My First Big Scuba Trip

For those of you who have been following my scuba lesson adventures, I just wanted to give everyone a little update on what I have actually done with my certificate - or "C-card" as it's called. I spent two lovely weeks in the South Pacific - a week in Guam and a week in Palau. Aaaahhh.


Palau today is probably most well known as a place where they filmed the television series "Survivor" twice. While Todd and I were there they were in the middle of filming of a Filipino Survivor and wrapping up French Survivor as well. I can certainly see why, it makes for some amazing and breathtaking background shots, and it is so isolated. Even as tourists, Todd and I were the only ones walking around. We went to a famous Indian restaurant there and were the only ones there. Romantically, he said he reserved the whole place for us. More like he reserved the entire chain of islands for us.




Back during the war years, however, Palau was the site of some major battles, as was most of the South Pacific. The Battle of Peleliu was a tragic story - the US had thought they would secure this little airstrip in a matter of days, but instead the Japanese dug in their heels and the battle went on for more than two months. This would become a trend (Iwo Jima and Okinawa have similar stories). It has become a very controversial battle because of the lack of strategic value - the airstrip was never actually used for the attack on the Philippines as was intended, and the immensely high casualty toll - more than 9500. When considering the number of men actually involved for this little island, the Battle of Peleliu has the highest casualty rate in any battle fought in all of the Pacific Theater. The picture above was taken at the Etpison Museum and shows some of the artifacts that have washed ashore from the battles. I have always been fascinated with these kinds of things (as well I should - I am a Navy brat, and was born in Japan...) and this place is loaded with history. In a related note, Palau has been in the news recently as the possible relocation point of Guantanamo detainees...



Speaking of history, this picture is of a reconstruction of the traditional male meeting house, called a 'bai'. The native Palauans were matriarchal and matrilineal, and were fishermen mostly, for their sheer availability.







For being as small as Palau is, it has its own brewing company. What??? Hell yeah!!! Red Rooster Brewing Company has four options: Amber, Mango Wheat, Dark and Stout. We partook of many at the famous bar Kramer's. And it was good.




Palau is known for its large clam shells, and this is me at a clam farm. We actually later snorkeled out to a place where you can skin dive down and sit into one the size of a lawn chair (those were obviously dead of course). I did see some alive while scuba diving, and they are amazing. Their lips are many different colors all at once - it is amazing to see.


This picture makes me laugh, because the size of the vegetation here is like something a dinosaur would eat - it is the place that time forgot.

This picture is from Milky Way Cove. I took this on our kayak tour of the Rock Islands. When we sailed in to this little grotto my breath was taken away. The water is a completely different color than anything I have ever seen in my life, luminescent. Our guide skin dived down to the bottom and got a bucket of the sand so we could rub it all over ourselves - it is said to hold magical properties for the skin. It smelled like phosphorus, so I could see why. We then jumped in and splashed around like children for a while. It is one of my favorite memories!

Onto the scuba diving. Todd and I did three days of diving, two dives a day, for a total of six dives. Each dive was vastly different. I can see why Palau is such a diver's Mecca. The first time I did a back roll off of the dive boat and let the air out of my buoyancy control device (bcd) and started sinking into the deep blue Pacific, I must admit I was scared to death. There is so much to remember! What hose goes where, which button does what, etc. And there were things that we were doing that I had never even heard of before - like reef hooking. So after our descent - to 70 feet! I had only gone down 20 feet in training! - we swim around for a bit and then approach this sheer drop-off that apparently goes down for thousands of feet more. We then clip ourselves to a cord that has a metal hook at the end and then hook that end to the coral and put some air into our bcd so we were a bit more floaty and we just hang out and watch the goings on of this drop-off. This drop off was actually one side of a trench that was something of a superhighway for all kinds of schooling fish - and the sharks who eat them! I saw sharks on my first dive! Oh my god! I was so friggin' excited and hyped up on adrenaline I guess I forgot to be scared. It was so amazing!

The other dives were as varied as the day is long. One we did was called a 'wall' dive which means we descended next to a sheer cliff that goes down thousands of feet and let the current move us slowly by all the different corals: branch, brain, cabbage and the others I don't know the name of. I saw so many tropical fish in such vibrant colors, and sea stars, and eel. I saw sea turtles twice - slowly making his way past me without a care in the world. Another dive we swam up to a sunken ship grown over with all types of coral and teeming with fish. I cannot believe how much there is to see out there.

This is a photo of one of the famous Rock Islands of Palau. You can see how the ocean is slowly eating away at the base to make the iconic mushroom shape. Some of the islands I saw whilst kayaking were so amazingly structured - it looked like they were about to teeter off into the ocean, for the bases had been washed away to almost nothing.

This is the famous "Survivor" beach, where most of the filming took place. We had lunch here the first day during our surface interval between dives. While we were motoring out here I began to recognize the shape of the islands and knew where we were before the dive master even told us. I can't believe I have been to a place so damned remote that Survivor has been filmed there!

