December
19, 2000
The Old
Man and The Sea
Later
that afternoon...
"Well,
it looks like you're stuck with the old man", he said.
I was standing in the equipment room (David had gone out
on a second dive) when Phil walked in. Phil is the head
of the scuba program here at AKR and leads the instructor's
classes. He's 54 and about my height with a heavily lined
face.
He told me he had no instructors available today, so I was
stuck with him, but that he'd have me diving better than
anyone on the boat and that I'd get a credit toward an advanced
open water certificate by doing this dive with him. Essentially,
it was a Peak Performance Buoyancy Control class. I tried
to explain to him what happened and I was so overwhelmed
that I burst into tears, something I had fortunately avoided
doing on the boat.
Today
is my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom, I'm glad I
didn't die today. How much would that suck for her? I thought
about calling her, but I won't because I know I'll break
down and tell her what happened and she'll freak out.
At
2 PM I met up with Phil at the scuba school and watched
a half hour video on buoyancy control. It was fairly straightforward
except that it was narrated by Richard Blade, which is only
odd if you're from Southern California, since he's a former
DJ for the local radio station KROQ. By the time the video
was done, a storm had come in and buckets of rain were dropping
from the sky. We did the class anyway; once you're in the
water, you're wet.
I won't go into the details of the class, but I did learn
a few things. First, I had probably been over weighted on
my first dive. Second, my new mask doesn't fit properly
(too big for my face) and my new fins and booties make my
legs too buoyant, making decent difficult. Then, I re-learned
how to breathe properly and kick properly. I did have a
couple of moments of panic but I managed to control it.
And
along the way, in the channel where we did the class, I
got to see the remains of a sunken plane and larger spiny
lobsters than I ever saw in all my time as a chef. By the
end, Phil was pleased with my performance and I felt better.
Part
9:
Coxen Hole Wanderings