Worn out this evening after a day of training and diving! How good does that sound!

For the last few weeks I have been studying online for my PADI (diving) Open Water Certification. The theory is interesting but peppered with quizzes and online assessments that you have to pass before you can move on to the practical stage of the certification process.
I am pleased to say that I passed the online section. The hardest part was having to learn how to plan dives using dive tables to work out ‘the theoretical levels of residual nitrogen dissolved in your blood’. It’s rather important because it is the nitrogen bubbling out of your blood that can cause the bends… A bit scary but then the whole sport is about being under water for about an hour at a time with a bottle of air strapped to you your back so I suppose it is par for the course.

Anyway theory done. Tick. Time for the practical. So today up early wetsuit packed, yep I now have a wet suit. That’s a mental image you can never unsee. Think of an overweight X-Man and you are there. Mask, ‘shnor-kell’ (my instructor is Dutch she says ‘shnor-kell’) and flippers packed and off to Sunset House. Not a retirement home but a dive hotel and bar, well worth checking out a great little spot, I digress.

First up an exam to check that I had actually learnt something. Tick. Fill out the indemnity forms and medical forms. Tick.

Time to get wet. But first back to the wet suit. 10 minutes of wrestling and sqeezing and tah-da, hardly superman getting changed! But I looked good and was ready to go, two mm of neoprene is very slimming! Wet suit on. Tick.

Next came kitting up. BCD a buoyancy vest, tank, regulator, weights. Gordon Bennett it weighs a tonne! So much for the slimming effect of rubber suits I weighed more than ever and could hardly walk!

To the pool! Here we spent half the day in a very deep swimming pool practicing skills taking masks off under water, taking off our BCDs, ascents, descents, supporting tired divers, giant steps into water and lots, lots more!
A quick change of tanks and we waddled to the sea! To dive.
Brilliant. It’s beautiful down there, a little chilly, thank goodness for the wetsuit, vivid colours, coral and fish just lovely.

End of the day and I am a bit sunburned, very blond, aching, tired and feeling like I have had a good day. Yep I am very blond again a byproduct of  all the sun and water.

More tomorrow, tired but looking forward to day two!