Sebastian made me do it....

"Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Down where it's wetter
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin'
Full time to floatin'
Under the sea"

This song has been "floatin'" through my head since my last dive a little over a week ago.  For any of you who have never been down 60' you can't really apreciate what Sebastian and I have been singing about.  For anyone who has been down there and deeper, you know that it truly is, "Better down where it's wetter! Under the Sea!" 

Just a quick update over the past few weeks, especially while completing my Open Water Course and talking about future dives and courses, I have received several comments from people, either in person, on Facebook, or via email asking me what was next and when and where was I diving.  So I have created the "In Over My Head" Calendar, I have detailed on it the courses that I have already signed up for that will be taking place over the next 12 months and i will be updating the calendar with any of the fun or recreational dives I will be doing.  If any of you have an interest in joining me for any of the courses feel free to contact me or Ocean Pro Divers and we'll make sure you all set up.  If anyone is looking for a dive buddy and you want to join me on one of my dives, send me a message and we'll get it sorted out, also in any of you are planning dives and you are interested in having more in your group let me know and if I can make it I will add it to the calendar and we'll get it all set-up. 

Keep checking back for updates or sign up and follow the blog so you don't miss any of the action next week when I start my Advanced program with Virpi.

Seals to Emergencies

Today marked one of my most exciting days of diving to date, our schedule today was meet at Whytecliffe Park, check out the site, discuss our dives, gear-up and hit the water.  Upon arrival we were greeted by a smiling face saying "You must be Andrew?", with surprise and a little trepidation I agreed and laughing and obviously realizing my surprise, Ward Conley (again another in the long line of amazing staff and DM's from Ocean Pro) introduced himself and advised that he was just speaking with Virpi and had had noticed us and Virpi figured it was me.  Once our whole team arrived, we geared up and headed out for our first dive of the day.   Our morning dive was fan-freakin-tastic!  The wildlife we saw on our tour with Dennis including nudibranchs, crabs, jelly fish and a few of our team even saw (and a couple swam with) a seal.. of course I didn't see it... some partners they turned out to be... lol.  We moved through our skills, complete mask removal and replace, and our open water C.E.S.A. (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent) finishing the ascent by manually inflating our BCD's to maintain buoyancy.  We finished our morning moving into shallower water for our weight belt removal and recovery and then our BCD removal and recovery.  Weight belts are much harder to replace in open water, with current and waves from the ferries banging into you, plus the additional weight in the BCD makes it hard to lift to get the weight belt secured above the hips.  I was able to finish the weight belt and move on to my BCD, now this would have been a viral YouTube video if someone had caught it... here I am trying to squirm my way out of my floating wet, vest while battling current and waves... OH, HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!  I probably looked like a hippo having a seizure... lol.  Now it pays to note at this point in time, especially for family and friends who read this and are going to ban me from diving... lol, there are releases on the shoulders of the BCD that I could have released and would in an emergency, but given that I knew I had to put this back on... and not wanting to have to wrestle with getting the clips back together, I chose the seizing hippo method.

Now with the BCD off, and me trying not to sink.. lol, it is time to show Virpi it is off and then... get it back on.  YEAH ME, more hippo imitations!  Actually truth be known, getting it back on wasn't nearly as hard as it was in the pool, I went one step at a time, pushed my tank down, sat on it, spun it around behind me, put my arms in the straps and slid off letting the tank and BCD rise to my back... bing, bang, boom... straps done up and I was done... and then.. oh yeah.. the words I have been wanting to hear... Virpi looks me in the eyes, shakes my hand and says, "Congratulations on becoming a certified open water diver."  YEEHAW!! I'm sure I was smiling from ear to ear when I got out of the water and headed up to switch tanks and grab a snack and water before kitting up for my last open water dive and my Dry suit certification. 

