Your My Philosophy

I went for my scuba certification this weekend to try and wrap up my trip here. Started with book work on Friday which prepared me for the two open water dives on Saturday. I woke up at the crack of dawn (4:30am) in order to get on the boat by 5:30am. We were headed to the island of Floreana, about two hours by boat almost directly south of Santa Cruz.


The water was the choppiest I've ever seen, and we were in a smaller boat that I've been on as well. It was soo bad that out of the 8 people on the boat we would fly off the crest of a wave, 4 of us would get about 4 feet of air (close to a simulated weightlessness in a plane but cheaper) and then SLAM back down no longer perched on our seats. Much like a tangle of Barrel of Monkeys we slowly moved back to our seats just to have it all happen again next swell. While that was bundles of fun we watched the sunset come up as we pull into our dive sit at 8am. Named Punta Comorant dive site one was right off the northeastern tip of Floreana to the East of Devils Crown. Curious sea lions are greeting our boat as the water is clear enough to see the 10 meters to the bottom.

Our dive was to start in the shallow 8 meter area while slowly descending to a maximum depth of 14 meters for the first dive. I'm suiting up ready to get all Navy Seal on the world and enter the water commando style dropping in backwards off the boat. I think pictures would sum up the rest of the day better than me rambling...so enjoy.

 

literally a wall of fish



hammerhead

Overall it was a pretty crazy experience because breathing underwater is quite the feeling seeing that your in a place that humans shouldn't be. You have to be calm while not freaking out so you use up all your air. On top of just crusing around the bottom I was being tested/skills checked for doing things like taking my mask off underwater and putting it back on, or taking out my respirator n just blowing bubbles. We ended up diving twice which were awesome spots to see some wildlife. I just took my exam and passed with flying colors. My ears took a toll however, on the way down the pressure is redicoulous but once you equalize them your content for quite some time. But then on the way back up I felt like someone was ripping the inside of my ear out with a tweezers. Not the most pleasant feeling and it was bad enough that I couldn't hear very well when I got back after the two hour boat ride. As I type this now, I still feel like I'm living in my head...So on that note I didn't dive on Sunday and plan to dive again on Wednesday instead...hopefully my sinuses cooperate because I would really love to take a break and head out of the office on Wednesday. Times winding down and I'm looking forward to getting home seeing and squeezin the people who I miss most.