Scuba certification - part 1

In February on 1993 I began a lengthy course comprising many weeks in order to become a certified open water scuba diver. I took this course with my lifelong friend Shawn. This is a memory I will probably never forget.

The course comprised practice diving in a pool, course work, and a written exam. All must be passed and approved by the scuba instructor. I completed all successfully with Shawn, but the last test was two open water dives. These were to take place in Florida.

The class packed up and headed to Florida for our dive. My buddy and partner could not go because of illness, but I was determined. Our destination was Clearwater, Florida.

We were told to meet at the boat dock at 8am. The gear would be there and we were to not be late. I as usual arrive early, boarded, put on my wetsuit and found my seat. Soon the rest of the class arrived and were greeted by the ship’s captain and 1^st mate. The boat was one similar to the one Quinn had in the movie Jaws, (just without the large mast) and yeah, my brain went there.

We were given instructions to stay seated, that the water was choppy and the visibility would be low because of recent storms. Everyone was accounted for. The 1^st mate untied the boat and off we went. Our first dive would take place 2.5 miles from shore at a sunken barge.

When we reached the destination, the 1^st mate grabbed a mask, a rope and a weight and jumped in the water. He had no scuba equipment, or breathing apparatus, just a heavy rock and rope and that mask. As soon as he hit the water, he was gone. I soon found out he was tying the rope to the barge below, and that was the quickest way for him to get to the bottom. I was a competitive swimmer and fully competent in the water, but holy crap!

We each were assigned a dive buddy (a guy I didn’t know) and were instructed to flip over the side in two’s, swim to the rope, check with your buddy and descend when you are both ready. As mentioned, the water was choppy, and we were told to use hand signals and not take our regulators out.

I entered the 62 degree water and instantly began hyperventilating. My wetsuit filled up with the cold water and it was not long before I was warm again. Wetsuits are like blankets of insulation. The thin layer between you and the neoprene suit is insulation once your body warms up that thin layer. I knew this but was not prepared for the shock in temperature of the water.

I caught my breath, swam the few feet to the rope and my buddy and I gave the matching thumbs up to each other. I had my vest full of air to help me float, so as I began letting the air out to head down, my buddy started down. I hurried to empty my air and descended. The visibility was awful. I could only see maybe 2 feet in front of me. I started going down but lost sight of my buddy. Rule one with scuba is NEVER dive alone. I had the rope in my hand and I was about 20 feet down when that message popped in my head. In that moment I was alone, so I stopped and headed back up.

Surfacing, the captain looked at me with concern and shouted what is wrong. Trying to talk with a regulator in my mouth was impossible. I took it out to tell him that my buddy left me. As I did, a wave hit me and I swallowed an enormous mouth of water. I choked and popped my regulator back in. I swam to the back of the boat and was helped back into the boat. I took my regulator back out and explained I was left by my buddy. The captain said hang on. I will have you go down with another group in a minute.

The waves rocked the boat, and that is when the salt water hit my belly and mixed with my breakfast. I moved to the side of the boat and my breakfast of waffles and bacon now entered the sea. Not once, but twice. I fell back on the boat deck and lay there as the 1^st mate reminded me why we don’t take our regulators out. Lesson learned.

I got back in and met up with two others and repeated the steps above. This time, however, I was able to descend to the bottom with them.

About 35 feet down, the visibility cleared, and I could see this massive barge appearing before me. My destination was roughly 35 feet below me. I touched bottom and swam around, seeing small fish and sea urchins all around. The allotted time was 20 minutes, and I spent that time exploring the rusty barge, looking at the fish and swimming around.

This was the first of two dives today. Dive one started off rocky, but ultimately I made it through. Little did I know what the next dive had in store for me next? I ascended, got back on the boat, and sat there as were first told we were headed back in about a mile to our last dive, then as a class we listened to a lecture on why we never leave our dive buddies and how our responsibility as divers was to ALWAYS know where our buddy was.

As the boat took off, the waves again made my stomach churn. I closed my eyes, took deep breaths, and hoped the next dive would be much less eventful. By the way, I was assigned a new buddy for the next dive. More to come.

Until next time,

Tim (Kilmer)