All in all, Palau is an amazingly beautiful place. It is so untouched, so virgin. I cannot wait to go back to the South Pacific and explore more of these islands - specifically Yap, which is known for their large money stones and manta ray, and Chuuk (also known as Truk), which is known for the vast quantities of sunken WWII airplanes. I can see that these unspoiled little gems hidden away won't stay that way for long, and I need to see them before they get any more developed. I remember vividly while walking to dinner one night, seeing a local drinking the last bit out of a plastic juice bottle and then throwing it off of the bridge into the ocean. My jaw dropped. And though Todd and I were, as it seemed, two of the few American tourists, the Japanese come there in droves. And I saw them doing some questionable things while snorkeling, such as chumming the fish with bread (a big no-no in a protected environment), and taking away some coral and shells. It makes my heart hurt, but is also very inspiring to me to see all these things soon.

Mission: Completed

I am a proud peacock this evening - I finished my week-long course to be certified as an Open Water Diver! I am done! This was a really challenging for me; and I have to admit that there were times when I thought "Why on Earth am I doing this to myself?" And please, dear reader, keep in mind that I used my vacation time to do this self-inflicted torture session. Did I hear someone utter the word 'masochist'?

I did much better today than I did yesterday - I did the mask clearing on the first try - even after watching a robot freak out right before me (and yes - they made us all do it again on the third dive because apparently PADI are sadists) and I did the total mask removal, donning and full clearing also on the first try as well! Big underwater high-fives and clapping from my dive instructors after that!!

One of the robots wasn't able to complete dive four, her ears wouldn't equalize and she couldn't descend. I wouldn't say I got a little pleasure out of that (but I am smirking a little); she always had that snooty look on her face when I had to be seperated away from the class to work on the mask clearing by myself. So, technically, the slow kid didn't place last in the class! YAY! Go me!

I am unsure of when or where my first fun dive will be, but I will certainly keep you all posted!

Scuba Class for the Slow Kid

Well, I must admit that I am that "slow kid" in my scuba class. I am having a hard time dealing with this fact, because I have always been something of a teacher's pet, star pupil. Well, anyways, the schoolroom classes went okay - four to five hours each night for two nights going over basic procedures and hand signals and equipment. It did get a little annoying because there were two "junior" divers sitting in on the class who were like 12 and kept asking inane questions and we were all rolling our eyes and looking at the clock....

The next two nights were at Bellaire pool. This was awesome. It is a heated pool. This is important. This is about the temperature of most recreational diving in the Caribbean and Micronesia where I want to be doing ALL of my diving. Anyways...my slow kid status began to show up on the first night of these pool dives when we had to clear out a half flooded and then completely flooded mask underwater. Um, this is hard. First, you have to break the seal that the mask creates to your skin and water either trickles or gushes like a geyser into your mask stunning your senses. You a) can not see b) have water going up your nose c) possibly have water in your contacts. You then have to remember to NOT PANIC!!! Which is obviously your first instinct, because you're underwater and you feel like you're drowning with water going up your nose; but you have to remember to rely on your regulator - the thingy in your mouth that provides air to you from the tank strapped to your back. So, you must calm yourself down (somehow?) and then press on the top of your mask to create a small gap between your face and the mask whilst snorting through your nose to get all the water out. This is an elaborate thing that once I did it I realized it was easier than I thought, but still something that I certainly DID NOT WANT TO DO AGAIN! But I had to. This time with a mask completely full of water.....I wanted to shoot someone. Once I realized that I had to do it again, it took me forever to get up enough nerve to just break the seal on my mask and let the water in let alone clear it, so I had to be babysat by the Dive Master to be tutored through this. And then there was full mask removal and donning and clearing.....that was interesting....I do not know how everyone else got through this so quickly. They seriously must be robots.

The second day of the pool dives I was again showing my slow kid status. We went over to the diving board pool and were able to do deep dives. All the first day we were just at most in 8 feet of water. But now we were descending to 16 feet. This was really quite exciting. Until they told me I had to do mask clearing again, this time at the bottom of this pool, with no way to panic by just standing up. I swear, I was seriously rethinking why I was doing this to myself. The instructors realized I was the slow kid, so I was always pulled first to show my skill so I could have the most possible time. In the end I just ended up having my own instructor, because I got so behind with that damnable mask clearing again, and I needed to play catch-up. I must say, that I do get everything else pretty easily. It is just this stupid mask clearing. I absolutely hate it. It is awful. But, on the bright side, all the instructors know me by name, and have a cursory knowledge of my background. I was the only one invited to dinner that night. The robots weren't.

