Anti-Hood Brigade

So, I mentioned in my other post that I had my first ocean dive.  The diving classes go off La Jolla so it really worked out for us because we were in La Jolla for the weekend anyway.  Most of the classes meet at 6:30am but I was barely getting up at that time.  Because we are doing a private class, we got to meet a little later.  By the time we got there and were prepared to go into the water, I think most people were going in for their second dive.

Anyway, we got all of our gear on and it was a lot heavier than normal.  Because you are more buoyant in salt water, we had to wear extra weights.  This is great when you are in the water but not so great when you have a trek down to the ocean.  It felt like we would never reach the water.  The tank and everything were so dang heavy that I thought my shoulders were just going to break away from my body. 

Then you get to the water and, joy, it's surf so you are battling against the waves which isn't that easy when you are so top-heavy.  We finally made it through the surf and then we had the simple task of swimming out the buoy.  It seemed so easy because your BCD is inflated and it makes you float.  All you have to do is lie on your back and kick...and kick...and kick.  I thought we would NEVER get to that frickin' buoy!  The whole time I was kicking out, I was looking at the shore and I swear it wasn't getting any further away.  By the time we reached that buoy, we were exhausted.  By "we", I mean Matthew and I.  Our instructor wasn't even breathing heavy.

I forgot to mention that we have to wear hoods in the ocean because it's a lot colder than the pool.  So, once we were at the buoy, we had to put the hoods on and then we were going to descend to the bottom which was about 20 feet.  I did NOT like that hood.  I think I had a mental block about it from the beginning.  It was tight around my neck and the chin piece came up too high so it ended up going over my bottom lip instead of under it.  It felt really constricting.  Matthew didn't like his either.  He felt like it was choking him.  But we put them on because we needed to stay warm underwater.

And down we went.  I had to hang onto a line that went from the buoy to the anchor.  I guess this was just to keep the current from taking me away.  I held onto that thing like it was my lifeline.  In fact, I was holding onto it so tightly that my instructor had to physically pull me down.  It was scary, though.  It wasn't like the pool at all.  Visibility was low so all I could see was green and Matthew.  I freaked and went right back up.  I think I had only gone down a few feet.

I tried again...and went right back up.  Actually, I got to about 8 feet that time.  I really felt like I couldn't do it with that stupid hood on my head.  I couldn't stand it.  Luckily, my instructor said that I didn't have to wear it and we would just stay a little shallower.  There is a point in the water, almost like a line across it, where the water is warmer above it than it is below it.  This is called a thermocline.  Since the thermocline was around 20 feet, she said we could just descend to the bottom and then swim into shore along the bottom.  That made me feel much better.   

The third time I went down without the hood.  It was a little cold at first but I didn't notice it after that.  This time I kept going down, down, down.  It felt like I was going down forever and when I looked down the line I was holding, I could see that it just went on into nothingness.  I was pretty much at the point when I didn't want to go any deeper and then, to see this line extending so far down, was disheartening.  I had to go back up.

Of course, once we got to the top, my instructor said I was only a few feet from the bottom.  Erg!  If I'd known, I think I could have made it!  So, I tried one more time...and this time it worked.  It was weird because as soon as I got to the bottom, I could see.  Well, I could see the stuff on the bottom but that's where everything is.  Oh, yeah.  While we were hanging out at the buoy on the surface, we could see dolphins swimming.  They hang out higher up, though, so we didn't see them while we were diving.  We didn't really see much of anything.  My instructor came upon a stingray and swished it away so all I saw was turbulent sand.  She also pointed out something that scurried away.  All I could see was a wavy line taking off.  Still, it was cool to be down there.

We stayed along the bottom until we got into about 4 feet of water.  Then the dive was over.  I was a little disappointed.  For all the drama it took to get me down there, I enjoyed being on the bottom of the ocean.  I wanted it to last longer but we had a plan and you always stick to the dive plan.  I want to mention that I was never cold and, it turns out, we went below the thermocline.  Matthew was cold, though, and we was wearing a hood.  Go figure.

So, we made our way back to shore and I swear that gear was heavier than when I went in the water.  I knew it wasn't but it was almost unbearable to walk now with all that weight on.  Matthew and Deanna (my instructor) each carried one of my weight pouches too.  I'm such a wimp.  It was all I could do to get back to the grassy area.  Actually, I didn't even make it that far.  I had to stop and sit on a post because I was really dizzy.  I don't know if that was from my exhaustion or if it had something to do with my left ear problems.  Either way, I decided I shouldn't do a second dive that day.  

So, I succeeded in doing an ocean dive but I failed to do 2 of them in one day.  I'll be doing 2 or 3 dives in a day in Australia but it will be easier because you can just flop off the boat into the water and you're there.  It's carrying the heavy stuff on your back for 10 minutes and then swimming out against the ocean current for 20 minutes that did me in.  I think it will be a lot easier in Australia and visibility will be better and the water will be warmer so we can have thinner wetsuits...and no hoods.  Hurray!