I have a confession to make. The 2018 Scuba season actually started a little while ago, but DWF has been fighting a case of the sniffles/allergies ever since he got back from The Bahamas. So keep checking back and I promise that I’ll have several of the best photos I’ve ever taken posted in the next week (or two).
But let’s talk about last weekend! DWF got to introduce a couple of divers to the veritable smorgasbord of specialty dives that the PADI Advanced Open Water course provides. A couple of other scuba fanatic friends also tagged along to get some dives in at both Hyde’s and Dutch Springs over the weekend. THOSE are the kinda friends I need!
On Saturday we hit Hyde’s Quarry for our
The water temperature at Hyde’s was a “balmy” 51 degrees F at the surface and 48 degrees @ 20 feet. I always enjoy the AOW series. Each subsequent dive relies on the skills learned that day. PPB provides some more practice for the buoyancy control that my students need as they successfully use a compass (in their next dive). UW Navigation provides practice with the compass. For many it’s the first time they’ve spent much time on compass work since their Open Water course. I enjoy seeing my students starting to hone those skills. And to top it off the Search & Recovery dive provides my students the opportunity to run search patters. Finding the things I’ve “dropped” in the quarry seems like magic when it works. So all in all, Saturday was a great day!
On Sunday, we made it up to Dutch Springs for our
During our deep dive the water temperature at Dutch Springs was 58 degrees F at the surface and down to 42 degrees F @ 80 feet.
When I take students on their deep dive I explain that all of the skills and good habits that we formed in Open Water class and subsequent dives are that much more important when we’re doing our deep dive. Not to freak folks out, but to stress that we want to be focused on maintaining those good habits. During our dive my students definitely looked a little more focused, but I could see that we were having a good time. Once we finished our dive, their excitement confirmed it. This was exactly how a deep dive should be!
For our final AOW dive, we did a wreck dive, where my students focused on identifying those points of interest, points of hazard, and as a bonus…points of entrance and egress. The wreck diving class is all about informing you about the hazards (both obvious and not so obvious) of wreck diving and teaching you the way to dive a wreck safely…and that involved driving home the idea that you don’t just drop down on a wreck you’ve never seen before and penetrate it.
This was a really great weekend. Congratulations to Columbia Scuba‘s newest AOW divers and thanks to my scuba friends for joining us!
If the weather holds I’ll have a nice little trip report from my first Megalodon Shark Tooth and Wreck Diving trip to North Carolina from this coming weekend.
