I put my gear on and did the giant stride right in to the pool. I was ready. 8 skills to go and I wanted to power through them. Easier said than done. Most of the skills you learn are never used. They teach you what to do if you encounter problems, such as "my mask fell off" or "my respirator is just flowing air continuously". I hate doing anything where I have to take off my mask because, inevitably, water goes up my nose and I start sputtering then the water really goes up my nose and it's just a bad situation. I tried to flee to the surface but Deanna had a hold on me. I finally got the thing on an cleared the water out of it then I was okay.
By far the hardest skill was removing your vest underwater and putting it back on. Remember that wetsuits make you float in addition to the human body just naturally wanting to float. The BCD vest is what holds all of the weights and the air tank. It's the only thing keeping you underwater. So, when I took off the vest, I had to keep a firm grip on it or I would just go up while it went down. I did keep ahold of it but my body still wanted to go up. It was ridiculous. I'm holding onto this vest at the bottom of the pool and my legs are practically straight up in the air. How am I supposed to get leverage to do anything in that position? It was quite a strain and I needed a little help but I got it back on. Thank heavens. I didn't want to have to do it again. I was so out of breath that I just sat on the bottom of the pool panting while Matthew did his. It's a really strange and almost horrifying feeling to be so out of breath underwater. I was just sucking in air from my respirator like there was no tomorrow and trying to calm myself and my breathing. Eventually, it settled down but it was not fun.
The worst skill for me was called CESA. That means Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent. You only do this if you run out of air underwater (which should never happen because you always check your gauges, right Matt). Basically, you just take your last breath and then swim to the surface while exhaling. Oh, you may not know this but air becomes denser and has a lower volume as you go deeper. For instance, a balloon filled with air and sealed would be only half a big at 33 feet. For this reason, you NEVER hold your breath while diving. Air decreases in volume as you descend so, conversely, it increases in volume as you ascend. If you were to take a full breath at the bottom and then hold your breath as you swam to the surface, the air in your lungs would expand and it would stretch your lungs which could be fatal. Scary, huh?
Anyway, in the pool, we practice CESA by swimming diagonally from the bottom of the pool to the surface. You would normally do it at more than 20 feet and the pool is only 9 feet. The problem for me is that I don't seem to have a high lung capacity. I was never one to hold my breath very long. In the case of CESA, you slowly breath out as you swim to the surface. Technically, this would be easier in the ocean because, as you ascend from 20 feet, the previously compressed air in your lungs would now increase in volume thus giving you more air to exhale. I know it's a little confusing.
So, I did the pool CESA and I swam too long at a deeper level so, by the time I was almost out of breath, I wasn't even close to the surface. I made a beeline straight up and didn't make it. I instinctively inhaled. Thank heavens you keep the regulator in your mouth or I would have been sucking in water! Once at the top, you have to inflate your BCD manually so you aren't floating until you do...and it's hard to kick so you can get high enough out of the water to take a breath and then blow it into the vest. Right about the time you are going to sink down again, you have no breath left. It sucked but I did it.
That means that I have now completed all of my pool skills too. I have done 1 ocean dive so I only have 3 ocean dives left and I'll be certified!
No comments:
Post a Comment