scuba

Well, all those hours in the pool paid off, we've officially went scuba diving in a real ocean that wasn't so polluted by New York City that we could see 75 feet.

We saw thousands, absolutely thousands of fish and numerous types of coral. I dove around a coral mountain, down to about 60 feet, and Justin dove even deeper. It's so amazing to see all of that life under there.

We'll have to go again.

it's official

I'm a scuba diver:
















Well, it means I can dive in open water (no caves, shipwrecks) and down to thirty feet. And I pretty much need a more skilled diver to go with me to navigate and make sure I don't forget anything important, like turning on my air or performing the ritual "go away, sharks!" dance.

I did it!

With only a minimal amount of salt water getting up my nose.

That is, I passed my scuba diving tests in open water--the Long Island Sound. I still have to go back tomorrow (off of Rhode Island) to dive three more times, then I'm certified. It was a little freaky not being able to see more than five feet away, but there was enough on the ground to look at to keep me occupied.

I saw a crab (the body about the size of my palm), a flounder, lots of aquatic plants, algae, and kelp, some mussels, tons of empty sea shells, and best of all, two large horseshoe crabs (see the picture).

last scuba class

I finally finished my last scuba class. I still have to pass the open water dives (two days of several dives in the Long Island Sound), but then I'm on to bigger and better oceans. Ones where I can actually see more than 10 feet in front of me.

And pretty soon I'll look like this:

...except that I won't be a guy. Or a turtle.

scuba tip number 1: Don't Panic

I had yet another scuba diving class today. I had to take my mask off under water, put it back on, and get the water out (while still under water). We've been doing that for weeks now, but I still haven't managed it without getting water up my nose. That'll be brilliant when it's Long Island Sound seawater.

I also had to take off my buoyancy compensator (vest that holds the oxygen tank, and can fill with air to help me float) and replace it; share my regulator (the mouthpiece that I breath through) with a buddy; and ascend (slowly, at two feet a second) as if my air had run out (breathing out the whole time). Harder than you would think.

But still it's a lot of fun--and that's just at the bottom of a indoor pool. The most interesting things you find there are the occasional nickel or hair band. I can't wait until we can go diving in Zanzibar on the coral reefs, in water that's actually over 80 degrees. Just wading in the the low tide there, I've seen sea snakes, brilliantly red and blue star fish, manta rays, sea cucumbers, coral, sea urchins, crabs, flounder--all sorts of stuff.

scuba!

Well, I did it! I scuba dove (scuba dived?) for the first time. An hour on the bottom of a 14 foot pool--now that is weird.

I even had to take off my mask underwater and replace it--full of water--and drain the water out--while still under 10 feet of water. I got some water up my nose and swallowed a bit too, but managed to avoid panic and just keep breathing (and coughing) into my mouthpiece. I also had to remove my mouthpiece, drop it, find it again, and replace it without swallowing any water. That part is actually easier than the mask test.

It'll all pay off, though, when we're in Zanzibar this summer, diving around some of the best reefs in the world.

a day with Thomas the train

We went with Justin up the coast to Essex, CT, while he finished his scuba certification with an open-water dive. I figured there had to be something to do in Essex to entertain a three-year old for a few hours. As fate would have it, none other than Thomas the Train was in town giving rides to lucky litte kids.
Juma was thrilled to see a life-size Thomas and ride on a real train.
Unfortunately, Juma also developed a fever a couple hours into what was supposed to be a six-hour stay in Essex. So we cut our activities short and came home. Juma's fever reached almost 103, but we got it to come down. He's still stightly feverish, but feeling a lot better than yesterday.

scuba update

I had my second scuba-diving class on Sunday. Let me tell you, they do not waste any time.

The instructors gave us all of the equipment--a huge tank of air, wetsuit, vest, breathing thingy, etc. We strapped it all on, together with fins, mask and snorkel, started breathing through the mouthpiece, and stepped off into a 14-foot pool.

It was like stepping off an 80-foot cliff.

I was sure I would sink to the bottom and kiss this sweet life goodbye, but, amazingly enough, I survived that first plunge. We spent the next hour and a half chilling on the bottom of the pool and practiced flooding our masks with water and then breathing air back into the mask again.

If you've never been scuba diving, you have to try this--it's like being able to fly. Now I understand why NASA does all of its spacewalk training underwater; you're completely weightless.

I have to admit that I did freak out once and scream to the surface when I got a big stream of water up my nose.

Did I mention that I sat on the bottom of the pool for an hour and a half??--it still blows my mind.

cut

Juma fell at school today and got a nasty cut on his forehead. I took him to the emergency room and they glued it together quite nicely. (In the picture, he's trying to pretend to cry for effect.) The cut is about an inch long, but he's doing just fine.

On a completely unrelated note, I went to my first scuba-diving class yesterday. Two hours of class work and another two hours in the pool left me completely exhausted. Can't wait to get that little card that says I can dive in Zanzibar!