12/31/2006 - full circle

I found out on New Years Eve (last night for me!) that one of my very first ducklings (aka student) is going to be doing his IDC in a few weeks time.

Call me a little sentimental, but it felt kinda significant hearing the news on the eve of the new year; as though I'm passing on the torch so to speak. I'm so very proud of him, for how far he's come with his diving and himself as a person.

I wish him the best of luck, and I know he'll be a great instructor!

12/20/2006 - Ow!

Just a quick reminder to all my aussie dive buddies - don't forget to slip slop slap!

Currently I'm doing my best impersonation of a rock lobster ever (red and shiny!), and hurting about as much as I imagine they do when someone boils them in a pot. Not a good feeling.

Have a good christmas all, and again, remember to be generous with the sunscreen.

12/4/2006 - Gear Care

I'm sick and tired of having to service gear that hasn't been looked after properly. I'm sure most of you know this all anyway, but here's my suggestion for looking after you gear properly, to make sure that it doesn't turn to crap on you.

1.   Make sure you get the gear serviced annually. This is your entire reg set, as well as your BCD. Funnily enough, there are several components in the BC inflator which can screw up if you don't look after them, as well as your dump valves which can wear. If you dive a LOT, I might even recommend taking your gear in for a clean and check up every six months, just to be on the safe side.

2.  RINSE YOUR GEAR AFTER EVERY DIVE! If you're pedantic and really care about your gear, use warm water and soak the gear, this way you'll most likely get rid of all the salt crystals (which is what causes the problems).

To rinse your regulators

The best way to rinse this is under pressure - simply leave your scuba unit together (tank, regs & BC) with pressure in the system, and dunk it in a tub, leaving it to soak. I know that a lot of times you can't wash them under pressure, so be very careful if you wash them all individually to not get water in areas where it shouldn't go.

MAKE SURE THE DUST CAP IS ON! If your regs aren't environmentally sealed, you have to remember that you have an entire dive for salt water to penetrate the ambient chambers of your reg. Most people only dunk the regs quickly to wash them, this probably isn't enough time to adequately clean the regs. Soak them (in warm water as I suggested earlier) for an extended period, making sure that you move them around every now and then to get water flow happening.

To rinse the second stages, never ever hold the purge button in if there is no pressure in the system. If you do, this will send water straight up your hoses and into your first stage which is Very Bad. Again, soak them in warm water. If you want to move them through the water for flow, make sure you don't move the second stage against the purge button pressure so you inadvertantly let the water pressure push the purge button (let me know if that sentence makes NO SENSE).

For gauges and compasses, make sure you get salt and sand out of everything. Turn bezels to make sure they run smoothly, and again, let them soak to get the water out.

To rinse your BCD

Never push the inflation button if the system has no pressure in the line. This will send water into your inflation mechanism and more than likely cause corrosion.

To clean the bladder, inflate the BCD and drain all the salt water out of out using the dump valves. Then inflate it again and fill it with fresh water. Rinse the fresh water around, then drain it. Inflate half way, add some BC Life if you're into your 'products' and then hang it to dry out of sunlight.

I'm running out of time, so I have to go. Let me know if I've missed some important steps (which, knowing me, I have!)

Cheers!

12/3/2006 - Dive minds

Divers are, generally speaking, more fun than other people.

I've worked in a lot of different industries, and overall, I have to say that the diving community is far easier to work with and enjoy working in, than any other industry I've been involved in.

I've never found something that ties so many different people together on such a regular basis. How many other interest or hobby groups can lay claim to having such a diverse group of people be so involved? Divers come from all walks of life - whether they're students or plumbers or doctors or salesmen or computer techs or politicians or artists or whatever, there's something about diving that just ties everyone together, isn't there?

The variety of people and interests I've discovered, and the amount of different things I've learnt since I started diving is amazing. I don't understand how some people can just stay at home in their little box and never venture further than the TV screen, because there is so much amazing stuff out there to learn about.

11/30/2006 - Must be Mad

As I've previously stated, I am a total sook and will only dive in a drysuit. Unfortunately, my drysuit is reaching the end of it's lifespan (it's had a very tough life, RIP), and I'm probably ending up wetter in it than I would in a wetsuit, but that's another story.

A few weeks ago a couple of friends and I planned to go out for a 'cray hunt' dive (it's getting close to Christmas and our freezers are all empty), and even though I'm not known for my desire to hunt anything, I was happy to go along with my camera purely to blow bubbles.

I have to confess, it's very rare that I don't enjoy a dive, however, this particular dive was all weed and kelp and weed and kelp and weed and kelp and I think the most interesting thing I found was a juvenile crayfish that looked more like a Morton Bay Bug than an actual crayfish... but I'm digressing again. This dive was seriously boring. Very very very little fishlife, and the weed/kelp was so thick that if you wanted to see anything you had to plow through it, and I get tired of battling against kelp very quickly.

Still, despite freezing my ass off in my leaky suit and really not seeing anything of great interest down there (didn't get a single photo), I managed to stay down for an hour. The only reason I actually came up was because my buddy had sucked his tank down to about 20bar and needed my occy to get up (19meters).

It struck me, at some stage between hovering over one piece of kelp or another, that I must be absolutely mad to put myself in that situation, and willingly hang out even though I was actually cold and bored and fairly miserable.

Why?

Because even though I won't ever dive that site again if I could help it (much better sites right next door), I was underwater, and there is something indescribably magic about being underwater. It's as though when the reg is in my mouth and I'm floating in midwater, just hanging there, time stops and all that matters is finding myself. I'm quite content to float around and play with my buddies bubbles while he tries (fruitlessly) to find a crayfish. Or I'll imagine pictures in the kelp fronds. Or pretend I'm hunting some great animal and prowl my way through the kelp.

I must be mad, right? Mad about diving, apparently :P Have I mentioned that this particular dive was the seventh or eight dive in two days? Probably not. It was a fairly intense weekend of 'work diving' followed by this 'fun hunt dive'.

I guess all I wanted to do was reflect on how far gone I am with diving, that even the 'crappest' dive site I've ever seen still managed to entertain me for an hour, and I got something personal out of it (hey, imagining pictures in kelp fronds only keeps one entertained for a little while, the rest of the time I guess I must have been thinking and considering and pondering fairly hard!).

So yeah. Every dive is a good dive, regardless of what you see or don't see ;)

Oh, and I'm really hoping I get a new suit soon because this business of freezing my ass off is really not good for encouraging me to get back into the water.

11/19/2006 - washing off the dust

I've had the most amazing dive experiences in the last few weeks, including humpback whales, southernwright whales, giant cuttlefish, seals, wrecks... wow. And this is all part of my job. Sometimes I forget how truly blessed I am to be working in the dive industry!

I'm washing the dust off the journal, hoping that I find a bit more time to update, but the way things are going with courses and charters, I'm not spending much time above water these days!!

Personally, I'm really enjoying my hiatus from real life - taking this time off to work full time in the dive industry is one of the best choices I've ever made. I'm not regretting it for one instant. The active nature of the work means my fitness has skyrocketed, I've lost a lot of weight and I'm feeling healthier than I have for a long time.

In other personal news, things haven't really progressed on the love life front. I'm still hopelessly in love with one of my closest friends and dive buddies, and I sincerely doubt he has any idea. It adds that extra bittersweetness to our dives together, and it keeps me really keen for weekends of diving and teaching, as we work together more often than not!!

In other news, I am truly amazed at how some people have managed to get their dive tickets. I'm even more amazed that the instructors teaching those particular people have been given their teaching certificates. Mostly, I am disappointed because realistically, this problem exists with all recreational agencies and I don't know how practically the problems and practices could be changed.

Just as a side note - the Cressi Matrix is a brilliant, brilliant mask.

9/13/2006 - Diving Destinations

9/11/2006 - Commendation

I often see glowing (or not-so-glowing) reports written by members of a group or club that went on a dive holiday and had a great (or not-so-great) time. More often than not they praise the diving itself, the crew, the accommodations, the food, the atmosphere... everything (or not-so-praise it all).

It's not often that I see reports written by the staff or crew of diving centers and resorts writing reports about the groups and customers that move through, so I'm going to change that.

Not so long ago, we had a 'bad run' with a charter and our crew was left feeling disheartened and doubtful about the services we offer, and our quality as a dive operation. However, the following weekend we had a completely opposite experience with the next charter. They were loud and boisterous, and made no secrets of their enjoyment of either food, diving or accommodation. They were great company, full of jokes and laughter and praise, and when you talked to them they also offered suggestions and ideas as to what they liked and didn't like about the operation.

When you all read the dive log, or sport diver, or whatever diving literature you lay your hands on, I bet most of you read reports on areas you're interested in diving, or have been to, or would maybe like to go to. You mark out the 'bad experiences' and tag the 'good reports' for future reference and research.

When you then go on your holiday, how many of you stop to think about what YOU are like as a customer for the dive operation you chose to deal with? Are you difficult? Do you create a fuss? Do you argue and expect them to justify all their requests (such as wear a snorkel, please) or do you completely ignore their time, depth and air restrictions because you're experienced and feel those things a waste of time?

I know I personally resent those sort of restrictions myself when I'm going diving, but they are there for a reason and it is that particular dive operator's right to have their own rules and operating procedures. If I choose to dive with that operator, I choose to abide by their requirements, no matter how silly or 'over the top' they might seem at the time.

Also, do you tell them you enjoyed yourself? It's not a matter of wanting our egos stroked, but rather an honest opinion of whether or not you enjoyed the dive. If you don't say anything (despite it being an excellent dive), we might think you didn't enjoy the dive, and in the future elect to take people to other sites before taking them to that one again rather than risk people not enjoying the dives.

There is nothing worse as a dive operator, than having a sullen, miserable dive group as a charter, especially if the weather is a bit below average. Please, for the sake of your crews, put yourselves in their shoes. For the most part, they're all probably doing their best to look after you and help you enjoy your dive holiday.  Let them know, at the end of the day, that you appreciate their efforts and thank them,e ven if it's just with a smile because our egos are surprisingly fragile and occasionally need encouraging to remind us that there are still divers ou tthere who enjoy all sorts of diving!

9/4/2006 - RIP - Steve Irwin "Crocodile Hunter"

Just one of many links to a story that everyone's probably already seen

I personally am not a huge fan of his shows at all, but his contribution to conservation and wildlife protection is definitely something that made me admire him. His recent work was moving more toward the marine side of thing, which held a lot more relevance for me personally, and his efforts there will be sorely missed because he was a mover and a shaker who made things happen.

