MY FIRST OCEAN DIVE

This is my first ocean dive! We had two dives a day, 4 in total over the weekend.

Weather was nasty, waters choppy and cold…40-50F! Donning the wetsuit was the biggest deal….my nails broke and hurt for that matter. We had to swim about 300ft to get to the exact dive spot.

Once there, I couldn’t sink (buoyancy/weight check) because I wasn’t weighted right. After addition of weights, it came up to 40lbs! As a result, I was extremely heavy, with the cylinder and the wetsuit adding to it. I could barely swim to the dive spot...getting out of breath every few feet of swimming. The instructor said I was very buoyant, my legs especially and I might need ankle weights.

Anyways, the float marked the dive spot, with a line running 20ft to the beach floor. Visibility wasn’t great, plenty of suspended sand. I had to pull myself down because I was very buoyant.

Once under, it felt magnificent. The chilly water hurt my eyes, but it felt great to be touching the floor! Choppy waters, more waves and the water body kept moving even at 20ft deep. I kept swaying, barely holding onto the float line for support. We did some skills-mask flooding, fin pivots etc.

I saw plenty of star fish, bright orange in color, orange-brown etc. Played around a bit, surfaced.

Kaya and my sister came along as well. Once done diving, we hit the beach. We went to this secluded spot with wet sand, which seemed to me like the shore where otters and seals would hang out! Soon enough, Kaya sniffed up a seal resting up and wanted to so badly get next to it!

I leashed her and watched the seal for few minutes. The seal made no effort to get up, wasn’t even disturbed. Must be aware of humans prying on its privacy!

In all, I want to dive in tropical waters without the burden of weights and suits. What a cold weekend!

Playing hard to get?

Playing hard to get?

So I was reading Cosmo earlier this week. There is this section (don’t remember the name) where gals rant and rave about their sexual exploits, how they won their boy back or how they avenged their ex and so on. You get the point.
So reading all this makes me feel like an underachiever. I don’t have boys to avenge upon, win back or rant and rave. I do have plenty of examples of ‘boys are just aren’t there yet’ and ‘boys that are missing the left cerebrum’.
Anyways, to cut the creative juices in short, I read this entry by an 18yr old gal who was so in love with the boy, but boy not serious as her. So what does she do?

She plays hard to get. She acts nonchalant and indifferent to feeling/emotions but doesn’t give up ‘doing it’. So in few hours/days/months/years/decades, the boy realizes she’s the ‘one’ and confesses his love for her. How divine! And she is just 18! Now where did she accrue such cosmical brainpower huh? Her logic totally defies mine! Which being- act upon gut, non-nonsense approach and no acting coy, confess your feelings blahhh.

So clearly, this 18yr old has an edge on me. I am an imbecile and retard when it comes to playing guys. Damn! Too late to learn?
NO!
So henceforth, I’m going to be flipping coy and play harder to get. That’s what works, so be it I say!

Lesson learnt = Play hard to get because men get turned off by commitment and emotional BS that girls are full of. Blame Charles Darwin.

Scuba Diving- Class 4 Mar 20, 2008

Scuba Diving- Class 4 Mar 20/Thur

The last class! We had a big exam (PADI questions)...and guess whattttt--I aced it! I scored 90%, the top score…

There wasn’t much time in the water since the exam, and the quiz took up over 2 hrs. Dan taught us buoyancy control using just our lungs. I realize now, that inflating and deflating the BCD with air doesn’t help much in being buoyant. It’s all in the lung volume.

Inhale, buoyancy increases.
Exhale, buoyancy decreases.

Easy huh? N.O. It took at least 30min for me to practice buoyancy control and I wasn’t even satisfactorily buoyant! I was quite down and stressed because of this. I need plenty of practice with buoyancy, which I hope to get at Monterrey this weekend…Mar 29/30.

Why is buoyancy important??
First of all, scuba diving is all about fun without compromising the marine milieu. The fins or the regulator (if floating) should not damage the corals or disturb fish. Hence, buoyancy is very important in a sense that swimming above the reef; smooth and steady is more rewarding than thrashing around and constantly hitting the ocean floor.
Makes sense??

I know I panic when I can’t get things right underwater like breathing and experience ‘air starvation’. Im learning to control it as well, takes time I guess.

Anyhoo..Monterrey this weekend will be my fist dive/cold water dive!

Scuba class 3--Mar 18, 2008

Scuba class 3--Mar 18, 2008
Good class…I was more comfy underwater than the previous 2 classes. We practiced breathing without air for upto a min while swimming/ascent. We also floated/treaded the water for 10 min…sort of a test. We also breathed thru a free-flowing regulator. We did the neutral buoyancy test with ‘fin pivots’. It was all fun since I was relaxed underwater.

As usual, I had to equalize plenty while ascent under water.
A big exam coming up for the final class on 03/20!

Running-March 17, 2008

Running-March 17, 2008

Ran 5 miles today….the first and the last mile was b.r.u.t.a.l--Simply torturous miles. It took a while to warm up…was windy; I forgot my sun glasses blahhh. The 3 miles in between the first and last mile was easy. It took a little over an hour to complete the run (1.15 or so). Getting closer to the 12 min per mile pace…inching closer, more like.

