My Land and Sea

Today was our first classroom day and it was an intense one. We started off with a two hour timed dive theory exam that included a bunch of calculations. The questions are designed to test whether you understand the basics of the physics of diving. It’s helpful because it makes you think about the science behind everything but it isn’t what you necessarily use on a daily basis. You have to calculate the weight and pressure of sea and fresh water and how it affects lifting objects, air consumption and decompression sickness risks. I missed 15 out of 100 questions so I am solidly in the passing range but have a few things to dig into before the final instructor exam.

We got a lunch break and I headed over to Mi Tierra taqueria for some of the best food I’ve had in a long time. I had to muddle through my terrible Spanish but I would do anything for another plate of these delicious pastor tacos with grilled onions and hot peppers. I’ll be back there tomorrow for sure. After lunch, we spent the afternoon on some practical tests on how to handle difficult class situations. It isn’t going to be easy to try to manage all of these new divers in the water and this part of the course is training us on how to manage the chaos while keeping safety priority number one.

My fellow students are really friendly and helpful. We also have two other students that are already instructors but they are training to be master instructors and shadowing our leader through the process. It’s hard on all of us. We are all lovers of the outdoors and it’s tough to spend 12 hours a day in the classroom but it just shows how dedicated everyone is to diving. We will suffer through the paperwork and long lecture to learn more, be better divers and teachers. I am also dealing with a bad shoulder strain that I am hoping gets better before our water training. I fell pretty hard the other day getting out of the water and the weight of my tank fell onto my left shoulder when I crashed to the ground. It took a day to show up but boy when it did, it came in strong. I can’t lift my left arm without a lot of pain. Hoping the Advil and Biofreeze will pull this together soon!