So Friday was a day of rest. And good Lord, did I need it. I think my equipment weighs about as much as I do; when I am standing at the side of that pool all suited up waiting to jump in, I swear I am about to die, or my back is about to snap in two. So I booked a deep tissue massage at four PM, and slept in until two (I didn't get home until around 2AM from the dinner and margaritas the night before). I got my tanks refilled with air, and I just vegged in front of the TV all night. I went to bed at 9, because I had to get up fairly early for me (being a nocturnal creature).

So today were the first two official "dives" to be logged into my dive log at Lake 288 (off of Highway 288!). The first dive was pretty cool, we descended 20 feet into the murk that is a freshwater Texas lake, and swam around a bit, and everything went very well, except for the fact that the temperature of the water was 60.3 degrees. Imagine your hot water heater isn't working and you went to take a bath. That was what it was like. I cut a slight figure, I am not trying to brag, but I am skinny person. There isn't much of a polar layer on me - I was absolutely miserable. I mean teeth chattering as best they could with a reg in my mouth. That first dive we were in the water for about a total of 35 minutes, 20 minutes of actual dive time.

The second dive was the skill dive. We descend and we were put into a line. I had been psyching myself up "Kerri can clear her mask!" etc. The mistake here, was that the instructor chose a robot to go before me. So robot floods mask and has a complete freak out. I mean he's going up the surface (along with instructor) and meanwhile I am watching and am like "%&*#" and start to freak out myself. The rest of us are down there doing nothing but freezing to death, and I take a gander at my O2 levels (because I am breathing heavy - panic) and realize I do not have enough to complete everything that I need to do on this dive. So I find the Dive Master (he's just supposed to observe and be there in case of emergency) and give the signs of PROBLEM COLD PROBLEM AIR. He checks my gauges and nods and takes me for a swim around the sunken platform to warm up. I then see instructor and give same message to him, and that I want to surface. He surfaces with me, and we talk. I am uncontrollable shaking at the surface - I mean like the kind you see in the movies of arctic exploration. He says I have enough oxygen to go down and complete everything except for mask clearing because he knows I have a problem with it if I am up for it and I say "Yes." I mean, I am already in the cold water, what's another 6 minutes? So I descend, I complete everything else, and am so low on air by the end that I have to use his spare regulator off of his tank to ascend. Scary stuff indeed.

By the time I go ashore and strip off my wetsuit and diving booties my feet are literally blue, a lovely shade of cornflower. No joke. One of the robots is a medical student and was a little concerned, he said towel off, get in dry clothes and sit in the sun, or my hot car for a while. So I did. Meanwhile the other half of my class did their second dive. Two other robots didn't complete the mask clearing, by the way. I knew it would catch up with them.

So by the time the second team finished, I talked to the instructors and swapped out my tank and decided to go down again by myself and complete the dive I didn't finish. Go me! The two robots didn't get back in! The instructors were impressed with my gumption and attitude and goal-setting.

So I get back in the drink, and descend with one of the instructors who is really very patient with my slowness and I DID IT! I did it with water that is murky and ice-cold and green! I did it when two robots chickened out! I did it! I did it! I DID IT!

Now, for tomorrow!

And post script to all this mayhem, when I came home tonight and got in my shower for the longest hot shower of my life my foot left a gross brown footprint of gunk from the lake on my bathmat when I got in. I almost puked.

From Snorkel to Scuba

Last March, I flew out to Guam to visit Todd for a week and a half. As part of that vacation, he taught me to snorkel in the beautiful Tumon Bay - a great experience - and I think I was spoiled because apparently that ecosystem is a world class place to snorkel. Well, we also flew to Saipan, and I have some cool pictures of me snorkeling to a WWII Japanese tank in the ocean there.

While I was in Saipan, Todd and I got on the subject of scuba diving. He's been certified for three years, and loves to do it. I myself, am not the best of swimmers, but I can get it done, you know? Obviously, I did it there in Saipan, I have the proof in the pictures. So, I don't really know if he was just goading me, but he knows about my fear of deep water and was like, "Kerri, I don't know if you could do it" (meaning scuba diving). Okay. That sounds like a challenge to me. So, I cocked my head to the side and said, "Oh, really?"...

So needless to say, yesterday I attended the first of a five day course to get PADI certified in SCUBA diving. This is something that has been in the works since July of 2008. I bought all the necessary equipment (snorkel, mask, fins, weight belt, bag, course materials, etc.) way back then, but because of the limitations of my job and never having a whole week off to devote to this goal, I haven't been able to actually get certified until now. Since I am a flight attendant, this adds another complication because one cannot fly within 18-24 hours of a dive, not good when a girl's on reserve. Tonight is another 4 hour class, then the next two days I have two "dives" in a heated pool, and then it's on to the real stuff in a lake in Houston for two days (and post script, it will be freezing! Why is my vacation in early spring?)

Well, I have yet to tell Todd about this, I am meaning it to be a huge surprise to him. A kind of "in your face!" moment. I think he only said it in order for me (knowing me very well) to be inspired enough to actually go ahead and do it, and for him to have a dive buddy. I can not wait to see the look on his face!