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Yesterday I dove Falling Rock Park. It was a cold, windy, rainy & miserable day with an air temp of about 42 degrees. There were even still icicles hanging off the quarry walls from a recent freezing spell. The water temps were 42- 39 degrees. The dive itself wasn't really a lot to talk about other than the cols & finally feeling like I had good control over my doubles. Maybe, just maybe, I'm getting the hang of those things (one can always hope). The dive was rather short (20min.) because my drysuit neck seal obviously rolled & leaked a bit. No a full flood or anything, just a creeping, spreading cold feeling down my neck, back, arms & then eventually my legs. After 20 min. I could no longer sand the cold & called the dive. Not bad for a first dive of the year.

Finally got to get wet (cold water diving at 51 degrees F). I also got to try out my new Datamask. I must say that I'm quite impressed. It gave me instant data, but was not distracting from what was going on outside in the water. The only thing that will take some getting used to is that my prior masks have clear skirts & side windows. The Datamask has 1 side window, but it's not very big. I was a little worried about the fit, but it did fine with no real leaking. Overall I would say I'm very impressed/

Well I splurged a bit. I just got one of those Oceanic Datamasks. It arrived today & I can't wait to try it out! The only bad part is,... It will be a couple of weeks before I can get into the water. Major bummer. But when the day comes I can get it wet.... Oh Happy day!

Well,... OK the first dive wasn't so hot. I was a the quarry with a freshly minted diver, when another new diver approached needing a buddy. We decided to team up as three. On the first dive, we were all trying out some new/ different equipment so it was a rather awkward & short dive. I got to try out my new drysuit with the heavy undergarments. The suit seems to have a little more volume than my old one so I was quite buoyant. In my old suit I was able to dive without any extra weight; with my new drysuit & undergarments, it looks like it will take about 8# to sink me.My tanks were full, so I was unable to do a proper buoyancy check. Even after the second & final dive, my tanks were at 1000# so still couldn't get a real good check. Oh well, better luck next time. One of the new divers said he felt overweighted, but also forgot he needed to fill his BC at depth. After figuring that out  & me being like a bobber from being too light & trying to stay down (I didn't get any more weights because shore was too far away & in doubles it was a pain), the dive only lasted about 15 min. Tired, we decided to take a surface interval & eat some lunch. On the second dive the diver who said he was too heavy had taken off too much weight, so was too light & was up & down. I weighted myself with an extra 8#. I gave him 2 of my pounds & he did great, which left me light again. One of the new divers followed a rope down that he thought lead to a firetruck. When we hit 45ft (the depth of the truck) & no truck in site, I knew we were on the wrong rope. we on one going to a 90ft platform, OOPS! He was dropping like a rock. I signaled to the other diver to stay put & went after the other. I finally stopped him at 65ft (Whew!). We then toured around the sights they wanted to see 7 came up about 35 min later. The second dive was definitely much better. I have to admit those new divers kept me on my toes, but it was good experience & we all had a good time.

Well,.. Sunday I'll be diving with a newly minted diver. He was a student in an OW class I did my Dive Con Internship with a few weeks ago. He seems to be very enthusiastic about the up coming dive. This will be his first dive outside of class. The only minor worry I have with him is that he will have to wear a rather thick wetsuit, as the water has cooled off considerably since his checkout dives. He only has a 3mm suit & with the water being about 68 degrees on the surface & colder below, I don't think it will be enough. He is borrowing a 2pc 7mm suit, which should keep him reasonably warm. I remember my first dive in a 7mm suit & it was not at all pleasant. In fact I hate those suits so much that I went to a drysuit. I keep a 7mm thick wetsuit as a back up only & rarely dive it at all.  I love his excitement at getting to dive, it's contagious & will dive with him into the winter as long as he wants to. Hope all turns out good for him. I will do my very best to show him the fun of diving in a quarry.

Well just when you think things couldn't get any stranger, with the gentleman I was referring to in the "Odd Bird Diver" thread (see the forums), I found out a few astonishing things that have occurred since I put in the thread.

During our "marathon" testing day we did at the quarry to try to finish up our Dive Con course, they allowed those who didn't pass the written exam to retake it that morning. Well, this person was 1 1/2hrs late showing up to begin with with out calling (a big no, no). Everyone else who had to retake the exam was finished, but he was still working on it. We all left the area to chat a little & allow him to concentrate. One of the other guys came back to get something & caught him cheating on the test. He had found & was trying to use the answer key to take his test. Of course once caught he stopped using it (& to boot, even wound up failing the test again- isn't that poetic justice?), At first the one who found him cheating was going to let it slide, but then thought better of it & told the instructors a few days later.

I know I'm not teaching the course, but I have NO tolerance for cheats & liars. I'm surprised that the instructors are going to let him eventually try to finish the course (standards now say that he must wait 6 mos before he can attempt to retake the exam again because of failing it a second time). What amazes me most is that he is willing to endanger the lives of others by not knowing the materials he needs to have to safely lead other divers & trying to cheat to get by; just to get the title. That mentality just blows me away. Why would anyone in their right minds want to endanger others by saying you are, what you aren't? After all that hard work, it really diminishes the pride I have of my accomplishment to know that there are those that are so self absorbed that they would be willing to harm or kill others for their own gratification. Any thoughts?

Passed my Dive Control Specialist course last night. I just need to tie up a few loose ends in the paperwork, then I'll be official. Oh, Happy day!!!

Well... hopefully after tonight I'll be able to report that I'm finished with my Dive Control Specialist course. This is supposed to be our last class to learn a few things we haven't gotten to just yet & to get our paperwork in order to send out. Even though the course has only been going for the last few months, I've been waiting to get to achieve this goal of about a year. This is a happy time!

After a grueling 12hrs of raining & testing, I passed all my tests for my Dive Con certification. It's not quite official just yet, as we still have one more class to go next week, to pick up a couple of things we didn't get to due to time & to square away the paper work. Yesterday consisted of a retake of the written exam fr those who didn't make it the first round, a 400yd swim, 20 min tread, 800yd in mask fins & snorkel & a 100yd tired diver tow. There was also a classroom teaching presentation, confined water teaching presentation, Open Water teaching evaluation, skills demonstration evaluation, and about a 20 min., very intense, situational evaluation where the instructors went around & turned off valves, yanked off masks & fins, loosened tanks & grabbed regulators out of mouths. I'm sorer than all get out today, but I survived & passed all the tests!!!

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