Condolences to his family and friends who no doubt will sorely miss him, as will his fans and the environment he was so passionate about.

I also hope that the media displays sense and doesn't turn the rays into the bad guys because that will definitely not be what Steve intended to happen, given his love for all things animal.

8/28/2006 - So what did you do today?

2:15pm on a Tuesday afternoon, and I was hard at work. Where? 3m under next to a pylon covered in growth, watching my student practice his compass skills.

How many other people in the world can claim blowing bubbles under pressure as their occupation? Not many.

And like the spoilt, unthankful person I am, I didn't even want to be teaching today.

I'm only happy I was teaching and wasn't given the option of pulling out of the dive with a pitiful excuse, because it was a great little dive and I thoroughly enjoyed it once I got in. Some days I know I'm my worst enemy because I convince myself I don't want to do something or I won't enjoy it. It's days like today where I'm thankful I was 'forced' into diving, because I would have missed that dive if I wasn't pushed.

8/15/2006 - New Divers vs Good Divers

A friend of mine recently learnt to dive. As she lives overseas (in the US of A), I can't dive with her, and to be honest, I've never dived with her. She's the type of person though, who likes doing things properly and thoroughly, and even though it's cold and miserable at the moment she signs up "fairly frequently" on group trips to some quarries which get dived regularly by her local dive shop (bearing in mind it's a few hours worth of travel between the sites and her home).

Anyway, the point of this post. This friend of mine, who we'll call Mary, is a new diver. She's logged all of 18 dives now, including what she refers to as her four "checkout" dives, so in the grand scheme of things, she's not very experienced at all. That said, by the sounds of it she sounds pretty conscientious and very well trained. She cares about her fin placement and profile, and talks to me about things that I normally wouldn't expect a new OW student to really be thinking about yet...

Despite her obvious attention to detail and dedication to being a good diver, her physical experience is obviously still developing. A few weekends ago, on her second trip to the quarries with her local store, she had a fairly bad experience. She was buddied with a "more experienced diver" (who had about 50 logged dives.. again, not really that experienced) and left to her own devices. The girl Mary was buddied with, and the rest of the group, all dropped straight down at the quarry and didn't consider that as a new diver, Mary likes to take things slow and careful to make sure she's comfortable and doing everything right.

As a result of this very fast, plummeting descent, Mary couldn't equalise, and to avoid her buddy disappearing into the murky depths of the quarry without her, she kept going despite her equalisation problems. Thankfully, Mary didn't cause any physical damage to her ears by doing this, however she was completely uncomfortable and signalled to her buddy (when she finally caught up) to surface. The buddy was apparently very annoyed, which Mary could see quite clearly on her face during their ascent) and then basically abandoned Mary on the surface to continue her dive.

To give Mary's buddy a bit of a defense - she is also a fairly new diver, and given she also paid for this dive trip I can see she was upset at having her dive disrupted because of a 'bad new diver'. So Mary effectively missed out on her first dive, and because of her buddy complaining to the group instructor, Mary was buddied with another brand new diver and taken under direct supervision by the instructor.

To give the instructor her dues - this is exactly what I would have done.

Mary, however, was a little upset as being classified as a "bad diver" just because she was new and had made a choice to end the dive based on the fact that she wasn't comfortable.

This made me think of two things - the concept of good divers and how new divers are almost always viewed as 'bad divers'. The second thing I stopped to consider in light of this, was the initial planning and considerations undertaken when Mary was buddied with a diver that was more experienced than her.

Mary doesn't like to think of herself as less than competent. She agrees that yes, she is a new diver, but argues that being a new diver doesn't necessarily mean that you are a bad diver. I'd agree with this, however, I'd also suggest (and I did to her) that being a new diver also doesn't mean you are a good diver. In my opinion, she certainly has the attitude required to make a good diver because she wants to learn, asks a lot of advice and works on suggestions which people give her. To her, being buddied with another "New diver" who had no control over his bouyancy at all (according to her) and put in direct supervision with an instructor, was fairly offensive.

However, I stand by my opinion that a good diver is not only someone who is competent and capable in all areas of diving, but has a good attitude toward diving and still continually looks at improving. They contribute to the diving industry by setting a good example, helping others (even if they are not a 'professional' diver) and promoting activities and behavious which are positive toward diving as a general. However, diving skills are an integral part of being a good diver, and as with most things, diving takes practice. Some people naturals, and after a handful of dives have most of it down pat. Other people need to work on their skills a lot harder, but that doesnt' make them "bad divers" compared to the 'naturals', if you get my drift.

It did make me stop to think how people view new divers though. Mary was offended at being classed as a 'bad diver'. To be fair, she did assume she was classed as a bad diver based on the fact that an instructor decided to directly supervise her diving activities. If Mary's skills were fine, and there was nothing wrong with her diving, then maybe the instructor should have pulled her aside and explained that the supervision was more as a safety rather than Mary's skills being bad, or that her buddy requird the supervision even though Mary was probably fine only diving with another buddy...

As an instructor I see "bad new divers" a lot. They're only interested in raping and pillaging the environment, or getting something material out of diving through employment or saving a few dollars by cleaning the bottom of their boat etc. I see "bad new divers" who think they know it all, are atrocious in the water and refuse to accept that maybe they need to work on their diving technique.

