SCUBA Adventure Part 4

Class is finished, test is taken (100%!!), paperwork is turned in, and one open-water dive is done! We are definitely in the home stretch of getting certified! We have done all the skills we need to do, and tomorrow brings just two "fun dives" plus 2 little things that we didn't fit in today.

Let me tell you, that water is COLD!! The wetsuit really does an amazing job keeping you warm, but the water is still in direct contact with your face, and, at the end of our second dive today, I was actually taking water into the regulator with each breath because my lips were too numb to keep a tight seal! The outside temperature was around 39 degrees, and the water temp. was 41 degrees! It actually did spit some snow, and then, about an hour after we got out of the water, it started hailing:
Crazy, crazy weather! But, I've been told that if I can dive in these conditions, I can dive anywhere. It was pretty cool seeing all the stuff just sitting at the bottom of Puget Sound (a rusted-out VW Bug, a boat frame, a dishwasher-I think, starfish, crabs, fish-though not that many where we were, etc). I've heard from several people that diving in the Pacific Northwest is actually some of the best diving anywhere, so that's pretty cool. I still think I'd rather be floating lazily along in just a dive-skin looking at tropical fish and coral reefs rather than be held back by a huge wetsuit and all this extra gear that's necessary for cold-water diving. Maybe we'll move to Hawaii...:) Anyway, all this to say, cold-water diving is not nearly as bad as I was picturing it, and I would definitely encourage anyone interested to find a class and sign up! Oh, and make sure you find a class where the instructors (or at least one of them) have a sense of humor and can make the whole process fun. It's so nice to have someone experienced who can take your mind off of any anxieties you might have. You end up just doing what needs to be done without really thinking about it because your instructor is sticking his tongue out at you the whole time or making you play patty-cake with him (all underwater of course). Things like that are what make the class...:) One more day of diving and I will be a Level 1 diver! (Don't get too excited, that's just 5 dives and the levels go all the way up to 5,000 dives!)