24AUG2004:

He said "Why should I tarry?"

And smiled with tranquil eye;

"In destinies Sad or Merry,

True men can but try."

- Sir Gawain prior to meeting the Green Knight

Dropped the medical release off and had about a 2 hour chat with Jeff to go over some of the PADI course material. This week I'm supposed to study chapter 1 and return on sat morning the 28th for the chapter review (chapter 1) and do some pool work. We talked about some of the basic things we'll be doing, mask clearing, second stage recovery, floating. Seems simple enough, although talk often does. We'll have to wait to get in the pool to find out...

Chapter one focused on some basics of buoyancy, effects of pressure and an introduction on the basic variety of equipment types and care. Was very easy reading, and little note taking is necessary as I just underlined all the seemingly important stuff right in the book. Before I go back for the review I'm going to speed read all the underlined highlights.

Some talk of equipment:

With limited resources it made it necessary to pick up some things on ebay, a full body swimsuit for around $24. It's nylon and lycra and supposedly will work as a wetsuit in warm water, also it will help get into a neoprene wetsuit using this as a sort of under garment.

5 mil farmer john, used, also courtesy of ebay for around 25 bucks. I went to a manufacturers website to find sizing info. Most will have charts you can print out.

Neoprene gloves with webbing in between the fingers to assist in swimming, $15. I searched from yahoo and found a company in Florida, Aqua Gear, which had a variety of gloves. If you have trouble finding them they are sometimes sold under swimming or exercising, to increase resistance and give you a better workout.

Mask/Snorkel $20

Neoprene socks 5 mil. Ebay $10

The PADI crewpack, which I got from the shop ($50) is the training manual for basic open water and comes with decompression table, divers log and a variety of pamphlets. The actual training costs extra, but that's between you and the shop. Yeah, I know, I'm a real tightwad but with the cost of some of this gear it becomes a make or break issue so that's just the way it's going to be, period.

I need to pick up a bcd but for now will rent one until I learn more about them. Jeff thinks a jacket type will work better at the surface but I would like to try a back mounted type just to see how it will do. I'm thinking that because I must use my arms for everything, a back mounted bcd may be less obstructive.

Well, tomorrow is chapter review and pool work so I'm off to do a quick look-back at chapter 1 and make sure everything's fresh for tomorrow. Will do the same in the morning before we sally forth…