I also see new divers with the potential to be good, if not BRILLIANT divers.

However, regardless of whether these new divers are just "Bad" or have the potential to be good, they are all NEW divers, and new divers inevitably have problems because they are inexperienced.

So what do you do if a new diver wants to dive with you? Do you sigh and automatically write the dive off as a waste of time because they'll chew through their air in no time, stir up the bottom and have serious issues getting down, staying down, and then getting up and staying up, not to mention gearing up and getting the gear off?? Or do you embrace the opportunity to assist someone and give them a little advice to make diving easier for them, and give them a little confidence by treating them as an equal?

You were a new diver once too, remember, and you've doubtlessly picked up a wealth of experience from divers more experienced than you, so do us a favour and pass it on.

8/10/2006 - six months

I made a spur of the moment call yesterday, handed in paperwork and twenty miutes later I was free.

Free for six months.

For the next six months, my life will be entirely about diving diving diving.

On some level I'm excited silly about this; I haven't had the opportunity to devote myself 100% to diving in years, and I'm looking forward to it with everything inside myself!

On the other level, I'm scared out of my mind because I'm not sure if the six months I'm leaving behind is the right choice, whether I'll still love diving as much by the end of it, whether this is the right thing for me...

And it all starts today, this weekend, this lifetime.

Will keep you all updated!

8/7/2006 - perfection

Sometimes, when diving is your life, you forget why it's your life. This weekend reminded me why it is that I do this as much as possible.

Saturday was perfect; no wind, sunshine and relative warmth. I could walk around outside without the need for sweaters or jackets or even a long sleeved T shirt! It feels like the beginnings of spring are starting to nudge through the grey dregs of winter. I'm not stupid enough to assume that this is the case, but it's a reminder that spring isn't far away. Knowing our weather patterns we've probably still got two fairly bad spells coming up, but things should start clearing up beautifully by October. I can't wait!

Visibility was 20-30m, there was no swell, surge or current and the life that was around... fantastic! Cruising along the bottom with my ducklings in a row behind me exploring the wildlife with cameras and their "underwater naturalist slates" was brilliant; I hung in midwater for a long time just watching the groups and their accompanying divemasters as they darted between kelp fronds and stuck their heads under rock, excitedly pointing out small creatures they'd never taken the time to notice before.

Getting out and standing in the sunshine drinking soup and eating fruit cake with a fantastic group of people who were all there enjoying themselves... just one of those weekends that made me smile the entire time because I was so privileged and happy to be a part of it.

This weekend should be even better because I'm diving with my usual guys; we haven't been in a big group like this for months, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them all again.

I think, also, that because the sun is out things just look better in general!

8/1/2006 - blink

In one single minute yesterday as I was sitting at a table surrounded by friends drinking coffee, an old man was suffering a heart attack. In that minute I realised just how unaware we all are about most things.

To my perception, the only thing concerning me at that point in time, that single minute, was my coffee and the fun I was having with friends. To that old man... who knows what he was thinking. In that minute where my life brushed so briefly with his before he died, I caught the smallest, most profound glimpse of how one single minute, the same one, affects so many people differently.

My life has continued past that minute. I'm still diving. I'm still laughing. I'm still drinking coffee with my friends. But that old man has died, and there are no more minutes for him. There are no more minutes with him for his family. That minute changed the lives of all his family and friends because suddenly they have an unexpected void in their lives.

Why post this dark, moody thought in a dive blog?

Diving is dangerous. It only takes a small brush with a tiny problem and in one minute, as dramatic as it sounds, everything could change for you.

I don't care what association you dive with, which dive flag you wave or what your diving beliefs are. Do a rescue course of some descript. Make sure your first aid skills are up to date.

Don't be content just having done a rescue course and keeping your certification card in your purse - keep your skills fresh. Practice rescue scenarios. Take them seriously. It's amazingly easy how quickly things go wrong, and if things go wrong you really don't want to be floundering around wishing like hell you'd taken the time to do things properly or utilised a weekend to do a course which could teach you life saving skills.

7/17/2006 - Snot check

I have, after much consideration and pondering of the subject, decided that scuba diving is just not something that allows one to be entirely as ladylike as one would perhaps like. In fact, I'm beginning to believe that good manners and socially expected standards of cleanliness and appearance requirements are mutually exclusive with the sport of scuba diving.

Snot, for example, is just not accepted by society. If someone was to walk around with a big goober stuck to their forehead, most people would eye them very warily and keep well away, instantly labelling said person as an "unhygienic" [dear god my spelling ability has departed!] weirdo who should be avoided at all costs for fear of getting too close to those bits of totally disgusting slime.

Amongst divers, snot isn't seen as such a big no-no. Well, it's not really something everyone runs around with because it's in fashion, but most people are okay with a bit of snot here and there. Personally, I find those bits of snot stuck to other people's noses and foreheads very distracting - I keep staring at them with a morbid fascination, wondering how I should tell the person that "excuse me, mate, but you have a booger the size of Antarctica stuck to your forehead and it's very distracting so please wipe it off," considering I don't always know them well and it feels a bit rude to tell someone about their snot.

These days I yell out "Snot check!" on the boat after every dive, and it's quite amusing to watch my divers glance around at each other and discretely point out tremendous bits of goop somehow managing to defy gravity by sticking too damn well.

