I’m going to start by talking about Sunday, because I liked Sunday the best. It started off with four hours in the pool, during which I continued my ass-kicking even though I was frequently freaked out by what we were asked to do!

Scary Skill #1: Skin Ditch and Recovery (D&R)

• Put on weight belt, fins, mask/snorkel
• Dive down to the bottom of the pool (10′)
• Remove fins, remove mask/snorkel. Remove weight belt and use to hold down everything else.
• Surface. Catch breath.
• Dive down to bottom. Put weight belt on lap to hold you down.
• Put on mask and clear it
• Put on fins
• Buckle weight belt
• Head towards the surface, clearing snorkel en route
• Surface wearing all gear, with no water in mask or snorkel

Yeah.

So I started slow, working on just doing the mask part. This required a certain confidence that my contacts would not float off my eyeballs if I opened my eyes in the pool, and luckily, they didn’t disappoint me. It took two or three nerve-wracking tries, but I finally relaxed enough to be able to dive down, put on the mask, exhale into it to clear the water, and still have breath left to clear the snorkel.

Then I worked my way through removing/replacing one fin, and finally both. I was all set to try removing the weight belt as well (making the second dive down a bit harder, since I’d be buoyant), but we ran out of time. I got farther than the rest of my group, though, and I’m pretty sure I can nail this one with a bit more practice.

The next breathholding skill was a lift bag exercise, also in 10′ of water. An empty water bottle was attached to a 10 lb weight on the surface. In the pool, we let water into the bottle to sink it to the bottom, with just enough air left at the top of it so it would float above the weight. Then everyone took turns diving down, removing their snorkel, and exhaling into the water bottle until it became buoyant enough to lift the weight.

A few hardy folks managed to do this on one breath; I took two, but apparently had good form (didn’t lose any air outside the bottle), so I guess my lungs just aren’t as big as some people.

Finally we moved on to SCUBA skills. And that brings us to…

Scary Skill #2: SCUBA Bailouts

• Assemble SCUBA gear, but don’t put it on. Turn air off.
• Hook fins and mask over your right arm, weight belt over your left.
• Use both hands to grab the tank/BC assembly while standing at the edge of the pool.
• Lift up and step off into the water.
• Sink to bottom (10′) – don’t forget to equalize. Like I did. Ouch.
• Put regulator in mouth. (Upside down is fine, as I proved, as long as you fix it later). Turn on air. Catch breath.
• Drape weight belt across lap to keep you stable on the bottom.
• Hold tank/bc assembly in place between your knees.
• Put on fins.
• Put on mask and clear it (at last, you can see).
• Put arms through BC, and lift up and over your head to fall into place on your back. Untangle snorkel as it snags.
• Cinch straps on BC.
• Roll into weight belt.
• Show the divemaster how much air you have.
• Make a controlled ascent.

I was the first one in my group to try this, and although my instructor had loads of constructive criticism for me, he gave me an overall thumbs-up. (And I was the only one in my group who didn’t have to do it at least twice to satisfy him.)

So Sunday morning was basically about ignoring my fear and taking the plunge, and I got a pretty good ego boost out of succeeding at these skills – a sorely-needed ego boost, after what happened Saturday.

Let us now rewind to Saturday: the first beach dive in ADP, scheduled at Redondo.

We all arrived at Veterans Park at 7:30 and looked down at the surf. It was pounding. The size of the waves were what I would consider to be seriously borderline for diving – doable, but no fun whatsoever. And there were occasional extra-big sets that would really give you a pounding. But the best part was the short period between swells – there just wasn’t a break. The lulls were short and unpredictable. I was not happy.

Up first was a wetsuit-only entry to get a feel for the bottom without struggling with our fins. I made it into the breakers, bracing myself against them. As we got deeper, and waves started breaking right over people (necessitating the duck-under strategy), I basically panicked and backed the hell out of there, back onto the beach where I told the course director I didn’t think I could handle this surf yet.

He sent me back in, this time with my own personal DM (thanks, Ken!), who walked me past the foamy breakers (“Brace!”) and into some of the over-the-head breakers (“Duck!”). I managed a few of these, and then got creeped out again and headed back to shore.

At this point, everyone else was gearing up for a skin dive (fins, mask/snorkel, weights and BC). NO WAY was I going in through those waves. Worst of all, once I was out there, who’s to say they wouldn’t get even bigger and block the way out? I made my apologies to my dive buddy, and told the course director I’d much rather sit this one out. But, I didn’t want to waste my time there entirely – I’d play in the surf and just practice getting comfortable with it.

And so I did. First in just a wetsuit, and then eventually with fins on and a mask/snorkel. Mostly I stood in waist deep water, where the breakers hit a little further out and reached me as a wall of foam. Kevin, the course director, worked with me for a while on improving my bracing stance, and not getting knocked off my feet – this is crucial with fins, which are kind of difficult to stand up in. After about 30 minutes of this, he talked me into slightly deeper water for a few over-the-head waves to duck under. I did fine, but was still pretty creeped out. Sure, as long as you get low enough, you’re in the “calm” part. But if your legs float up even a little, they catch in the tumbly part and send you spinning. Bleah.

The skin divers struggled back out of the surf zone, and it was time for a scuba dive. I figured since I hadn’t even managed to get in on skin gear, no way was I going to try scuba. About 5 other folks also sat it out for various reasons (wusses like me, or seasick, or lost gear on the skin dive).

While everyone was making the dive, I started to feel sort of lousy about bailing. At this point, I felt like I could maybe handle the waves – I could probably manage the skin dive. But everyone else had moved on, so I practiced more breaker-surviving and got some video of divers getting tossed around in the surf.

Most of the instructors didn’t give me any crap about wussing out; Kevin in particular was really great about it, reminding me that it’s all about improving during the class, and at least I learned some more about entries and exits. I’ll have more chances to dive. I’ve read a few dive reports from experienced divers who were still freaked out by the surf that day (several folks estimated 4+ foot surf, which makes for waves with up to 7′-8′ faces). So those also make me feel less like a wuss, or at least more like a SMART wuss.

I’ve got two weeks to psych myself up for the next ADP beach dive, which will be a rocky entry at Palos Verdes. Before that happens, I’m hoping to make it down to Redondo with just one or two other people (including my friend and dive instructor, Ray), and maybe get a chance to prove to myself that I can deal with surf. Not that I would mind if it winds up being a nice calm day instead.