Hello everyone!
This weekend marked the start of my scuba diving course! In case you didn't know, scuba diving is a water activity in which divers use compressed air to breathe underwater. This allows divers to stay down much longer, dive deeper, and explore more than someone breathing from the surface. I figured that if I were to get my scuba certification, it would be best to do it here, where I can actually dive in the ocean instead of a lake or river (and it's much cheaper through UH!!).
The course I am taking is the basic Open Water Diving Certification. Upon completion of the course, I am certified to dive up to 60 ft underwater, which is great for recreational and possibly scientific use.
The past two days, we learned to read dive tables, how to put together and disassemble our equipment, and practiced a variety of skills needed to become a successful scuba diver. We completed 5 confined water dives, which took place in the campus pool. The hardest thing to get used to for me was breathing the compressed air. Because it is pressurized, you really don't have to work to inhale, but you do have to work to exhale. Also, it was difficult for me to get used to breathing only through my mouth- I really only breathe through my nose on a normal day. However, after a few hours it was much more comfortable and I was able to complete the other skills relatively easily. Some other things we did included clearing a flooded mask, obtaining neutral buoyancy, and swimming while sharing air with a buddy, along with many others. I'm pretty confident with my skills now and I am super excited to try them out in the ocean next weekend!
Hope you all are well :)
This weekend marked the start of my scuba diving course! In case you didn't know, scuba diving is a water activity in which divers use compressed air to breathe underwater. This allows divers to stay down much longer, dive deeper, and explore more than someone breathing from the surface. I figured that if I were to get my scuba certification, it would be best to do it here, where I can actually dive in the ocean instead of a lake or river (and it's much cheaper through UH!!).
The course I am taking is the basic Open Water Diving Certification. Upon completion of the course, I am certified to dive up to 60 ft underwater, which is great for recreational and possibly scientific use.
The past two days, we learned to read dive tables, how to put together and disassemble our equipment, and practiced a variety of skills needed to become a successful scuba diver. We completed 5 confined water dives, which took place in the campus pool. The hardest thing to get used to for me was breathing the compressed air. Because it is pressurized, you really don't have to work to inhale, but you do have to work to exhale. Also, it was difficult for me to get used to breathing only through my mouth- I really only breathe through my nose on a normal day. However, after a few hours it was much more comfortable and I was able to complete the other skills relatively easily. Some other things we did included clearing a flooded mask, obtaining neutral buoyancy, and swimming while sharing air with a buddy, along with many others. I'm pretty confident with my skills now and I am super excited to try them out in the ocean next weekend!
Hope you all are well :)
That is so cool! What an amazing place to learn an awesome new skill!
ReplyDelete~Hannah, AEPC