So yes, having a snot check is accepted by diving society. It is not so much accepted in normal society given the fact that most people don't walk around with snot stuck to their face.

From a girly and totally-anal-tendencies poing of view, snot is disgusting. I am always paranoid I have goobers stuck to me and often wash my face several times before asking a trusted dive buddy whether "i'm good". Thankfully they're all understanding of my morbid snot-fear and as such treat me with kid gloves and never lie to me. Really.

Another thing that totally grosses me out is spitting. Especially when people 'gorbie'. And yet, on the dive boat, we encourage people to spit. Well, I don't, I encourage them to buy artificial spit-in-a-bottle because even though they may all believe the motto "the greener the cleaner" I'm totally of the opinion that anything that green and that slimey is So. Not. Good.

Once again, an example of habit which most of society frowns upon which is an accepted practice in scuba divers. Oh sure, when the guys are all boozed up or running around on the football field in very short, tight shorts, they're allowed to spit because they're guys and guys do that sort of thing (and also, those shorts make most women forgive anything anyway). Normally though, most people who conform to society standards don't generally walk around slagging on pavements and windows and buses, if you get my drift. Much less stick their fingers in the spit and rub it around... Eeeewwww....

I love diving, but even I have my limits as to grossness factor which I'll let myself sink too. Call me girly, call me wussy, call me whatever you want, but the fact is most dive shops sell artificial spit and they'll continue to sell it because there's a large proportion of people who are moving beyond the dark ages of spitting and rinsing... Remember, once upon a time people never used to brush their teeth either!

And snot? I don't anticipate any manufacturer coming up with an 'anti-snot spray' in the near future, so I imagine I'll just have to keep doing my snot checks on deck. Besides, they're good for a laugh!

7/16/2006 - Everything at once

My life seems to exist in extremes - or maybe that's just my youth kicking in and adding that extra touch of melodrama to all those ohsoimportant events in my life.

As an instructor who's pretty anal about details [Mask off forehead, no tanks standing, dust-caps off means death and, worst of all, pushing that inflate button for an ascent is an INSTANT bad move!], I have to pay close attention to all my own diving practices, attitudes and skills to make sure that I'm not being hypocritical when I send my withering glares at my divemasters, or tell my students off because I catch their regs without dustcaps on.

Still, I can't be perfect everyday [as much as I might try and believe myself to be] and this weekend is an absolutely CLASSIC example of me being totally un-perfect.

I've been using the same mask, fins & snorkel set for the last three years, and I've had absolutely NO problems with them. They've withstood an absolute bashing [a couple of hundred dives a year, and I'm not the best at really looking after them as well as I should] and they've never, ever failed me.

It stands to reason then that it's about time I changed all the straps and appropriate clips and valves, right? Right. Apparently the gear thinks so too...

Let me start at the beginning. I'm at the pool on Saturday afternoon running a rescue session for several students. The students in this class are a pretty mixed bag - most of them I know very well because I trained them from OW and up, and two I'd never met before in my life. One student in particular is one of those people everyone either hates or adores. Most people, unfortuantely, don't particularly take to this gentleman's personality because is rude and crude and obnoxious, but at the same time his heart is in the right place so I can't help but like him anyway [even if he DOES drive me insane, but that's another story]. He's one of those people that always has to be the best, always has to be right and always knows more than you do, even though you're the instructor in the situation. 

Given the picture I've just painted, about my own anal tendencies and the fact that these students know me pretty well it's very important that I do everything right when I teach them [just to clarify here, it doesn't mean when I teach unknowns I don't have the emphasis on doing things right, but it does mean that if I don't do things right with these guys they will severely mock me forever and forever and they really don't need anymore ammunition with which to mock me. Really. I'm blond, that should say it all!].

First thing that goes wrong, as I'm in the pool saying "Oh good, so we've sorted out all the gear hassles and we can start the course now" my O-ring blows. In reality this can happen to anyone, but I'd heard my O-ring make a sound when I put my gear together initially, and decided to ignore it when the noise didn't appear to be a continuing concern.

BANG! In the public pool (enclosed building which echoes and echoes) my O-ring went off like a rocket. All my students (budding rescue divers that they are) just stared at me, and some even backed away in a hurry! In the meantime I'm frantically trying to turn the damn valve off but of course I had to be gallant at the start of the lesson and swap tanks with a student who's tankvalve was acting up a little, and turning off that valve was NOT easy.

Anyway, I finally got the valve shut, got the gear off and hauled it out of the pool to where my spares box... wait a minute, where's my spares box?

Yes, that holy of holy box of spares with which I never part company was apparently still sitting on my dining room table where I'd put it when I needed some cable ties.

Brilliant.

WAIT! Being the uber-cool and professional instructor that I am, I just happen to have a small little tank key ring which, you guessed it, holds tank O-rings! [May I just say here and now, God bless Apollo Australia and the genius who designed this little gem. It truly is a lifesaver!].

However, occassionally you get these stubborn O-rings that just refuse to be dislodged from the tankvalve, even though they've blown. I tried blowing it again (no good, couldn't get enough of a seal to raise the pressure). I tried my carkeys (BAD for the tankvalve). I tried a bobby-pin a student scavenged from the bottom of our public pool.

