Day 6 Let's dive!

Derek giving the morning Albanian language lesson.

Today we had our first dive!  I love the communal breakfast then morning short meeting/debriefing, with our Albanian phrase and knot of the day.  It is a good way to get started and get rolling.  We learned a figure eight, a double figure eight and good morning (Meire Menjes). 

Derek and Dave working on knot tying.

Today after we finished up and grabbed our gear, we headed down to the military base/our home base.  We had a very minor hiccup when it was realized out regulators were all set up for yoke valve tanks and the tanks here are for DIN valves but they got them switched out and ready to go in no time, while assuring us we would learn enough about our regulators during the program that we would but our first stages back in ourselves at the end.  We were buddy paired up, Cameron and I got to be buddies, and Dave was assigned shore master duties, meaning he recorded everyone’s PSI before and after the dive, as well as time in and out. After half gearing up we walked to the water, left our BCD’s and swam around the point to place the float. Derek and Chris demonstrated some entry options from the surface to get to depth skin diving while in thick neoprene suits, which make you buoyant.  We practiced our skin diving skills on the way back to gear up fully.  We went over skills such as mask, BCD, weight, and fin removal and replacement at depth as well as multiple out of air buddy sharing scenarios which Cam and I completed just fine under the watchful eye of Chris.  Don’t misunderstand, some of our tasks were challenging, taking your BCD off, which has all your weight in it while wearing a buoyant suit is fairly simple, getting it back on can be challenging and comical.  I ended up turtling, I was on my back on top of the BCD pulling myself down into it and kicking up sediment the whole time.  The skills like BCD and fin removal and replacement are more for problem solving under water rather than real scenarios. After Cam and I finished we all went for a short dive around with Chris tailing us, we explored a bit, swimming over lush sea grass beds and sandy patches.  Cam spotted a eel and pointed it out fast enough I saw it as it fled into the bottom compartment of the engine block it is living in.  The thermocline is very apparent but due to the hot weather shifts constantly and is unpredictable, you can swim a horizontal line not changing depth and swim through it several times. It does feel good though hitting that colder water that is about 65 F, especially after being in the sweltering sun lugging gear and surface swimming in black neoprene.  Visibility is pretty good, I would say about 30 feet, which compared to Pacific Northwest diving is wonderful.  After cleaning and hanging gear we had our first self-driven lunch hour.  I learned that the lunchmeat we bought has a thin paper around the outside you should remove prior to making your sandwich.  After lunch we headed to the ice box, otherwise known as Cam and Dave’s room, for the start of our rescue course, we talked a lot about liability, and assessing a situation and the choice to help or not, what that choice means to you and what happens once you choose to help.  It was a really interesting discussion with all of our backgrounds.  Derek worked at the Catalina Island decompression chamber (among several) as well as being a fully certified ETM, in all his time diving and teaching he has dealt with some pretty crazy and sometimes heart breaking stuff.  He did an amazing job getting us thinking and discussing.  Class ended abruptly as the slats under cams bed gave way and Cam, Effie, and Chris all hit the floor.  We figured that was a good stopping point for the day.  We all enjoyed a quick break and met back up to all head in to town together for dinner.  Tonight was a more traditional restaurant above the beach overlooking the swim test area.  I had an amazing stuffed eggplant dish.  I should start paying attention to what Lee gets, she has been here before and everything she orders is wonderful.  Unknowingly I order that same thing as her and therefore didn’t have to be jealous.  The moon was gorgeous and huge climbing through the sky above the bay as we ate on the patio.  Kayla showed up soon after we finished and it was nice to see her again.  Apparently my guess of the 90’s was conservative and it have been over 100 F everyday, which is unusual for this time of year, so I feel less wimpy now knowing that.  After dinner everyone headed home except Effie, Michael and I, we strolled down the waterfront, buying souvenirs and eating gelato before getting back to our residence around midnight. 

Gelato on the boardwalk.