The afternoon was not what any of us were expecting, we managed our trek up the hill with our empty tanks and back down with our incredibly heavy full tanks, got them attached to our BCD's, regs fitted, pressure on, gauges checked and ready to dawn our kits and gear for our last Open Water dive and the final step in our Dry suit certification, when the worst sound you can ever hear crossed the bay and reached our ears....
HELP!!
The details of what happened to cause the emergency are unclear, and not mine to share even if they were not.  What details have been made public, and the most accurate account out of all the reports I have seen so far of what happened can be read in the Vancouver Province's article ~ Woman critical after West Van scuba diving accident.  What I will say though, and I hope this is apparent in my writing, I am SO proud to be a part (however small) of Ocean Pro Diving.  The reactions and selfless actions of Ward and Dennis (our Dive masters for the day) who went in the water to assist with just masks and fins, of Virpi who co-ordianated our team (her students) on the beach in seconds sending one for the first-aid kit and emergency air, while another to phone 911 and me to assist at the shore as divers came in and to relay messages.  I applaud the efforts and actions of the men and woman of the Police, Fire and Rescue, Ambulance Service and Coast Guard, I was honored to see how tight the dive community is, and how it pulls together to help a diver in need, I was proud to see how quickly my dive family responded, I was excited to see the rescue boat and hovercraft and BC Ambulance helicopter and if I never see any of it again..... it'll be too soon! 

I have been asked a couple times since the incident, "How are you doing?" and "Are you still going to Dive?".  The answers to those are, "I don't know" and most resoundingly "YES!."  This incident this weekend has shaken me, in my life and various work I have seen far too many people hurt, injured, dying and in many cases gone, but despite this it does not desensitize you but only further reminds you of the reality that we are only mortal and accidents can happen.  The Ocean Pro staff did an amazing job debriefing everyone after the incident and Shannon has even phoned to ensure everyone is ok.  Dennis was able to point out that in his 15+ years of diving and over 1500 logged dives he has only seen the Ambulance Helicopter called in 4 times.  So all things considered I don't see diving as any more dangerous now than I did when I started my course, it is an amazing world down there, but like most amazing things in this world it must be approached with the respect and preperation it deserves.  I will continue to dive, hopefully for many, many, many years and hope I am never in a situation like I was this weekend again.  But I will be prepared! This is why, despite any other decisions or courses to take, i will be completing my EFR (Emergency First Response), Rescue and Emergency O2 Provider courses as soon as possible.

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures on diving... after all.... I still need to log my final Dry suit dive for my Dry suit certification...

If it ain't broke don't fix it.... and from SORTED to super STARS

I have always laughed at the people who look at skydiving and question, "why would you ever jump out of a perfectly good plane?"  I laughed that is until last night where I found myself asking "why would you ever remove a perfectly good mask or regulator?"  You see last nights pool skills were on switching from snorkel to regulator and on mask recovery. The snorkel to regulator is simple enough and is required so that you can surface swim using your snorkel, see what's below you, reach your site, and instead of coming out of the water you simply exhale slowly switch from snorkel to regulator, clear your regulator, continue to breathe (cause you never stopped!) and start your descent. You practice this by swimming across the pool on the surface switching back and forth between snorkel and regulator, makes perfect sense. The mask recover is a different story, for this you descend to the bottom of the pool, not the shallow-end mind you, where if you panicked you could just stand up... no we are 12 feet down sitting in the deep-end of the pool with Roger Fordham (who I hope to get to know better as I progress to the next levels of training) and his Rescue Diver class right above our heads.  Virpi now guides us gently to the ground ensuring we follow the "SORTED" (Signal, Orientate, Regulator, Time, Equalize and Descend) method. After most of us are seated / kneeling on the bottom Virpi kindly demostrates how you remove your mask and calmly (this is key) continue to breathe (another key ingredient for success) with your mask in your hand for a full minute.  At the end of this minute she will signal or tap you to indicate you can now put your mask on your face, clear it and carry on "calmly," sitting 12 feet underwater with the occasional weight belt dropping from above... weee.  We are able to see multiple methods for breathing through this minute, including inhale / exhale regulator and inhale regulator exhale nose, and encouraged to use the method best suited for us.  Remarkably... panic, inhale through your nose and race to the surface before you die was not an option....lol.  I must admit as I write this though, it sounds a lot harder than it is... who would have thought that this amazing creation called the human body has some natural abilities and intelligent design, like the fact that your nostrils face down... come on everyone... think back to being a kid and flipping a cup over in the sink or a bucket in the pool.. that's right air gets trapped... same thing with your nose, as long as you remain calm (go figure) your nose will keep air trapped and the water does not rush in!  So here I am, 12 feet down, mask off, eyes closed, remaining calm, and waiting for that reassuring tap on the arm to say, "Hey Andrew, you didn't die, put your mask back on."  The tap comes, mask on, cleared and still breathing smoothly, give Virpi the "ok" sign get my congratulatory pat on the arm and hand shake that makes you feel like you really might be able to do this and then relax with the classmates who have finished and watch the rest of the class try not to panic as their turn arrives. It is later explained that you learn this skill in case your partner accidentally knocks your mask off.... I'm liking partners less an less... first their taking my air... now knocking my mask off...lol, of course I'm thinking, Lord help anyone who knocks my mask off, they might find themselves doing a "full kit" recovery... lol.  So here is hoping that I never need to do a mask recovery but at least I know I can do it if I need to... the key there is need... lol.  So time runs out and we end our night ascending to the surface under Virpi's direction as diving super STARS (Signal, Time, Air, Reach, Survey).