I knew I couldn’t go over 3 miles today…but pushed myself hard to a tiresome 5 miles.

All in prep for a HM!

Goldfish #1 RIP

Goldfish #1 RIP

One of my 4 goldfish died today- Mar 17, 2008. He was almost 2 years old; been with me ever since I moved to Modesto. I noticed him sunk to the bottom this morning, lifeless, slowly losing color. I never thought for a second he would die on me.

He lived with 3 other goldfish and 2 zebra danios. All the fish knew me when I walked close to the tank (10 gallon) that it was feeding time. They swam up to the top, opening and closing their mouths in anticipation of fish flakes! They loved orange and zucchini! I always fed them small pieces of orange when I ate one. Kaya doesn’t care for oranges much, but my goldfish certainly did.

I had this habit of naming my fish when I started out with my first aquarium. I had Goldy, Silky etc. Coincidentally, every fish I named died. I stopped baptizing them out of superstition. As expected, all my fish survived after that!

It was only yesterday I was talking to someone about how hardy my goldfish have been. And this today…

I think he was happy in my tank; I like to think that at least. I know he was loved.

P.S. I am aware people think it is very funny and crazy to have an affection or attachment towards fish or any pet for that matter. My pets mean a lot to me…Pets have been a part of my life for as long as I remember.

Scuba diving-Class 2 Mar 13/Thursday

Scuba diving-Class 2 Mar 13/Thursday

Chap 2 review and a quiz as usual.

More skills- buddy system, swim underwater with no mask, filling air into BCD manually, how does it feel to be without air/labored breathing. This was cool because the air cylinder valve was totally shut off; I had to signal ‘no air’ for the instructor to turn it back on. Pretty neat huh? We also learnt more hand signals.

Most of the skills were demonstrated in the deep end. I had plenty of trouble equalizing. My ears feel like a mini-ocean right now. Water just won’t wax out yet. I also panicked a bit, unexpected of me actually. We spent close to 3 hrs underwater! Fun as usual.

Running…so far, March 08.

Running…so far, March 08.

The year began with a determined resolution to run consistently. As expected, things went downhill--running occasionally, 3-5 times a month, no further. But March has been very good. I had averaged between 10-12min miles last year. But now, a 13-14min mile is an achievement! Not anymore! I have been slowly building the aerobic base and am getting back to 12min per mile pace.

Mar 9-Sunday

A beautiful, sunny day. Went to dry creek with Kaya. I did not leash her. I barely ran 2 miles...
It was such a pleasure to watch Kaya run in the bright green grass, chase squirrels.

Mar 11-Tuesday

Ran during lunch abt 3 miles on my usual route on Floyd. A terrible pace, not even worth mentioning. Felt really light, but couldn’t do more than 3 miles today.

Mar14-Friday

Ran during lunch, 5 miles in little more than an hour!! Regular route, but did a 1 mile route twice to up mileage. Felt uncomfy and hungry at the outset…didn’t have any breakfast. End of 3 miles, I felt the runners high and decided to do an extra 2 miles! In total 5...and I’m getting close to 12min mile. Yipppeeeeee!

Scuba diving-Class 1 Mar 11/Tuesday

Whoaaaaaaaa what a class!

The first hour or two was spent on paper work-liability forms, medical release forms etc.

The instructor-Dan Harvey is pretty cool. We had a short Chap 1 knowledge review and a short pop quiz. (We were supposed to read Chap 1 before class).

Then we got into the pool! The pool depth ranged from 4ft to 13 ft. Before we got into the pool, Dan showed us how to connect the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) which fits like a sleeveless jacket. It can be inflated or deflated with the air from the cylinder. Then the regulators…the most important equipment—you breathe out of a regulator!

We then got into the pool…the fins were worn under water, the booties worn outside the water—easier that way. It took me a while to get used to breathing with the mouth with a regulator. In fact, I sort of panicked the first few breaths! The mask, which covers the nose was also lil’ uncomfy the first time. I also made the mistake of buying a mask with elastic strap..kept pulling my hair the whole time.

We then learnt the ‘regulator purge’ and ‘regulator swipe/grab’ and few hand signals that are commonly used to communicate underwater.

Next was ‘equalizing’. The air spaces in our body-the sinus cavity and the ears tend to be at a lower pressure than the surrounding…which becomes painful as you descent under water. This pain is called a ‘squeeze’. You need to ‘equalize’ to help the air equalize with the surrounding pressure. Equalizing is done by wiggling the jaws side to side or simply breathing thru’ your nose! Having learnt this, we started to go into deeper water. I experienced painful squeeze because I forgot to equalize as I went deeper! I came back up, equalized, went deeper….repeated this few times until the pain was gone.

Only when the pain was completely gone, could I ‘float’ and enjoy the ‘weightlessness’ under water! We swan under water for about an hour, did crazy things like remain suspended head down, walk on the pool walls on the side and flip over!

Then we disengaged all the equipment, washed the gear with fresh water (chlorine from the pool leaches out if not).

Words can’t justify how I felt under water! I can only imagine how pleasantly happy will I be to swim along fish and other marine life!

Scuba diving is an ideal fix for ppl that love water in any form- ocean, lakes anything.

Relaxed breathing under water is very serene…looking out into the blue is soothing.