For anyone who has ever completed the fitness requirement to start diving, you know how untrue that title is... but I'll get to that later.
So here's the story of my first night of diving. I was more excited than a child on Christmas morning, Jenn (my wife) is watching me bounce off the walls, I'm packed for class with my swim shorts on, I've double and triple checked my homework, ensured I haven't missed anything on my student folder and even reread some of the highlighted areas of my dive manual and I still don't get to leave for nearly 2 hours!
So the grueling 2 hours go by, I make the quick drive from Delta to White Rock to get to Ocean Pro and head on in. At first I thought I was late, Shannon is standing in front of a class teaching... oh no... did I get the time wrong, did I miss something.. could Ashley have written it down wrong... impossible. Shannon see's me coming in and confirms I am there for the Open Water Course and upon confirmation she lets me know she is just finishing up with another class, lots happening tonight. (Apparently I am not the only one that realizes how great this shop is.) Shannon then points me into the shop and encourages me to look around... muhahaha... this is like opening the candy store for a child and telling him to look around to see if there is anything he wants... I WANT IT ALL!!
After playing with some weights, and trying on gloves, and looking at accessory after accessory, I am introduced to, what I will later learn is one of the best instructors around, my instructor Virpi Kangas. She lets me know we'll be starting in a few minutes and to... you guessed it... have a look around... lol.
By the time class starts (and I've only been in the store 15 minutes) I'm researching having my paychecks direct deposited to the store so that I can buy one or two of everything. Not that I'm greedy, but it all looks so much fun!
So class starts, there are 6 in my class including me, Virpi introduces herself, says her name once and I realize... I'm gonna need options. Such a beautiful name and the way she says it adds that extra something to it, I start saying it in my head and I realize we have a problem...lol. Fortunately Virpi advises we can call her Virpi (can you see the difference, one has a fancy roll to it and the other, not so much... lol) or we can call her V. Without the roll I'm ok and I feel less worried that I'm going to kill someones name. We all get out our folders and Virpi reviews to ensure everything is complete.. and who is the superstar who has everything completed... you guessed it.. ME! (Thanks to Ashley not letting me leave the shop the Thursday before until after I had completed most of it and she had walked me through the rest putting a star * beside everything that needed completing.) So after folders are done, we start to go through the units 1 & 2, most of us have our homework done and we review question by question, then on to Quiz #1.... 10 out of 10, yeah me, this diving stuff is easy... lol. Boy was I wrong.. now we were off to the pool....
Here is where the title fits in and my thoughts on the physical requirements go out the window, now the weight of the equipment was, as expected, not a problem for me. My problem came with the announcement of a Fitness test. Not a "Hey can you comfortably lift a BCD, tank attached and support it while your partner gets in"... this was a, swim 8 lengths (4 laps) of the pool, no stopping or you start again. So off we go... I'm on length 3/8 (1.5 of my required 4 laps) when the thought hits me... "I'm out of shape"... by length 5/8 (2.5 of my required 4 laps) I'm praying "God strike me dead, I'm not gonna make it"... at the end of 6/8 (3 of my 4 laps down) I am swimming on my back (and have been for a bit) and look up to see Virpi cheering me on from the side, "Only one more to go!" Ok, great, now I can't quit, I've got a cheering section... lol. So we finish the swim, I get out, and I am feeling muscles in my legs I didn't know existed and remembering joints that were hurt so long ago I can barely remember how I hurt them. I'm not feeling so much the superstar at this point... I'd have given up my 10 / 10 on the quiz and being all done my worksheets and folder for a slightly easier time with the swim... at this point I want to die. We are now fortunate enough to have a break, a few minutes while Virpi shows us the equipment set-up, how to get the tank attached to the BCD, attaching regulators, clipping in hoses, etc. I'm getting excited again... then the announcement... "Ok, now on to our 10 minute tread..." Good news!... now I get to tread water with already sore muscles for longer than I have ever tried before, without touching the sides and not drowning.... I won't walk through the gory details but that 10 minutes seemed like 20 and by 20 I mean hours! ~ note to self: FITNESS IS IMPORTANT ~
So 10 minutes is up, out of the pool we get, muscles are sore, breathing is off and I'm thinking I'm going to die before this night is over.... I think I did. Died and went to heaven that is! Under the supervision of Virpi and Dennis Chow (one of the shops most highly qualified and trained Dive Masters and Instructors), we start to build our kits, dawn our wetsuits and boots and then assist our partners into their gear. Then grabbing masks, snorkels and fins (never call them flippers, Flipper's a Dolphin, Divers have fins!!), we head off to the shallow end of the pool, climb into the pool, put on our fins and masks and upon instruction lower into the water and breathe for the first time.. under water! What an AMAZING experience!
I won't go through all the details of the skills we covered, aside from saying watching the video and reading the required chapters does help, but most important of all, is having a great instructional team and paying very close attention to what they tell you and show you.
Is my life any different after one class, you bet it is. I learned to breathe under water, communicate under water, recover my regulator, clear my mask and even share air with my partner if it was needed... what did you do Tuesday night?
My only question at this point... outside of tank changes, why does anyone ever surface? I love this new world. Thursday can't come quick enough, and who knows what the deep end of the pool holds.
I can't wait to dive again, but I won't hold my breath... cause that breaks rule #1 of diving "NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH!"
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