In the end, there was a lady at the other end of the pool doing embroidery who consented to lend me her sewing needle as long as I didn't break it.

SUCCESS!!  This entire issue with one stupid little O-ring took almost twenty minutes.

So where, I hear you all asking, if you're so cool, was your spare tank?

I did have a spare tank, but one of my brilliant students forgot to get his filled so he didn't bother bringing it along, knowing that I'd have a spare handy.

Can you tell I was having a good weekend? I haven't even told you about this lots theory sessions, and they were just as full of fun and excitement as this pool session turned out to be!

Anyway, we finally got my gear sorted and ready to get back into the pool, when the next disaster struck. My faithful mask which has seen me through three long seasons of intense diving, finally failed me. Well, I kinda failed it. I'd known for a while the strap was starting to perish but I never actually believed it would happen to me, you know?

But it did. The giant-stride was apparently too much for it and it just snapped. Not good. And of course, as already established, the one day I didn't have my spares kit, or a DM who carried a spare dive shop in his truck, the strap breaks.

Thankfully this hassle was quite quickly solved - this local pool is quite active with "Underwater Hockey" and have a few club masks on premesis - one of which I ended up borrowing.

So. Try again.

I managed to get into the water and inflate my BC without anymore dramas, followed closely by going through a few exercises. Havnig these hassle-free exercises felt pretty good in my book - the students were definitely keen to learn and put everything into learning it thoroughly. It's love to have that sort of attitude when you're teaching.

Anyway, back to the drama.

Apparently those exercises weren't as drama-free as I'd thought they were. Sometime during the course of rescuing panicked divers and being a paniced diver, the clip-and-tie system I used for my dive slates must have gotten snagged on something and it broke. For those of you not familiar with the PADI Rescue Diver course instructor slates, there are LOT of them. Really. And by the time I realised my slates were missing they were all over the pool, especially given it's a public pool and you the annoying 7-20year old age group of boys who keep hassling you because "YOU'RE SCUBA DIVING, AREN'T YOU?" These boys had seen my slates falling, and turned it into a game apparently to collect as many as possible while annoying us, and trying to ignore them as much as possible and only really playing around on the surface, none of us noticed what they were doing.

It was a HUGE dilemma trying to locate all those slates!

And then, once I'd finally rounded them all up I discovered had another problem - how was I going to keep them all together and use them for the rest of the course without my handyspares kit to fix the problem?

I hadn't even solved this problem yet when I discovered the next bit of equipment failure - the same clip-and-tie system I used on my quick release for my occy had also gotten caught somewhere and snapped in a similar manner. While this was bad news for my 'streamline and dangle-free appearance' it was good news for my slates - I managed to salvage a very awkward and not very practical method of clipping a few slates to me at a time. The occy I finally just jammed into a D-ring.

By now I was feeling fairly frazzled - stupid delays, annoying public pool users, gear failures that I probably could have prevented if I wasn't quite so blase about them and the fact that it was getting very late and I'd had a woeful morning. Quite pathetic whining, really, but I wasn't having a good day. Poor baby, you're all saying? Bah to you too - a good dose of self-pity is lovely every now and then, and does wonders for the soul.

So the last failure of the day happened at the end - thank God! We'd pretty much finished off the first session for the rescue course when suddenly one foot felt strangely light.

Somehow my fin strap broke. It just broke. While I was bobbing around on the surface. And I promise you, I'll concede to ignoring the perishing of my mask strap, but at least I'd noticed it. I examined my fin straps quite often because I KNOW they're getting old and I KNOW they're under stress given how I just yank them on and off, and I never ever ever saw any sign of tearing or perish. Yet, it just snapped. Bang.

Thankfully this wasn't too big a deal given it was the end of the session and it didn't really matter, but it still doesn't look good for an instructor to have so many gear problems in one day, does it?

Still, I guess some days things just go wrong, and given I'm sitting nice and warm and dry in front of my computer at the moment I can actually laugh about it and shake my head in resignation at the day I've just had. My DM friends certainly enjoyed hearing about it, and while I know they'll tease me for a while (good naturedly) about being blond enough to leave my spares kit at home today of all days, the day itself wasn't too bad. In the future when I continue with these soon-to-be rescue divers (once they finish their course) and when we dive together as buddies or friends, we'll always have something to look back at and laugh about.

"Do you remember that day when you were doing our rescue course and everything just went wrong? That was classic!"

And me, what have I learnt from this?

My spares kit will now have sewing needle added to it (probably with some thread because that's just downright useful), and I will make SURE that I DON'T leave the kit behind again. I'll also make sure I don't just put off changing straps thinking "It's okay, I've got spares in my spares kit (which I do) because inevitably I won't have the spares kit with me when they need changing."

And also - most people are scared shitless when an O-ring blows with an almighty bang and a fountain of water on the surface. Next time I will endeavor to have an underwater handycam with me and film their reactions because that will more than make up for the flak I'm receiving for this weekend!!!

Ps - in case anyone was wondering, I use Apollo Biofins (XT version - will get spring straps SOON!!), an Apollo Medusa mask (only a cheapie with a huge profile and not a huge field of vision but it's my mask, damn it!) and some cheapass snorkel I don't even remember the brand of! The biofins in particular are bulletproof - they still look very new even after all this time! Am very, very impressed with them, and the added stiffness of the XT means I feel like I'm finning and I still have that initial thrust you get with the solid fins).

