Thursday, June 23, 2005
Breathing Down Under
Okay, real tired and wanna pass out. So this will be a short post.
But I had my first SCUBA experience today! We got suited up and got into the pool. They taught us several basic things like the hand signals, removing and replacing your regulator, and how to clear your mask of water.
It was awesome. At first it was kinda weird to be able to breathe underwater, and I had to make a conscious effort to NOT instinctively hold me breath. But I soon got the hang of it and was swimming around pretty easily.
Still, I was plagued with equipment malfunctions. At first, the weight belt I was wearing wasn't heavy enough, so I couldn't sink. Not my fault, since the instructor took one look at me and told me I'd need a 4 pound weight belt. Yeah right. Yours truly is fatter than she appears. I ended up having to exchange the 4 pounder for an 8 pounder.
Then later on my toes started cramping. Apparently I'd put the fins on too tight. So the instructor helped me loosen them.
But that wasn't the end of my problems. When they let us loose to swim freely around the deep end of the pool, my fins suddenly slipped off and sank to the bottom.
I had to swim to the wall and reattach them. And let me tell you, swimming sans fins in full Scuba fear is no easy feat!
After then, the instructor noticed that bubbles were coming out of my mask. He examined it and said it was leaking. Great. My brand new mask. The one I'd finally picked after trying on like a dozen others that wouldn't fit thanks to my abnormally shaped face.
So I have to take the defective mask back to the shop to get it changed. And that's not good because the one I ended up buying was the very last piece of that model. Good god. I wonder how long it'll take me to find yet another one that fits!
But I had my first SCUBA experience today! We got suited up and got into the pool. They taught us several basic things like the hand signals, removing and replacing your regulator, and how to clear your mask of water.
It was awesome. At first it was kinda weird to be able to breathe underwater, and I had to make a conscious effort to NOT instinctively hold me breath. But I soon got the hang of it and was swimming around pretty easily.
Still, I was plagued with equipment malfunctions. At first, the weight belt I was wearing wasn't heavy enough, so I couldn't sink. Not my fault, since the instructor took one look at me and told me I'd need a 4 pound weight belt. Yeah right. Yours truly is fatter than she appears. I ended up having to exchange the 4 pounder for an 8 pounder.
Then later on my toes started cramping. Apparently I'd put the fins on too tight. So the instructor helped me loosen them.
But that wasn't the end of my problems. When they let us loose to swim freely around the deep end of the pool, my fins suddenly slipped off and sank to the bottom.
I had to swim to the wall and reattach them. And let me tell you, swimming sans fins in full Scuba fear is no easy feat!
After then, the instructor noticed that bubbles were coming out of my mask. He examined it and said it was leaking. Great. My brand new mask. The one I'd finally picked after trying on like a dozen others that wouldn't fit thanks to my abnormally shaped face.
So I have to take the defective mask back to the shop to get it changed. And that's not good because the one I ended up buying was the very last piece of that model. Good god. I wonder how long it'll take me to find yet another one that fits!
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