Cross posted on the Spot.Us blog.
An update from Lindsey Hoshaw who is preparing for her trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Today’s blog post – learning to scuba dive.
There is so much you don’t expect during your first underwater class, like that your instructor will tell you she’ll turn off your air supply so you can “get the hang of it,” or that mild panic attacks are common and even expected. Luckily I’ve managed to master both of these—not freaking out and taming the voice inside that says, “you’re sinking underwater, get out, abort!”
My first two dive sessions in the Menlo Park community pool have been great. My classmates—two Naval engineers—are good sports when I keep trying to take photos during class and when I ask seemingly ridiculous questions about how to float underwater.
And I’m expecting to see all sorts of wildlife up close during our open water dive in Monterey this weekend. And it’ll be a chance for me to test out my new underwater equipment—camera + plastic housing (hopefully) = a non-leaky underwater camera. Though my instructor said she’d had three leaks in her six years of diving. Apparently underwater camera insurance is a must.
My next pool session is tomorrow when I’ll have to swim 4oo meters and tread water for ten minutes. Before that I’m tested on what I remembered from the reading. Yep, there’s reading. It’s like being back in college except instead of economics equations I’m trying to remember how to stay alive while submerged in the middle of the ocean. Exactly, piece of cake.
