Advanced Scuba Diving Certification

Christian and I got our advanced scuba diving certification this last weekend. We took the class with David and Cindy. I was a little nervous since we would be doing a deep dive and I am not the best scuba diver. It always takes me a little while to get acclimatized to wearing the mask and breathing through my mouth. But the scuba instructor was very good. He taught me a trick to help me descend and ascend better. That helped me feel more in control so I didn't have trouble clearing my ears as much. (That is where you plug your nose and blow so it releases the pressure in your ears.) Since I could clear my ears easier and less frequently, my mask wouldn't fill up as often. So...I didn't have to try to do three things as once and start to panic a little. Thus, I enjoyed scuba diving a lot more than I ever have before.

Here are some pictures of all of us. Of course they are only the ones of us on land. You will have to wait for the underwater ones until I get Christian's film developed.

Our scuba instructor, Andy (he's English). He is giving us our first lesson before the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive.

Christian is putting a tank on his BCD.

David is helping Cindy out of her wetsuit. They can be difficult at times.

Christian is checking his underwater camera before he goes into the lake.

You have to make sure that you drink a lot of water. On our very first scuba dive a year ago we didn't bring any water. We learned really fast to make sure to bring some so you don't become overheated or dehydrated.

One of the chairs was a wobbly one. I almost fell in it a couple of times. Unfortunately, Cindy really did fall. And she got wedged between the fallen chair and another chair someone was sitting in. She could not get up no matter what. Finally Jim got out of his chair and helped Cindy get up. Christian took a picture of it.

After our last scuba dive, Christian and I went to David and Cindy's house for dinner and games. We played several games and during one of the games, David brought out some hats for us to wear.

Christian didn't mind wearing this hat -- that surprised me. He kept bonking the hat back and forth.

It looks like Christian is backing away from Merlin...and he is :)))

Christian retaliated on Merlin - he ended up upside down.

The game night was filled with laughter :)))