Julia Gates: My First Scuba Dive 8/5/09

My first interest in Scuba Diving evolved when I was at one of my favorite places in the world: the Georgia Aquarium. You see, the Ocean Voyager is one of the largest saltwater tanks on earth filled with 6 million gallons of water. Also "with 4,574 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel, 185 tons of acrylic windows and the second largest viewing window in the world at 23 feet tall by 61 feet wide and 2 feet thick. No other aquarium in the world has ever attempted to manage the variety and size of fish in this major exhibit." Excerpt from the GA Aquarium website: http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/exploreTheAquarium/oceanVoyager.aspx

In this tank, which is practically the size of a regulation football field, you can Scuba Dive with some of the most gentle giants of the world such as: manta rays, whale sharks, tiger sharks, stink rays, giant groupers and much much more.

Upon one of my visits to the aquarium (after a aquiring my annual pass) I was enlightend to see that people were brushin hand to fin with these sea creatures. To see the divers in the tank looked like a tremendous experience.

You might be thinking to yourself, why would I want to scuba dive in an enclosed tank, when I could be scuba diving in the beautiful reefs of the world?

1. The aquarium is in my back yard, why not scuba there?

2. It is a tank where the fish swim around you - not away from you.

3. There is no current to fight with.

4. NO Great Whites!

So my mission began. I called around, spoke with a handful of Dive Masters to find out what the process was, and how I should begin. I was directed to Divers Supply in Marietta, GA. There, they offer a FREE introductory class every first and third Wednesday of the month. (Please call ahead to sign up for class, you can find more info here: http://www.divers-supply.com/Divers-Supply-Marietta-C118.aspx.)

My instructors Dick (Certified Dive Master) and Howard (Certified Dive Instructor) were more than helpful and kind. They were very informative and patient with our "Beginners and Introduction to Scuba" class of eight.

[If I wanted to embarrass myself just a little] Divers Supply sends out an invitation via Gmail to remind you when you class is. Neither I, nor my diving buddies (ie: Deborah and Brittiny) looked at the date on the email. We all totally showed up the last Wednesday of July excited and ready to go... well, needless to say I was very disappointed I didn't get to scuba dive that night. So we picked up our sad little hearts off the floor and trudged out of the shop. We readily showed up the next Wednesday, which would be the first Wednesday of August (which the email was confirming in the first place). What can I say - I was excited... so note to self, check all aspects of email confirmations.

So, here is the checklist for preparation of scuba class:

-Arrive one week early(by no means mandatory or even recommended). CHECK

- Eager - just a little? CHECK - CHECK

-Arrive on correct day? CHECK IT THRICE

Now we are back on schedule:

Day of:

The instruction first starts out with basics; safety, equipment and predatory knowledge. After we pick out a mask ("they are not goggles" as Dick says), fins, BCD which is your Buoyancy Control Device (ie: the jacket that holds the heart of your equipment), and the regulator - we were ready to get into the water.

At this point my adrenalin starts picking up, I am so excited.

Then, we learned how to assist our partner in putting the equipment on- as it is easier to do that in the water since the tank is so heavy. You can see the equipment here sitting on the outside edge of the pool.

Once we got the BCD's on we were able to breathe through our regulators above water. It is very easy to breathe - but foreign as you are relying something else for air supply. Lets face it - thats Scuba.

Now its time to go underwater.

Task 1: Just Breathe

In this portion of the class we stay in the four foot shallow end. In a semi-circle we all put our regulators in our mouths above water, started to breathe, and went underwater... This was SO cool, so surreal and so bizarre. I am actually breathing underwater (LIKE A FISH!). The idea is to just sit down in the shallow end and relax, and get use to the feeling. This also tests your buoyancy too to see if you are a natural floater, sinker, or just neutral. To help me sink, or a gadget that can help regulate how fast you descend or ascend is my BCD jacket. I can inflate it with air and deflate it at a touch of a button.

Task 2: The Basic Hand Signals

-Thumbs down - lets go deeper

-Thumbs up- lets go higher

-OK sign (as shown to the right) - means I am good, I can breathe, and this is SWEET

After a few minutes of acclimating to being underwater and breathing seeing air bubbles float up in front of your face, looking around at other people that are breathing with you under water, we get a thumbs up to come up out of water to learn the next task.

Task 2: How To Take Out Our Mouth Piece (the regulator):

In a circumstance of your partner running out of air, to smile for a picture, or if the piece fell or got pulled out of your mouth by accident, you would be able to put it back in without sucking in a bunch of water that would then be in the mouth piece.

[Think about it] You could be 130 below sea level and your mouthpiece falls out... this is what you would do...

There is a button on the outside of the mouthpiece that you push and it blows the water out of it so you can put it back in your mouth. You can also breathe out whatever air you have left in your lungs to push out any water in the mouth piece, but it is very weird because when you go to breathe again, I thought I was going to suck in some H2O - that would be bad - but that doesn't happen. Sometimes there is a little water left in the mouthpiece, but you try and breathe in really slow to begin with until you know there is no water left in the mouthpiece. For the most part the magic button to get water out does the trick. Literally. Amazing.

Task 3:

Recovering the mouthpiece.

How do you find the mouthpiece if it falls out, gets knocked out, or its your turn to breathe? Put your right hand straight down by your side. Swoop it backward, lift in an upward motion, then move your arm toward the front of your body. Pretty much move your right arm from 6:00 to 9:00 COUNTER Clockwise. These are all simple recovery tasks, but they are a must know and it helps to learn about your equipment.

Task 4: Read Gauge

The gauge is on the bottom left of my BCD jacket. There are two gages, the top one exemplifies the depth I reached and the bottom shows how the PSI and air remaining in my tank.

[FYI] You should always head back to the boat when approaching 500 PSI for safety reasons.

This is Howard signaling to me and asking how much air I had left in my tank. I signal back pulsing a number 5 on my right hand three times equaling 15, then showed a number 2 with my hand, totalling to 17. Translation: add two zeros to get the PSI - so I was at 1700 PSI. A lot of breathing time left...and I took advantage of it!

NOW: TIME TO HAVE FUN!!!!!!! ONLY IF YOU HADN'T STARTED ALREADY!!!! (Which I had)

We moved from the 4 foot shallow end to the 10 foot deep end. We were able to swim around willingly, explore depths and play with Frisbees and torpedos. We threw the toys back and forth and made games out of it. There was even a small reef to explore :)

And I tell you what, if you hadn't been in a 10 ft. deep in a pool for a while you have to take your time and equalize when you swim. This is how the BCD jacket helps. I was able to let little bits of air out of it at a time allowing me to sink 1-3 feet, swim around, equalize, then do it again, release air, sink and equalize. This is major for scuba divers, you have to take your time as the pressure affects your body, lungs, and ears.

Its reciprocal is an airplane flight. One may swallow, pop your ears, or move your jaw because pressure is releasing from your body outward. When you are underwater, it is opposite. Your body is being compressed by denser waters. Plus, if you came up from 100 feet of water to quickly, you lungs could implode=bad news. This is a very cautious and dangerous sport and one can not abuse the basics.

So that in mind - I played frisbee, had fun, and swam like a fish!! Check it out: