In Jan, we decided to take on this adventure that had been on the bucket list. It had been cold here in Los Angeles but that didn't stop us. Our very first pool session was raining, windy and of course it was cold. Guess rain or shine, freezing or windy, the session have to go. It was 3 hrs of getting to know your gears and to attach your first stage to the tank and so on.
New word I have not meet before is bouyancy. I guess I've heard that in order for you to be so comfortable and able to control your bouyancy is by doing it over and over again. And we will!!
My first descending in pool wasn't good. I think I didn't equalized soon enough before I felt hurts in my ears. Then we had to do some skills down there. Somehow I panic and pulled out my regulator while doing some skills.
After 3 pool sessions and 5 dives we got our certificates! We have also added a Nitrox certification to that. And signed up for advance diving which will start on Tuesday.
There are so much to look forward to. A nine days on the Liveaboard in August has been paid. So Excited for this. This will make our honeymoon we never had.
The first dive trips we had was in Catalina Island. It was cold and raining that day but we went on anyways. The first thing we had to do once the boat anchored was to snorkel for perhaps 40 minutes. It was for our body and mind get feel the water, that damn cold water, and get acclimated.
Then that first dive. Tank on the back, masks on, weight belt on, and the fins on, then the regulator in the mouth and off the boat I went. I was scared but excited as I made my big wide walk off the boat. Lots of bubbles as I get submerge in salt water and then I came up the water change my regulator to snorkel, made my okay signal and heard my instructor, "good job Fe", I felt relieved.
The visibility was not good, about 15 feet. . We went down at about 34 feet and stayed down there for maybe 35 minutes.
There were green grass they call and brown ones too. Lots of colorful fish. Sea cucumbers were plenty and oh lots of kelp.
 |
| Andy, our dive master, on the steps. |
For the second trip we had 3 dives. We decided to carpool with our instructor. The boat was in Ventura California. We got to the dock about 10 pm. We all helped out to get all the gears into the boat. Once we got all the gears up, we then had to set up all our gears. Meaning, our tank and bc's need to be attach and test the air pressure. Then by almost midnight we went to our bank beds. It was very cold that night and I wish we brought our sleeping bags.
Second trip was in Anacapa Island, California. The boat left the Ventura dock at 6:30ish am. It takes a little while to get to the island and that is the reason why we had to sleep on the boat.
Shopping for our gears were also highlight of this adventure. The only thing we will not buy is a tank. It requires controlled temperature and that we don't have.
