Breathe or die: Good policy even out of the water

Scuba class started last Sunday.
I am taking it through a local dive shop called Sea D Sea.

So, what did we do the first day?

Well, it started with arriving at the pool at Akai Swim School at 7:30 a.m.

For anyone who knows me, you know it is a minor miracle for me to be up at that hour, not to mention out of the house and alert enough to be thinking about diving and listening to what the instructors had to say.

Since the class starts before the shop is even open, I had to go over there Saturday to pick up a tank, BC and regulator.

I packed all that and my mask, snorkel, fins, boots and gloves over to the pool.

The instructor, a guy named Ron Fredette, got us started by showing us how get the gear set up and ready to go. It was all pretty easy. He even has another guy helping him, Carlos (I did not catch his last name).

I had done the Discover Scuba Diving thing a few years ago in St. Thomas, but they equipment was all ready for us there.

Then minus the gear, we jumped in the water so they could make sure we can all swim. There are seven of us total in the class. We swam back and forth several times.

Then we had to tread water or float for a while.

Then we got out of the water to gear up, with the help of a buddy.

Then back in the pool.

We went over stuff that I learned in the Discover program. How to clear water from your mask, how to recover the regulator if it comes out of your mouth, how to adjust your buoyancy underwater, how to breath without the mask on (not pleasant), how to descend and clear the air pressure from your ears.

One other thing they covered was the whole breathing thing. You want to make sure you do that.

After a couple hours in the pool, we had to head over to the shop for some classroom lessons.

So I changed, stopped to grab a sandwich and headed to Redondo Beach.

They showed us how to clean the gear then we sat in a stuff little room until 2:30 p.m.

It was all pretty interesting, but it makes for a long day.

So, this week we are back in the pool first thing.

I have a couple chapters in the book to review. There are quizzes.

I think I did pretty well. Like A- level scores on the first two we took.

But I am competitive. So I need to step up my game.

I will try to post more on the next class Sunday afternoon.

I was thinking it would be fun to have pictures, but really, it is not pretty. NO one looks good in those masks.