Guam Day 36: Diving Day Two

3/20/2022 - Im behind on this update as I was really hoping to get some of our underwater shots, we are still waiting with hopes that in the next week or so we will have them. 

Saturday night was a little tough on both Joan and I, we both learned that dive ear can be painful and equalizing the pressure in your inner ear during descents / ascents is very important. This is one of those top five rules of diving, if you have gone underwater 5 - 7ft before, you know the feeling of the pressure build up. What I didn't know, until taking this class, is you can equalize by swallowing, or holding your nose and breathing out.  Joan had it a bit worse with some ear pain through the evening and into the night. On my side, my anxiety was up, thinking about diving to 60ft was a lot on the brain, and to add to it, the mask removal sign-off was part of day two, on edge with little sleep.

Morning came early around 4:30am for me without being able to get back to sleep, 5:30am came even faster, and our packing routine was underway once again for a 6:30 leave time. For those of you that don't know, I am usually quite groggy in the mornings and struggle to get an early start. Not today though, wide awake and Joan can attest, very anxious as we drove south to our dive location. My anxiousness I think derived from two places, one breathing underwater / choking on water underwater, and the second was watching a show on PBS when I was really young about wreck diving that went wrong for a crew identifying lost submarines. The show had quite an influence on me at about 12, the crew ran out of air very deep and suffered from the Bends.  The Bends, or decompression sickness, is a condition that occurs when you ascend too fast from very deep dives. Nitrogen from the air dissolves in body tissue at depth, and under certain conditions, ascending too fast results in the nitrogen "boiling" out of your body and into the bloodstream. This is a really bad day, the only way to overcome this is to be put in a pressure chamber and slowly be revived from depth pressure to surface pressure. 

I did find the PBS show from long ago, a rewatch might help, we will see: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwACTyyiA-E

We arrive at the MDA "Oasis, also called Outhouse beach here on Guam. (Picture 2) I thought this was a funny name as there was no latrine to be found, maybe the water wasn't as clean as I thought. Actually, this dive place was very pretty, the location was on the far side of Apra Harbor, this is where the Naval Base and ship yard is located on the island, so lots of big ships to look at in the deep part of the harbor. Joan and I geared up once our dive group met up and we set out to finish our dive training. 

Once in the water, I felt so much better, I'm not sure what it was, but once I got under water and got used to breathing again my anxiety was gone. I have been reading that diving is a sport sometimes recommending for those that suffer from anxiety as it teaches steady breathing and how to overcome stressful situations while remaining calm. The skills that were being reinforced, both days, taught that at some point you will have a problem, and to overcome it, you must remain calm, follow procedure, and think clearly. Really good reinforcement for me as I do have quite a bit of anxiety that I deal with. 

In the water we learned how to successfully take on and off the scuba gear underwater as well as the weight belt. Quite the challenge but again remaining clam, breathing through the regulator, and having support from the instructor really made this a positive experience. We also practiced emergency ascents from 20ft down, this was really fun and I liked the technical piece that comes to play here. At depth a diver is breathing in air that is more dense than at surface, so as you ascend you must exhale and rise slowly ensuring pressure doesn't build up. In an emergency ascent you force yourself to exhale all the way to the surface by making a tone and saying ahhhhhh. I think mine was an A on the Bass Clef, but I didnt have a tuner at that depth to verify. 

Last part of the day was two fold, one a dive to 60ft and two a sign-off of removing your mask at 15ft below. Luckily the instructor gave me practice of removing the mask at 7ft before lunch, I finally was successful which gave me a confidence boost into the sign-off. Joan was awesome, she dove with me at 7ft to be by my side and support me. 

Time to dive, Joan and I had our break, a pb+j sammich once again, and we were set to go with the class. A dive plan always consists of going to the deepest part of your dive first and and then slowly ascending for the rest of the time you have planned. This helps with air monitoring and planning, as well as nitrogen buildup. So off we went, deeper and deeper into the bay until our dive computers read 60ft. Weirdly, or maybe not weirdly, there really wasn't a different feeling between the depths, this was all in my head. The fish and the coral were gorgeous though, it's truly another world. We spent the remaining portion of our scheduled air checking out the ocean floor, taking photos, and seeing items that were left behind from day to day usage of the harbor. Our human footprint on the ocean is really something, lots of metal and debris was seen even during our short time. Since we went to 60ft depth, we had to complete a safety stop at 15ft for 3 mins, remember I was talking about the Bends up top, the stop ensures your body has time to equalize before fully surfacing. This was the step that the divers in the video didnt complete and is why they had issues. I do want to note here, diving is a very safe sport assuming you work within your limits and have the knowledge of how to overcome basic problems. The class was amazing at teaching the skills and supporting you through these steps. 

Back at 15ft, it was time to take the mask off and show that I could clear it. With more confidence on my side this time, I took the mask off, quickly put it back on and worked the process of blowing air out of my nose into the mask. At depth, this seemed way easier, maybe this was the confidence or there really is something to the pressure differential pushing the air into the upper part of the mask. I did get some water in my nose, I coughed and sputtered as I was halfway clear, incredibly though, you can cough into the regulator and the water can be cleared out, so truly if you get water in your mouth at depth it isn't a problem. I completed the process and fully cleared out the mask, incredibly elated to have accomplished what was needed to be certified. 

Joan and I completed our certification together, we can dive with a buddy down to 60ft under good water conditions. We can't wait to see some new places on the island. Maybe even check out a wreck. 

We would highly recommend getting certified if you have any interest in ever diving. For those in Michigan, it looks like there is some 2000 wrecks to dive on in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. You don't have to be on a desert island to learn, but there are perks to the 80 degree water that is here. 

Posted on 3/24/2022