Wildcat Sailorgirl: Plongee - PADI Open Water Scuba Certificate Continued

View of Tyrrel Bay from Lumbadive

Part two 12-22-15

Our day started with some excitement. Around 7am a storm blew through. By the time Tom got the wind instruments turned on it had dropped to 30 knots. The wind wall that came in had to be up around 35-40 knots. I looked up and saw a boat moving. "Those people are leaving in this?" Wait.....uh oh. I realized immediately it was an unmanned boat dragging through the anchorage. I put out an immediate announcement on VHF radio and warned a boat that it was headed for. That captain jumped to action and was able to motor on his anchor just out of the way of the dragging boat. Whew! We along with others in the anchorage were trying to decide what to do. Usually we go after boats like that. We have in the past. However, our dinghy was up and even in the best weather, Nick Nack won't plane. While we were thinking, a couple of people with stronger ( 4 stroke) outboards went out after the dragging boat. It was on a mooring and apparently the strong winds dislodged the mooring so it was dragging its mooring. Anyway....they got it wrangled and a local fishing boat helped them get it anchored in the back of the field. Whew! And it's not even 8am!

Plongee x2

At 9am we went to the dive shop. The dive master had looked over Tom regulator yesterday to fix an issue. He showed Tom some details. Good info. His wife Joanne didn't go with us today. We headed back to the same spot. It was of course rougher in the boat and on the surface with the weather kicked up a tad. While it was a bit stirred up, it was still good on the reef. Like yesterday, while we were still in the boat Sylvain told me what skills he wanted me to do - same that I learned in the pool. I told him I was apprehensive about clearing my mask as I struggled a bit with that in the pool. He told me he had a different way to do it that might help. He would demo that for me once we submerged. He also adjusted my weigh belt from yesterday - making it 2 lbs lighter. It worked.

The three of us descended to the bottom and Tom hang out while I did my skills. The instructor was patient and assuring. His way of clearing my mask worked much better. I completed all my skills and then we spent the rest of the time exploring the reef. My buoyancy was much better today - thus I was able to stay down and level. This also meant I didn't need to mess with clearing my ears so much like yesterday. There were so many fish. Many times above us. We saw not one but TWO octopus!!!!! I saw an octopus finally!! We saw 3 big lion fish and a baby. It was good - very good. So kewl to swim along slowly seeing all the bright colors, weird shaped coral and crazy fish. Uh-oh.....this could get expensive. Ha!

TWO octopus

Finally it was time to go up. I had to demonstrate being out of air and using the instructors air and a buddy surface. On the surface, I had to do another skill. It was tough with the waves but I did it and thus passed all the days skills.

Day four dive site

Okay, I am making this too long. I know, I know.....Dives three and four were both in different locations. Again, Sylvain my instructor reviewed with me ahead of time in the boat what we were going to do once in water. He was calm, clear and reassuring. The same was true once we were down on the bottom. I felt completely comfortable with him.

All four required dives complete - passed!

As with dives one and two, I demonstrated whatever skill he needed me to do and then we spent the rest of the time looking at all the brilliant colored fish, weird looking coral and everything else that makes up this fantastic underwater world.