PPS - I apologise for any spelling/grammatical errors but it's been a VERY long weekend (pretty much in the same vein as this pool session I've outlined) and I'm headed STRAIGHT to bed! Night all!

7/13/2006 - Which course?

Which dive course that you completed did you find the most rewarding? Why?

Which dive course that you completed did you enjoy the least? Why?

Which did you get the least out of? Why?

What was it about the courses you enjoyed most that made you enjoy them above the other courses?

---

Why all the questions? I'm just curious what students are looking for and enjoying most in their courses. I could ask my own students, however most people tend to tell their teachers/instructors that "yes, I had a good time. Thank you, I enjoyed it."

It's very rare that you'll get someone honest and tactless enough to stand in front of you and spell out what sucked and what rocked.

Personally? My favourite course was my IDC, followed closely by my Divemaster course. I loved the DM because it was my 'intro' into the professional world of diving. I was challenged and got to work with a lot of other DM candidates and learn together. My IDC was fun fun fun fun fun. My CD was brilliant and he challenged us in terms of theory and driving us to know what was important in our student's education.

I hated my rescue course. The instructor I had was the same instructor for both OW and Advanced (which I enjoyed to no end) but the course itself was woeful. I came out of it feeling as though I'd learnt nothing and would remember even less by the time I got the wetsuit off.

Basically what I'm getting at is what are the things you look for in a course? What things do you want from an instructor? Do you expect your courses to be intense and action packed with learning and learning and learning or do you expect to have fun in your courses while learning in a fairly relaxed manner (still covering all required info, but maybe not as intense in terms of drills and skills and repitition?).

It's so easy to run a thorough course where you over-bombard students with information and skills. And it's even easier to underteach. It's very hard to find a spot in the middle that works the students and teaches them what they need to know, challenging them a little and making them enjoy what they're doing. I'd appreciate any comments just to see what other people think (whether they are instructor's or students).

And while I have your interest - if you're an instructor, or someone who's completed a Rescue course specifically, your comments would be most appreciated. This is the most contentious course to teach, in my opinion, because there is so much in it. What works for you, what doesn't, and what's your preferred method of teaching it?

Thanks in advance,

Grace

7/11/2006 - The Yellow Submarine

I managed to log a dive on the fondly nicknamed Yellow Submarine which is, in reality, the J5 submarine scuttled just outside Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia. Despite a weekend of digustingly bad weather [cold, swell, rain, wind], the dive itself was pretty damn good and I wouldn't hesitate at recommending it to anyone else!

the tow ring on the J5, covered in zoanthids

As I already mentioned, the weather wasn't particularly brilliant for diving. All weekend we'd had really low visibility and pretty big swells; dark and overcast weather also meant there wasn't much natural lighting.

Still, for someone who very rarely dives wrecks of any description, this was still a huge treat!

The J5 submarine is one of seven J class submarines that was built the Brittish admiralty during WWI in response to rumours of German U-boats that could reach and maintain warship speeds on the surface. Evidently, the rumours were only that, rumours, but the Brittish had already started their J class subs so they finished them.

What sets the J class subs apart from other submarines of the time was the use of both diesel and electric engineering, and the fact that they had three props instead of a normal twin screw. The center shaft was run by diesel power, and the two lateral were supplied by battery power. The innovation of using three props instead of two, along with a few other design features, meant these subs could reach surface speeds of 19.5knts and submerged speeds of 9.5knts, which was pretty damn impressive at the time!! It meant that on the surface that could keep up with most warships of the time!

Overall, there were seven J class subs constructed (though there were supposed to be eight) and they were named J1-J7 at the end of the day (A little bit of kerfluffel in terms of number assigning and renaming, but in the end this is what they ended up with). All the subs except J6 survived the war, and on February 13 1919 they were offered to the Australian navy as a gift from the Brittish navy, along with six destroyers including the HMAS Brisbane which is now scuttled off the Queensland coast.

The J1, J4 and J5 are regularly dived by Victorian dive charters; J2 is known as the "broken" sub because it is hardly intact anymore. One of the remaining subs was scuttled off Swan (I think) Island, and another is a breakwater at another popular bay in Victoria.

J5, commonly known as the "Yellow Submarine" due to it's colonisation by zoanthids, also is known as the intact submarine. As you can see from the photo that I posted above, the bow is starting to disintegrate and there is a large area of missing supersturcture just before the tow-ring which never used to be the case. It lies in a depth of approximately 36m, however I did manage to hit 37.4m and I wasn't actually physically on the bottom. I guess it has a lot to do with tides, what depths you manage to reach.

In terms of the dive I did - very, very interesting. We dropped in right next to the stern, and even though visibility was only about 10m (if that) and it was very dark, I could still see quite a bit of detail. We swam along the hull for a short way before we reached the conning tower.

Once again, see how the zoanthids have completely coated it's structure? The nickname of "Yellow Submarine" is DEFINITELY appropriate!!!

We continued along and my buddy (who is very experienced on these submarines) dropped through a hatch. I followed him down into a smallish cabin which was swam through. Due to the positioning of this sub and the way the swell rolls through, the locals told me that the silt inside it very rarely gets cleaned out and as such it can be fairly dangerous if you stir it up - a girl apparently died in there several years ago because she stirred up the bottom and couldn't find her way out.