So for those of you who had a good laugh at my Fitness test, you will enjoy the conversation I had with Michael Klaver (another of Ocean Pros amazing Dive Masters and soon to be Open Water Instructor).  Michael served as Dive Master for last nights class and was present when, during the book part of class, Virpi advised, much to my relief, that they would be no fitness test, and with a smile on her face and just to poke a little fun at me said  "But maybe we'll have Andrew tread water for a few minutes."  Michael was quick to catch on that this was not my favorite part of the course so far and pointed out what it required to qualify for Dive Master.  For  those of you who are squeamish or physically unfit like me.. you might want to turn away.. this is not for younger audiences... physically fit supervision highly recommended....lol. Apparently  to qualify for Dive Master you have to pass a multi-part test including laps beyond what I can count never mind swim, and a 15 minute tread with the last of it spent with your arms in the air.. not an easy feat.  There are also injured diver swims, and a whole array of other things that made my head spin and then to top the whole thing off with a bright red bow and a cherry on top, you have to complete the whole thing within an aggressive time limit!  I'm thinking the only part of that I could do at this point in time is the injured diver swim and only then as the injured diver... lol.

Who knows what the pool holds for my next visit, 3 chapters to review, 1 more set of review questions to complete and section 5 of the DVD all before the 17th when next I venture to class, gear up and join my class as we follow Virpi and our Dive Master of the night to explore new skills and new adventures... to boldly go where hundreds have gone before... the bottom of the pool!.

"Fitness... I don't need no stinkin' fitness"

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!"

It all starts with a dream….

I have always loved the water; my parents have often been heard telling the stories about our pool in the backyard.  As the story goes, by the time the winter cover was off, I was in the pool.  60 degrees, green with algae and filled with bugs, it never bothered me, it was all about the adventure under the water.  Over the years I have been a little slower in getting in, the water feels a bit colder and I’m a little keener than I used to be to jump in the shower to wash off the grime.  But despite my love for the water, and my search for adventures, diving is something I never looked into seriously… until now!

It wasn’t long ago one of my closest friends Scott returned from a trip to Hornby Island where he had an opportunity to swim with the sea lions, and see the abundant and spectacular life that lays beneath the waves, that no one ever truly experiences unless they are there, 30 - 60 feet under water.  After hearing of Scott’s experiences and seeing the photos and videos, the spark was set in place, the thought, however distant, that I too, could experience the vast wonders of life below the waves.

It has now been a few months, and that little spark has grow to a dream, a dream that I could combine my great passion for photography with my new found excitement for diving and capture the images of the deep.  Now through much research into Organizations, Certifications, Shops, staff, equipment, etc and the dive sites of BC, I have decided to get my training and certification through Ocean Pro Diving in White Rock.

Not only is the owner of Ocean Pro, Shannon Kozak, one of only 1200 people in the world to hold the designation of Course Director for PADI (the world’s largest dive organization) but the store staff are incredible as well.  Every staff member is very highly trained and each were willing to take all of the time necessary to ensure I had all of the details about equipment, how the program runs and how to get started.  Both of the staff (Ashley Graham and Stewart Hoyt ) that I met on my first visit to Ocean Pro emphasized one major key to the Ocean Pro philosophy, and that is the importance of not just great instruction but getting back in the water as much and as soon as possible following your course to really ingrain the knowledge and skills learned.  They did not try to get me to sign up for anything nor buy anything, I hadn't even committed to diving with them, yet much of the time spent was in inviting me to their free group dives, letting me know about the discounts on rentals available for those group dives and even encouraging my family to join them for the barbecues that occasionally follow the dives.  It was apparent that it was less about pumping through as many new divers as possible and more about introducing individuals to an amazing new world. Little time was spent trying to convince me they were the best shop to dive with... maybe they realize that the shop, and their attitudes, speak for themselves, and that is why, in early August I will start my Open Water course with Ocean Pro and they will get me “In over my head."