My life of diving – A Fling into a Fancy

 

It is funny how when you start out on a path you never know how far it will take you. None has been so much more true to me than diving.

I started out doing a contract in Ft Lauderdale, FL in 2009. As a computer geek it has taken me all over the world. I am not a skinny guy so I always look out for great places to eat. There was a little shop by where I was staying called Keeses Simply Delicious and the name says it all. One of my favorite foods ever is a Gyro. They have one of the best I have ever tried. Needless to say I would go there quite often.

Right next to it was a dive shop called Deep Blue Divers. One time when I was waiting on my food I walked in just to look around. I walked in mostly because they have cool stuff in there like dive knives and such. I got to talking to a guy called Diver Dave. After speaking with him for a while, and noting it was the down season, he was able to offer me a deal on the open water course.  I accepted and that next weekend I passed my first cert. I, of course, got online and bought all kinds of dive stuff I have yet to use. We did our check out dives, which was in open water, right off the beach. He said we would go with the current which pushed us along pretty fast. I remember not seeing a whole lot and the waves pushing me back and forth a lot. I really didn’t think it was that cool so it was quite a while before I tried it again.

The next time I went was in Costa Rica. You can read about some of those adventures here costa-rica-the-trip-that-changed-my-life. It was there that I was really able to see a whole lot more life. I was so excited I didn’t check my breathing and was low on air way before anyone else. I had to do buddy breathing with the dive master. I knew two things after that. I had to go diving more and I had to learn how to do it better.

Over the next few years I would go into different dive shops and talk with people trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I went into Panama City Diving that it really changed my direction. They were super friendly and wanted to talk to you about diving. They had a passion for it that most of the other places just seemed like it was just a job and I was almost bothering them by asking questions.  They absolutely love to talk about spearfishing but I was still a very long way from all that.

 

Most divers I talked to told me about the benefits of having Nitrox class. It allows you to have shorter deco-times and more importantly to me it allows me to drink and fly much sooner than they recommend for air. I took the class with Reed as my instructor. I did it right after we did a dive so I was struggling to stay awake but somehow made it through it. The big take away is always checking the amount of oxygen in the tank with a gauge.

I started diving there a few times a year and became friends with most of the staff. After hearing story after story about spearing I knew I was going to have to try it. They offered an intro to spearfishing class. To go through that class they require someone to go through advanced open water. This allows you to go deeper than the normal 60 ft. limit of open water.

Once I completed my advanced course I thought I was all set so after talking to the guys in the shop about what the best gun to have was, I went on the internet and found an ocean rhino with zombie green print.

I went on my first hunt, with the help of Chris and Capt. Dave; I was able to bag my first set of fish. I was hooked. No pun, ok maybe pun intended. There is nothing like it. Depending on the fish, you have to approach different ways. I like to stalk grouper. They hid in holes and peak out but the bigger fish like Amber Jacks swim in big circles around you and are a lot of fun to hit.

In talking to some other spear fisherman in the store one guy mentioned he won’t go out with anyone outside of the shop that isn’t rescue diver certified. Sounds fun so I signed up. Chris taught me this course and it is by far the most informative and practical thing I have learned in the water. I hope that I can remember it if anything ever happens. We had to do several actual scenarios but my favorite was diver on the surface, conscious, in distress and combative.  I had a younger guy who was my dive partner and considerably bigger than I was. He was flailing at the surface and I had to try to calm him down and get behind him while he was trying to paw at me and pull my gear away. I had to go under and slip up behind him and wrap my legs around his waist and talk him down. Once he was calm I had the 100 meter swim back to shore. The toughest one though was the unresponsive diver on the bottom. I had to grab him and control both our ascents without going up too fast. Then help him on the boat. It was a fantastic time.

Now when I am down I look out at the other divers see how they are doing. Watch for any signs things might go bad for them all while trying to stalk a few fish. I never thought I would need anything past open water for certification. Now I am soon going to be a dive instructor. I just hope someday I can calm a young diver down and maybe let him buddy breath off my tank. Tell him my tale and maybe just maybe he will get on my path as well.

I want to send a special set of thanks to my friends I’ve met through diving there. This is the order I met.

Chris for showing me how to spearfish, rescue dive, all the stories and all the beer

Pat, for talking to me and answering all my dumb questions

Reed, for teaching me Nitrox and free diving basics.

Dave, for driving us around all over and for the sailing tips.

Aleese, for being super cool and helping me laugh at myself.

James, for the fun boat rides, crazy stories and mostly beer.

I know there are several more that I have met and hung out with but those are the ones who have went out of their way to show me a good time, every time I am in PCB.

Thanks again!