… well, there Rudi (at that time I was far away from being Rhoody, but that story later) and Lissy walked on a sunny morning in Senggigi/ Lombok – Indonesia along the mainstreet to Astrid and Gerd’s Dream Divers at god-forbidden 7:30 am to start their first theory and pool lessons on their way to become certified Open Water Diver.
Of course we did not finish our assignment completely but went a good way through it. At the dive-shop we met our instructor and another couple who were (like we) quite nervous waiting for the things to come.
We went through the knowledge-reviews and first three quizzes… Fu@% me, I must have missed the quiz part during the introduction the evening before, but with 3 other students sitting next to me and 2 open rotating eyes, no problem, I passed all 3 quizzes with “honest” 90 %. At the end, PADI is teaching the buddy-system, so my buddies did one chapter each and I was following along … hehe
Honestly, I totally understand my students nowadays who wanna push through the course in three days, that they might have some problems in understanding how the course and the system in general works when they got explained everything, but I always try to remember my problems at the beginning. PADI changed quite a bit during the last years and things are just easier now with plenty of options how to go through the Open Water course.
Having that mastered it was time to get some equipment. Well, while Lissy looked super hot in a 3 mm Neoprene wetsuit, my living 100 German Kilograms squeezed into that tight fitting thingy let the Michelin-Man appear like a sex-symbol.
The dive-shop is actually located in a 5-Star Resort and I really apologize for that view to all regular guests there, who needed to experience and see that sweaty, red-head German Sausage running around the pool for some hours…
Finally it was time to assemble the equipment and get into the water. Standing in waist-deep water fully geared up like a scuba diver, breathing from a regulator, bending forward and making the first breath under water from the “high-tech” equipment …
Rhoodys 1st logbook
… didn’t really impress me at all. I know that this is for many the most rememberable moment, but I was just happy to get into the water that I stop sweating in the hot sun above the surface.
We were (at least what I felt) a pretty cool group and nobody had any major problems with all the skills, or panicked with some water around the nose. The start of each Open Water course is basically breathing under Water, clearing mask, practicing the use of a alternate air source and swimming around. Well, having no clue about buoyancy it is more or less hopping along on the bottom of the pool or popping up to the surface. Buoyancy skills are scheduled for the afternoon.
Even without any buoyancy, I liked the bubble-blowing and playing around with all that stuff under water, and most important I did not sweat at all. The time flew by and after my Instructor checked my tank it was time for me to end the first session as it was pretty empty and just a few breaths short of getting the shape of a coke-bottle.
Our lunch “break” was mainly watching video part 4 and 5, having a quick bite to eat, and for (Lissy and me more important) sneaking out of the dive-shop, smocking some cigarettes to get our lungs back into normal surface-conditions.
To be continued…
cheers
Rhoody
PS: I will speed up and not write an article about each breath, it just happened while writing that all that stuff, feelings and memories came back as it was just a few weeks ago… anyway, I don’t force anybody to read my brain-rubbish anyway…
