining is an experience to be shared with family and friends and shouldn't be rushed through. In the United States we frequently rush through a meal and there's considerable pressure to vacate the restaurant so that they can seat the next people at the table. At the Melting Pot we didn't experience any such rushing which was very much appreciated.

For another look at the experience, you can check out Dave's take on the day.

Wikipedia

I have just finished authoring my first contribution to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. While doing some research into scuba diving related topics, I ran across the Wikipedia article on no decompression limits. The article was, unfortunately, somewhat lacking. In point of fact, it appears that many of the scuba articles on Wikipedia could use some editing and fleshing out.

For those that haven't seen it, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit. The idea sounds farcical; however, it has been quite successful. Wikipedia certainly has its fair share of detractors, many of whom question the quality of the information that is presented. Although false information does, on occasion, make its way into the site I have been impressed with the overall quality of the material.

I must say that writing something on Wikipedia gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. I feel as if I've contributed to the enlightenment of some small portion of the populace. I have a feeling that more Wikipedia editing is in my future. For those that are really, truly bored you can also check out my user page on Wikipedia. At the moment it consists of a link back to this blog.