And the real lesson is…
That its much easier for me to Scuba than it is to empty my ears.
I seem to suffer from a non-painful, but still irritating, version of swimmer’s ear. It took me hours after class last night to finally purge them (thanks to a hint that pouring a little rubbing alcohol or hydrogen pyroxide in would help to both envelop the water and protect against more serious infection).
I also hurt like hell after having to swim eight lengths of the pool. I’ve never swam lengths. Ever. Come to think of it, I don’t remember taking anything other than a few swimming lessons when I was really young (I’m thinking four or five-ish). I learned to float from my uncle (Uncle Dale) and I don’t do that well either (that’s not a slight against his teaching ability. I just don’t remember alot about that). Most of my other normal swimming is self taught.
On a brighter note, we were in the deep end and had to take our masks completely off—only breathing from the regulator for a minute. And we did an Out of Air simulation—where the instructor, Sasha (who is awesome, by the way. We’re learning a ton), turned off our air supply. We actually got to see the guage on our dive computers drop and feel what it was to take our last breaths from the tank (you feel it before you’re completely empty), at which point he opens the valve, allowing you to breath again.
I actually breathed as much as I could before giving the Out of Air signal—draining what little air remained in the regulator first stage (the valve and tube leading to the regulator, known formaly as the second stage).
Air surrounds us every moment of every day we’re above ground, but even at ten meters deep, it becomes a precious commodity not to be taken lightly.
I feel strangely at peace in the water, in spite of that fact.