Day 46 - Learn to SCUBA dive

Date: February 21st, 2010

On day two of my inexplicably all-water-activity weekend, I headed over to the Detroit Boat Show to try my hand at SCUBA diving.  You wouldn't think that February would be the time to take a dunk in Michigan, but I've got mild-hypothermia, a tee-shirt and several snapshots that say otherwise.  My original plan was to haul myself out to some town in East Deliverance Nowhere and partake in a polar plunge and some random Sunday activity out there.  That was until I was gently reminded about a friend's birthday party.  I believe Kari's exact words were "what the hell, you're bailing on Tom's birthday?".

I did not, in fact, intend to bail on Tom's birthday.  I've just learned in the last month that calendaring when there is nothing consistent about your daily schedule is not one of the easier tasks I've ever taken on.  That being said, I decided I didn't want to be on the other side of the state and miss a friend's birthday so I changed the plans around (which is when I found Saturday's Polar Plunge).  For the sake of honesty in journalism, I'm going to admit that I crashed **hard** after the polar plunge and didn't wake up until Kari called and pointed, yet again, my bailage.  I slept from about 5PM to 10AM the next day after the Polar Plunge though... and I have no idea why.  So, before I tell you all anything about SCUBA diving, I have some unattended business:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM.

Now then, on Sunday, after waking up from my Rip-Van-Weekend, I headed over to Cobo for the last day of the Detroit Boat Show.  Kari had previously told me about a SCUBA tank set up through BeADiver.  Part of their outreach to the non-diving world community is to hit up shows like this one and set up a small tank where people can experience SCUBA firsthand.  Now, let's not kid ourselves - that's cool enough to warrant a trip.  There was, however, icing on that soggy, chlorinated cake.  Kari, who is an amazing friend of mine, is working towards getting certified as a dive instructor... so she was working at the tank on Sunday.

I headed over in the early afternoon to beat what I imagined would be a sizable crowd.  I mean, its a boat show and Michigan is a peninsula... logically the only Michigan festival that should attract more people than a boat show would be a car show... and, well, we already covered that.  There was definitely a decent crowd, but it was manageable.  When I got there, Kari was already in the pool and talking to people about how cool diving is.  You know how, when someone really loves what they're doing, it starts to look more fun?  Kari does that with diving.  She makes it look fun because she's so into it herself.

I got wet-suited up, put on flippers and hopped in the pool.  It was... significantly more pleasant than yesterday's brush with water.  Turns out that the basic basics of SCUBA diving are insanely easy.  Its the "being in the ocean" and "diving deeper than four feet" parts that take training.  For my SCUBA sampler though, the instruction consisted of putting on a tank (it straps around your body), getting it violently tightened (thanks for that, by the way), being handed the breathing piece and being told to breath through it.  Oh, and then being told to swim.

 

Deceptively easy

The thing that is hard to remember with SCUBA diving is, quite frankly, that you can breathe under water.  It goes against everything I have ever known to think that would be possible.  I came to realize why they are so worried about people signing consent forms and why the training is needed.  When I first got under water, every single instinct I had was telling me to surface and take a breath.  I had to physically force myself to breathe through the apparatus instead of coming up for air.  Its not like it was all that difficult - I mean, I wasn't having some weird out-of-body experience or anything, but my heart definitely started pounding a little faster.  The mind does NOT want to accept that it is possible to breathe under water.  Remembering NOT to do that is how you stay alive in lakes, pools and rainstorms. 

 

I don't know which way is up anymore... is that a problem?

Kari is a fantastic teacher though.  I felt the need to say that cause, well, someone can be a good friend and you'll never know if they are good or bad at particular things.  I never knew until yesterday how good my friend is at teaching people how to dive.  Its not just her knowledge - its her demeanor.  My idiotic questions did not feel idiotic thanks to her.  I'm pretty sure I actually said "so I can really breathe under water with this thing?" at one point.  Now, I'm a smart cookie - I really am - but that is an unimpressive moment for me.

I had a great moment a little while into swimming around.  More people showed up so Kari went over to show them how to use the equipment.  I noticed that there was an older guy watching these two kids swim and realized it was a dad who'd taken his kids to the boat show for the day.  His daughter was so confident - she just went right in the water... but his son was a little nervous.  Despite that, the kid overcame his fear, put on a tank and swam around for several minutes.  He and I got talking for a few minutes and I found out it was the little boy's first time in the water.  His sister had done it before, but he'd always been too scared.  So, with Kari's permission, I took some pictures of the boy and girl to send to their father.  It was simply a lovely afternoon.

 

And now I'm ready to SCUBA the Titanic.

You can do that right?  Its not too deep?