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Finished my DM!
Hey there folks, Been awhile since I’ve written anything here but, i thought that I’d anounce my finishing the DM course. I’ve been diving a ton, both with and without students and haven’t lost a bit of interest in hitting my local spots. I’m looking forward to returning to Bull Shoals at the end of July and spearing (or trying to) some catfish and Walleye. This is a great long weekend on a houseboat with good folks and good times. I still want to hit some salt water but, since my split with my ...
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From what I’ve seen so far
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything in my blog and, I’ve probably more to say than I will. I started my open water training about this time last year, and have worked my way through rescue, and am now a DMIT (dive master in training). I’ve learned so much. Diving is the missing piece of the puzzle in my life. I will be a instructor, and couldn’t care less if I made a dime doing it. I see a lot of comments in the forums and blogs about buying gear online. One thing I find very ha...
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Finally Certified
June 7, 2008 I finally a fullfilled my goal in becoming a o/w diver!! We did a couple of our dives and skill reviews on an old schooner in 15’ of water in lake Michigan. Then, we did 3 more dives on the sunken barge "Material Service" , wich is a 240’ barge that sank in 1936 in 35’ of water killing 15 of the 22 aboard. I have to say I found it absolutely facinating. Not only the ship and the history but also the life all around it. I did my best to focus on skills, but as soon as we did our requ...
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confined no more
I did my last confined water dive today finally! I had to wait an extra month because my last class had been cancelled. It was in a different class with a different instructor so it was a little nerve racking getting used to things and remembering everything we had done the previous month wasn`t easy but it all came back to me. I actually enjoyed this intructor more than my original once we got to know each other a bit. Now, i have to decide when and where to do my O/W dives. I`m thinking of goi...
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It`s begining to look a lot lot Christmas
Well shit, what else can i say? I am now working at the Mall, yes I said the Mall,and it`s November. Not a great time to be at the mall. I consider this job a testament to how badly I want to dive. I can survive just fine without working here, but in order to have my own equipment and extra money to dive I am working part time at dick`s sporting goods. I`ve been told that our store is a smaller store, so I`m guessing there are much bigger dick`s all over the country lol. I was planning to go to ...
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back in the pool
Well, we finally got our second pool session in. Unfortunately I probably wo`nt be able to get my o/w dives in until spring, but the pool session was still a great experiance. The no mask breathing,sipping air, manual inflation of BC, out of air sim,and other skills we practiced all went well and, without incident. There are only 4 of us in the class and all 4 of us have done really well. It was great to get to the bottom of the deep end and do some accents. I think I just might have to travel s...
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slightly bummed
Went for another confined session tonight. We did manage to get our 200 yd swim out of the way and practice swimming and switching from snorkel to regulator. when a big ass storm blew into town. Ymca rules are if there`s lightning the pool gets shut down even though we`re indoors in a basement so the rest of class was cancelled. Bummer eh? This puts us behind a week and puts getting my o/w cert in time to hit haigh quarry before they close for season in question but what can you do? I was pumped...
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written exam
Took my written exam tonight and only missed one question. I was a bit nervous because i hadn`t slept in over 24 hours and my brain was foggy but surprised myself by doing better than anticipated. Celabrated by taking the guitar down the street to a coffe house and Jammin with the fellas. I thought I`d have trouble with RDP questions but had easier time remembering that than some other stuff. So I guess being too tired to think about much was a good thing lol. Looking forward now to finishing up...
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1st confined water dive
It went well. What else can I say, I sat underwater in a chest deep section of the pool, knelt down and drew my 1st u/w breathes. We practiced mask clearing, regulator recovery, sharing air, and, swimming around clumsily on the bottom. I had less trouble treading water than I had anticipated after having six spinal surgeries,I thought it would of been more difficult. This Thursday we`ll do the 200yd swim and I feel better about it now. I did have a little trouble in sharing air. I was taking in ...
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From the beginning
Well, let`s start at the beginning,where of course most things start. I`m a 42 year old married guy from Northwest Indiana who grew up an outdoorsman. I was a constuction Millwright until I injured my back about a decade ago and have since had 6 spinal surgeries. So what does a retired disabled construction worker do with himself? He goes fishing,plays guitar,and now if everything goes well becomes a diver. I went to my first class at the scuba tank in Valparaiso this past Monday and went throug...
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