Scuba Diving 101

 WHAT????  I can hear you now ... not really, but I'm sure that's what you said when you read Scuba Diving 101.  It was Tuesday.  There's not much going on around here on a Tuesday.   The wind blew so hard I had no intention of going outside, although I did trek out once to try and find my rubber mats.  One was at the bottom of the hill, the other stuck in a palo verde tree.

Cooper wasn't much help in the entertainment department, so I spent the good part of two hours vacuuming my house.  I know, shocker, right?  

Since that's not the least bit interesting to talk about, other than I now have to repair the plaster where I accidentally slammed the heavy vacuum into the wall, I'll tell you something else about me I bet you didn't know.  I'm a scuba diving instructor.  Did you see THAT coming?

Don't ask me why I chose it because I don't know.  My Mom, being the good Mom, put the fear of God into me when it came to water and oceans.  You will get drug out to sea and drown.  Maybe this was just to prove her wrong.  

I took lessons in a swimming pool with a brand new instructor from an accredited Padi Diving School.  Surprisingly, there is a LOT to learn, including all about the equipment because that's what's going to save your life when "IT" happens.  In my career, IT happened a lot and luckily I'm still here to talk about it.

This is your BCD ... buoyancy compensation device.  Valves put air in or dump air out of the vest to keep you from rushing to the surface, whereupon you will get nitrogen in your blood and die.  It's that simple.

I have to say it was a really big feat for me to actually breathe under water in the shallow end of the pool.  My brain kept saying you can't breathe under water and PANIC ... did you forget you were claustrophobic?  This regulator is what lets you breathe compressed air from the tank.  The first tank lasted about 15 minutes before I sucked it dry.  The good news was all I had to do was stand up.

You attend class after class, truthfully learning how to survive (and not drown) under any number of circumstances.  There wasn't much mention of the fish or sharks we would be swimming around with in Monterey where our final test would be taken.  If you survive Monterey diving, you can dive anywhere in the world with ease.

I wasn't the least bit confident I would survive the four dives that would certify me as a scuba diver.  The water is freezing cold ... like 40's and 50's ... you can't see much due to the sand from the wave action and THEN you are required to take your mask off and put it back on ... you know, in case your really bad partner knocks it off your face.  

Did I mention you have to have a partner to dive?  Never dive alone.  You should always be within 3 feet of your partner.  I'm pretty sure my husband's goal was to drown me for my life insurance.  Maybe I watch too much TV.  

I passed the written exam and all four dives by the skin of my teeth, but was so claustrophobic to go under water in the cold and dark that I wasn't a very good diving partner.  I tended to swim around on TOP of the water.  The only way to get better (you know how stubborn I am) was to go back and take every class they offered.  In no time I felt great ... in the pool.

The next big test would be a dive to 100 feet ... a deep water certification.  On several occasions I panicked, and I was only driving down the highway trying to imagine just how deep 100 feet was.  Twice that telephone pole ... okay, that's not too bad.  

Well ..... the day finally came and everything that could possibly go wrong, DID.  I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.  Let's just say I'm lucky to be alive.

In the meantime, here's the latest from Hello Fresh.  I signed back up with them for a couple of months to see if their menu was any better.  This company sends everything in brown paper bags.

Meal ONE.  Shrimp and spaghetti with a kick.  There was one lone hot pepper in there and directions said to slice HALF of it up very thin.  They forgot to tell me to wear rubber gloves.  It was VERY tasty, super simple to make and had a little kick to it.  

Little did I know that KICK would not wash off my hands no matter how many dishes I washed nor how much soap I used.  Twenty four hours later I happened to scratch my eye.  Man oh man that hurt!!!  I couldn't open my eye for 30 minutes!!  

I'll be eating this for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days, that's how much it made.  Anyway, the house is now clean and I'm on to sorting through all that CRAP, I mean good stuff I took out of the other motorhome.  I'm pretty sure it's not going to fit in the new rig.