Despite that grim bit of history, myself and my buddy managed to avoid stirring it up and had an interesting poke around. Apparently you used to be able to penetrate through a lot further but once again, the recent breakdown of the submarine means you can't penetrate as far as you once could. We popped up a short way later and once again followed the hull along to the bow.

The hull itself isn't covered with that much growth, but all the missing superstructure has the potential of setting up some really good shots. Unfortuantely, as I mentioned, visibility was atrocious (there was a lot of particle in the water) so most of my shots are utter rubbish.

This is sort of what I mean about the shot compositions - a lot of opportunity for silhouettes with fishlife in the background.

The fishlife, while I think about it, was quite good. A lot of short finned pike school around, several bullseyes, a couple of leatherjacket and lots and lots of the usual butterfly perch. I'm pretty sure there were more types around, but to be honest I don't really remember that much because I was slightly narked!

We turned around at the tow-ring. Incidentally, each J Class sub had a different shaped tow-ring for identification purposes, which is how they know which sub is which after all this time.

Heading back along the hull to the stern was pretty quick because we were running out of bottom time and the surge was picking up too, even at this depth. Did a nice slow ascent, a lovely long stop and then popped up where our dive boat picked us up and gave us hot drinks and snacks while we made our way back to shore.

Overall, a brilliant weekend. Melbourne/Victoria is often overlooked as a diving destination because most people see it as a city. They have a variety of absolutely brilliant sites, such as the submarines, the wreck of the Coogee, Eliza Ramsden, Courier etc, and their sponge life/walls and fish life is absolutely amazing. I got a couple of dives in on the Lonsdale wall and was absolutely blown away by the life and colour I found there. Also, I saw a Blue Devil which I've always wanted to see, so all in all my weekend was a huge success and I had a great time.

There are a couple of great operators running out of Portsea and Queenscliff - make sure you do your research on location, pricing and the type of vessels they run because some operations are slightly better than others!!

PS - any information on the subs might be wrong. I've read a lot about them over the years, and this was all off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure there'd be lots of info around if you googled them, so I apologise if I got any details wrong!!! To the best of my knowledge though, it's pretty accurate!

7/6/2006 - About damn time!

One would think given where I live and dive, that I would have at some point in my life made an attempt to dive the submarines in Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne. Thanks to a hectic timetable and most weekends being filled with my own teaching and dive center business, I've just never ever gotten around to it.

This weekend, that is all about to change!

A good friend has made sure I kept this weekend free, and the two of us are heading down to dive on Saturday and Sunday.

From what I understand, we'll be hitting around 40m on the wrecks, and hanging out on the Lonsdale Wall to check out the Blue Devils. It'll be good to see what everyone is always talking about, and not stand around like an idiot going "Oh yeah, I'm going to dive those one day!" because everyone sort of looks at me as if to say "You live WHERE and you HAVEN'T dived them yet??

So expect a full report (hopefully) some time on Monday or Tuesday, and possibly some pictures (depending on how co-operative my camera and motivation are being!).

7/4/2006 - The Why?

Why do I not only willing subject myself to freezing my ass off, but look forward to it?

I was born and bred in the tropics. A cold winter was one where the thermometer dipped perilously close to 25*C; if it dropped BELOW 25 then DAMN it was COLD!

And then for some insane reason to do with lifestyle and blah blah blah, my parents dragged me (kicking and screaming, I might add) to Antarctica. Well, close enough anyway. Looking at the mercury in the mornings has become a game which holds me with a morbid fascination - if it's near 5*C then it's a warm morning. I never, EVER thought I'd hear myself say that, but apparently people acclimatise.

And the water temperature? I did some spectacular dives over the weekend - all below 10*C. The water temp will still drop, given we're not in the heart of winter yet, and I'm waiting to see how low it will dip this year. Last year we hit 7*C on the beach by my house; I imagine this year it will touch 6.5*C if not lower given how early things have dropped.

I guess a lot of you guys reading this will be laughing at the whinings of a girl who dislikes the cold intensely. I dive in a drysuit, and I layer myself up so thick under the drysuit with thermals and trakkies and socks (at least three pairs most dives) and I'm amazed I fit into my suit! Thankfully I've lost a little weight in the years since I got my suit, and it's gotten a lot roomier which is great; I get to add more layers!

Still, this weekend just gone is the first time I've found myself on the boat with my hood and gloves on before the dive and wondering if I was really going to commit my soul to the deep given the sheer agony my fingers experience when I defrost with a hot water bottle and soup between dives. It's ridiculous, really, to be so sooky about the cold.

To my credit, it has been the coldest is has been for a long, long long time so I'm NOT just being wussy. But still. I dive with people that jump into the water in wetsuits. WETSUITS. That would kill me, I think.

I've only ever done two dives where the water temperature was above 20*C; both on the Great Barrier Reef. Most of my diving the water temp has hovered around 12-14*C, with the occassional jaunts a little further north where they might hit 18*C on a regular basis.

At this very point in time, where my fingers are literally blue with cold (I took my gloves off to type this) I'm really, really considering packing up my dive gear and moving to the tropics where it gets digustingly hot and sweaty and all you have to do to cool down is throw the gear on and jump in. And if you happened to have a job on one of the millions of dive boats up there, that wouldn't be a hassle!