Day One and Two

Instead of texting everybody all the time, ( I only get to use my cell after class lets out at 5pm till I go to bed at roughly 11:30) I decided just to create this little blog to keep everything nice and simple for everybody including myself.

Day One : 0730
Mood: Excited
Temperature: 45 / Sunny

Woke up from the Red Roof Inn and drove to school for the start of my Commercial Diver schooling(Class of 0110). Weather wasn't too bad, definitely better than what it was back home. We end up waiting around till 0845 to start orientation which took probably a solid 3 1/2 hours till lunch was served. The food down here is down right delicious and I'm definitely going to get spoiled on it!! :-) After lunch, most of the class got their physicals done while we got our bunk assignments. Nothing like sleeping on a single sized bed thats hard as a rock. Today was laid back, mainly just getting a tour of the place, meeting the Instructors and Administration faculty and setting up the bunks, and picking up all of our equipment.

Once class was out at 1700, most of us ran to Walmart to pick up any last minute items we needed. Once we got back and relaxed for a while, couple of us walked next door to Jackie's ( Yes, there is a bar about 500 feet away next door. I have a feeling I'll be spending plenty of time over the with the guys. haha) and had a couple beers, couple shots and played couple games of darts. Next thing you know, it's time for "freshman orientation" which basically meant we jump off the bridge into 40 degree water. IM GAME! It's wasn't so much of a "hazing" as it just earned the respect of the Seniors. Turns out this is more of a brotherhood than anything because we're all each other has got for the 4 months we're here. Ended up being a good night, cold and windy but good night.


Day Two : 0630
Mood : Tired / Mentally taxed by 1700
Temperature : COLD!

After a good night sleep surprisingly, (I do attribute that to the alcohol factor) We woke up between 0530 and 0615 and headed to the dive locker to dress out in "soft gear" for morning PT. That was a bitch, but it will definitely get me back into shape like I've been wanting! After morning pt, we headed to the chow hall for breakfast. I'm gonna look forward to meals because for the most part, they are just amazing. Gotta love "southern cooking". Anyways, once chow was over, we headed to the main classroom building for "muster" where we find out what we'll be going over during the day. We were scheduled for a 60' foot pressure tolerence test to make sure we can freely equalize the pressure that builds as you dive deeper. Before I had my test however, I had to go get my physical since we ran out of time yesterday. This proved to be interesting. I passed all my tests with pretty good results, but when it came time to draw blood for a couple tests the lady taking the blood missed my vien 3 times before she called over another girl to do it. She hit it on the first try so I ended up getting stuck 4 times. GRRRR is all I have to say. Once we got back, it was lunch chow and after that it was over to take the Pressure Tolerence test and get our dive logs filled out with the standard personal information. After that was over, the 8 of us that had to get physicals got sent to First Aid / CPR class where we missed the first hour or so (it'll be interesting come test time to see what we missed). Once class was done, it was off to Afternoon Muster for debriefs and then dinner. Once dinner was over, we had study group for our Construction Mathematics class test thats tomorrow morning. Just thrown a packet consisting of basic 8th grade math and told to turn it in, in the morning. Did I mention I'm ri-dic-o tired at this point?!?

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, not sure what's in store but I know I have a 1830 class for my Open Water cert along with pool training Saturday and next weekend it's off to Ocala, FL to 40 Fathoms Grotto to do my checkout dives. This first month is going to be study, study, study and more studying!! It's going to be one hell of a ride.


I miss alot of people from back home(one in particular, if you read this, I hope you don't forget about me!) and I'll be back at the end of my 4 month stay here at the Commercial Diving Academy in Jacksonville, FL.