Monday 9/3 - First day of "work".

It's hard to really call this work, but that is what I'm here for.  So I'm going to use the word and not put it in quotes every time.  I am here to work for the dive shop while studying and being instructed on how to become a master diver.  Now, every once in a while a few non-work activities creep into my day and they are, dear reader, out of my control.  That being said, let me tell you about my first day at "work". 

It started out at 8am with the beginning of my Emergency First Response training.  Conducted in a classroom at the dive shop.  It's hot and isolated and I have to read and watch a video.  Followed by demonstration and attempting skills learned in the book and on the tape.  (Let me interject here that the dive shop has 3 dives a day.  at 9, 11:30, and 2:30 and sometimes a night dive once a week.  Also let me tell you that the 3 instructors teach a number of students at the same time.)  OK, so I'm watching the videos and reading and doing some skills when my instructor is asked at around 11am to take another student on a beginner course and would I mind if we only did half a day's work.  They offered that I could continue Tuesday with the final part of the EFR training, and that, if I wanted I could do a couple more fun dives at the mid morning and afternoon dives for free.  I could help the divemasters on those dives if I wanted to "practice" being a DMT(dive master in training).

So "student" becomes "employee" for "free".  I've just learned the definition of INTERN.  But I'd rather be under water than do anything else.

So my first dive of the day is to a spot called Octopus Acre, which was odd because the first thing we saw when we dropped down were a pair of squid.  If you don't dive, I'll need to apologize here because my descriptions in this blog won't be very, well, descriptive.  And I didn't bring an underwater camera.  But I'll do my best.  Diving here is like diving in an aquarium, that is over loaded with sealife, and in a hot tub.  The water temperature is in the 80s, the visibility is 100 feet or more, and Mother Nature sparred none of the box of Crayola crayons when she colored the life here(the big box).  The sun is out so the lighting is spectacular and the seas are calm with very little current.  For a diver, this is Mecca.  Or one of them.

The dive was lead by one of the DMTs as her last requirement before she becomes a DM.  It was beautiful and relaxed and fun.  We were diving for about an hour and were down at about 70 feet to start.

After some really great fish tacos at my favorite lunch places, called the Wet Spot, I followed another instructor on a dive where she was teaching a student Peak Performance Buoyancy.  This is where you adjust your weights your breathing and your BCD to achieve neutral buoyancy.  So you can stay at a certain level with very little effort and adjust your depth as you swim with just your breath.

The work part of all this is really before and after the dives.  I hump tanks, set-up and take-down gear, and clean and wash gear. 

I ended my day back at my room with my study materials and another beautiful sunset: