Makenna, Isaac and I went on our first open water dive Saturday morning. We had to get up early to get to the dive site by 8. It shouldn't be a stretch, but for kids that go to bed around midnight and normally don't get up before 9, leaving shortly after 7 was a little painful. It was a gorgeous day. November in Dubai is practically perfect.
Isaac ended up diving with another group because of numbers, so I have to report his specifics separately. He reported seeing a 2 ft long spotted grouper fish, big clams opening and closing (they looked like rocks at first glance), angel fish, sea urchins, other unknown fish, and one sunken boat. Makenna and I stayed together in the same group. We saw many big angel fish, one big fish that might have been the same as Isaac's grouper, lots of other fish of various sizes, crabs, sea urchins, and three of the boats (catamarans). There are supposedly 11 that they have sunk in the bay for divers to find and for wildlife to latch on and grow. It's a more sandy bottom, so by adding some structures, they are encouraging coral to grow.
This morning we had a briefing, gathered and assembled gear, walked with all our gear (heavy!) to the beach, had a 20-30 minute fun dive--that's when we saw the fish and sunken ships--followed by some surface skills, then another 20 minute dive to practice 5 under water skills. They were all skills we had learned in the pool, but now we had to try and demonstrate them in salt water. Clearing your mask in salt water is much less pleasant. And it's more freaky taking out your regulator (air supplier) with 16 feet of water over your head.
We all had some trouble equalizing, especially our left ears. What is it about left ears?? Ouch, it hurts when you can't pop them going down! It was a bit scary, but amazing. We are looking forward to taking a trip to Fujairah (another Emirate 1 1/2 hours away) and trying a dive in the Indian Ocean. It's apparently more rocky with great visibility and lots of marine life. Another mom was telling me about the time she dove there and saw 6 giant turtles, right by them. I think there are two more dives before we are officially certified. We have spent many long hours online taking the book part and answering over 100 questions about dive safety, calculations, dangers, equipment.... The favorite term we picked up is Nitrogen Narcosis. When anyone is being goofy, they get pointed at and told "You have nitrogen narcosis! You need to ascend!"
Matt had arranged to go in to work late to stay with Jess, so when we got home we sent him off and tried to get a couple solid hours of school done. Everyone did reasonably well, especially with the incentive of a late over. We had previously planned to have the girls friends stay after our craft class to have dinner and watch a movie. Isaac had been invited to a friend's house leaving us with a 6 girl house.
We started with craft time. We did week 2 of beading. They made at least two bracelets and/or necklaces each. Makenna and Jess wanted to watch What's Up Doc. I wasn't sure how it would go over, but it's so wonderfully silly that all the girls were laughing it up. At around 6 we started the movie and ate pizza. Maggie brought cookies and Rayyan's mom sent red velvet cupcakes and frosting (both from scratch) for the girls to enjoy. After the movie, they went back to the table to finish up or start a new bead project. Even though it lasted 5 1/2 hours, there was still some whining when the door bell rang.
Isaac ended up diving with another group because of numbers, so I have to report his specifics separately. He reported seeing a 2 ft long spotted grouper fish, big clams opening and closing (they looked like rocks at first glance), angel fish, sea urchins, other unknown fish, and one sunken boat. Makenna and I stayed together in the same group. We saw many big angel fish, one big fish that might have been the same as Isaac's grouper, lots of other fish of various sizes, crabs, sea urchins, and three of the boats (catamarans). There are supposedly 11 that they have sunk in the bay for divers to find and for wildlife to latch on and grow. It's a more sandy bottom, so by adding some structures, they are encouraging coral to grow.
This morning we had a briefing, gathered and assembled gear, walked with all our gear (heavy!) to the beach, had a 20-30 minute fun dive--that's when we saw the fish and sunken ships--followed by some surface skills, then another 20 minute dive to practice 5 under water skills. They were all skills we had learned in the pool, but now we had to try and demonstrate them in salt water. Clearing your mask in salt water is much less pleasant. And it's more freaky taking out your regulator (air supplier) with 16 feet of water over your head.
We all had some trouble equalizing, especially our left ears. What is it about left ears?? Ouch, it hurts when you can't pop them going down! It was a bit scary, but amazing. We are looking forward to taking a trip to Fujairah (another Emirate 1 1/2 hours away) and trying a dive in the Indian Ocean. It's apparently more rocky with great visibility and lots of marine life. Another mom was telling me about the time she dove there and saw 6 giant turtles, right by them. I think there are two more dives before we are officially certified. We have spent many long hours online taking the book part and answering over 100 questions about dive safety, calculations, dangers, equipment.... The favorite term we picked up is Nitrogen Narcosis. When anyone is being goofy, they get pointed at and told "You have nitrogen narcosis! You need to ascend!"
Matt had arranged to go in to work late to stay with Jess, so when we got home we sent him off and tried to get a couple solid hours of school done. Everyone did reasonably well, especially with the incentive of a late over. We had previously planned to have the girls friends stay after our craft class to have dinner and watch a movie. Isaac had been invited to a friend's house leaving us with a 6 girl house.
We started with craft time. We did week 2 of beading. They made at least two bracelets and/or necklaces each. Makenna and Jess wanted to watch What's Up Doc. I wasn't sure how it would go over, but it's so wonderfully silly that all the girls were laughing it up. At around 6 we started the movie and ate pizza. Maggie brought cookies and Rayyan's mom sent red velvet cupcakes and frosting (both from scratch) for the girls to enjoy. After the movie, they went back to the table to finish up or start a new bead project. Even though it lasted 5 1/2 hours, there was still some whining when the door bell rang.
Monkey girls
Makenna, Kate and Maggie
Jess and Rayyan
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