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Aside from giant plankton blooms and a 5 hour wait for the ferry, the weekend went excellent.

We started at Whytecliff park on Saturday—finishing most of our required skills tests. Visibility was all of 2 feet (due to the bloom…bloody plankton). Not that that stopped us from having a look around.

On Sunday, we went to Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast. These swims seemed easier than Saturday’s—maybe due to a more relaxed setting or the Nitrox (enriched air). Visibility was definately better…especially on our second dive where we dipped to just above the 60ft mark.

There were plenty of creatures and plants, but the coolest was being within a few feet of a huge school of fish.

The trip back took a while. The ferry wasn’t running at it’s standard time.

I wasn’t going to let that spoil a perfectly good weekend though…especially since I’m now a certified diver!

From left to right—Me, Bobby (my buddy team), Sasha (the instructor), and Heike (Sasha’s friend and dive-master extraordinaire…even if she was off-duty)

The air we breathe is made mostly of two elements. Roughly an 79/21 Nitrogen/Oxygen split. There are various trace elements, but they are mostly insignificant.

Nitrogen can kill!

Normally, Nitrogen doesn’t build up in our bodies. We expel it quite easily. But, as a diver, this gas builds up over time and if you fail to pay attention, can lead to the bends (Nitrogen Narcosis) and possible death.

Which leads into the use of enriched air. By increasing the amount of Oxygen, you obviously decease the amount of Nitrogen. Reducing Nitrogen, increases your bottom times while deceasing your intake of this gas.

Oxygen can kill!

Normally, Oxygen is easily metabolised into our bodies—it has to be for us to use it. But, as a diver, the increased pressure at depth can cause this gas to have adverse effects on our body—most commonly, shutting down our central nervous system, causing convultions which then lead to us spitting out our regulator (the thing that supplies us with air) and drowning. Breathing pure Oxygen will kill you in 20 feet of water (Oxygen Toxicity).

So the objective is to stike a fine balance between Nitrogen build-up and Oxygen absorption. You are only allowed so much in a day of each.

For this you are taught charts and formuli that, while not being advanced calculus, are intensive none the less.

You are forced to trust them implicitly. They are based on decades of research (military, private and public sectors) and there use has been proven successful with time. Very few accidents occur when using enriched air properly.

Try to keep that thought in mind while I’m floating under 40-50 feet of ocean breathing 36% oxygen this weekend.

Let this be a lesson to you all.

Don’t drink Red Bull within an hour or two of going to bed.

It really does wake you up… or in my case, keep you awake when you should be sleeping.

Yesterday, I had my fourth contained water dive.

But before that, we had to do a ten minute survival swim. As mentioned earlier, I don’t remember much about floating.

In a fret, I looked up some basics (mainly on teaching children to float) and generally prayed that the float test wouldn’t happen.

It did.

I got in the water, kicked back, breathed deep, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I was floating…easily! I could have went 20 minutes as opposed to the regular ten.

This may have been due to my natural bouyancy or my quick re-education on-line, but because I believe people don’t generally get a “muscle memory” exercise entirely correct on the first try, I have to believe that part of it was retained information from years ago.

And so I say thanks to Uncle Dale, for teaching me. I remember being pretty sloppy back then, but I’ve got it figured now.

PS. The rest of the dive was hugely successful too.

I’ve known for a while that I was getting a little heavy around the midsection.

I even stepped on the industrial scale at work to weigh myself and it said GET OFF! Actually, it said “Error”, but I think the meaning is pretty clear.

When I jumped in the pool for lesson 3 of my scuba lessons, imagine my surprise when I couldn’t reduce bouyancy enough to sink to the bottom.

That’s right. Fat Floats!

Probably didn’t help that I was tricked out in my new gear. Really just some fins, a snorkel and mask, but the neoprene from the boots (they’re adjustible strap fins) and my previously purchased vest are adding to my bouyancy.

My instructor took off his belt and tied it to my tank for added weight.

That helped.

He said everyone breathes deep/heavy at first (I tend to out of the water as well). Control comes with experience and is easier in the ocean.

That much was obvious, as he finished the dive without his belt—maintaining his levels with lung pressure alone. He even demonstrated a hover without it.

I will practice more.