Temperature : Warmer / 50
Mood : Excited!
Friday was a really fun day to say the least!! Started out with the normal PT and breakfast chow. After that it was off to the classroom very briefly to review the Diving Equipment test, ( I aced it!) once that was done it was off to set up the dive station. **I'll do my best to explain the positions of the dive station I encountered** First position I "manned" was the pneumofathometer ("nu*mo*fa*th*om*e*ter") which is what we use to find out the depth of the diver, also at my station is the opening and securing of the main air lines to the divers. The second position is Data Recorder, whose job it is to keep track of the time the diver "leaves surface, reaches bottom, leaves bottom, reaches surface" also figuring out the Total Time Under Pressure and keeping track of the "bottom time" or the amount of time the diver is allowed to stay at that depth. After that is Communications, which is relatively simple, which is just telling the diver what to do and keeping track of him in the water and relaying information to the Data Recorder. Last but certainly important is the "Tender". The Tender is the guy who suits up the diver, attaches the "umbilical" or hose(s) to diver and then mans the "hose" while the diver is in the water. He also is responsible for keeping the umbilical from having too much slack in the water to wear the diver could possibly get entangled.
It wasn't till after lunch that I finally got to get in the water with the full gear, but let me tell you...it was well worth the wait. Any doubt I had in whether or not this was the right career for me went right out the window as soon as I hit the bottom. It was the coolest feeling in the world being in that hat knowing that I could stay at the bottom forever theoretically. The feeling of weightlessness was incredible! :-) Wearing that 70 lbs of gear though does wear you out but that will go away shortly. Once it was time to shut down the dive site and clean up, it was over to the dive locker to get our gear together for the following morning's trip to Ocala. Once we were released for the day, it was chow time. Once that was done, me and the boys walked next door to Jackie's to celebrate making it through the first week with some drinks and darts. Ended up being a damn good day!!
Day Six : 0700
Temperature : Decent (JAX) / 35 Snow (Ocala)
Mood : Ready to Go!!
Saturdays we usually have off but today it was off to Ocala, Fl to the 40 Fathoms Grotto (Also owned by the Commercial Diving Academy) for our Open Water scuba license training. Definitely slept the whole way there haha. You would think that driving 2 hours south the weather would be slightly warmer but no, we get there and there is snow on the ground....there is snow on the ground. I chose Florida to get away from the stuff but it seems to follow me across the country. So it's about 35 out and we're dressed in soaked wet suits from diving yesterday...needless to say, it was a bit chilly. Anyways, the water was actually really warm considering, probably about 65-70. We went through the standard snorkel drills ( water displacement, mask clearing, regulator retrieval, etc ) then grabbed our scuba gear and did it all again.
Time came for lunch and since they are limited on indoor seating currently due to renovations, we were forced to sit outside on the lunch tables with snow on them. Definitely not ideal but a mans got to eat ya know. We ran back down to the docks and jumped right back in the water to warm back up haha. After lunch was over, we donned our scuba gear and and practiced the same drills except this time at depths of 10 and 20 feet. We finish up at 1400 and head back to Jacksonville. We were sad to leave because all of us enjoyed it so much we wanted to stay for longer, but not on a Saturday. Once we got back, I was physically exhausted I took a nice little nap in the TV room and woke up just in time for evening chow. Afterwards I made a few phone calls, talked to a certain somebody :-) and hung out for a while just being lazy. 2000 hrs rolls around and Neil, Jordan, Guido and myself head back over to Jackie's for a few drinks and couple rounds of pool and darts, nothing too special this night, just something to do. 0130 rolls around and we head back to the dorms. I got another phone call which I was glad to take and stayed up till 0300 when I passed out from exhaustion from the previous two days of diving.
Day Seven : 1000
Temperature : Moderate / Sunny
Mood : EXHAUSTED!
Today was a lazy day, woke up to a disturbing text message which put me in a "angered" mood to put it lightly. The person responsible will get what they deserve, that is a guarantee... Anyways I woke up and busted out the 16 chapter tests needed to finish up the Open Water scuba license book work. Lunch came and went but boy was it good. Chicken Noodle soup/Rolls/Salad/Chicken Sandwich. After lunch I took another nice nap since there isnt a whole lot to do around here on the weekends if you don't have a vehicle. Evening chow came and after that I spent a little time studying for the Construction Math quiz I have at 0645 tomorrow morning, which I'm feeling pretty confident about. Spent some time watching the Packers game (they came so close!!!!) and now I'm getting ready to hit the rack for some sleep so I can get up in the morning.
END OF WEEK 1 - 15 more to go...
"Dum Spiro Spero" - latin for "while I breathe, I hope"
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