Big Willys Really Are Fun!

Posted by Phobia on May 27th, 2007 filed in Home

Now most PADI divers will understand that & the rest of you will just think I’m a bit of a nympho (which may not be too far from the truth :-P)

Thought I’d tell you about my very first dive weekend as an Open Water SCUBA diver!  It was at the Poor Knights Marine Reserve (just off the coast of Tutukaka about 3 hours north of Auckland).

Given my obvious lack of bouyancy control during my course I was quietly freaking out about the whole thing & seriously considered cancelling the trip.  However I’m not one to back down & the newly acquired scuba gear was incentive enough to go through with it.

We had a great group of people on the first day - about 25 of us in all.  And we had the most awesome boat!!  Perfect Day was a huge boat with all the luxuries.  It had a large roomy gear-up area, a huge cabin, 4 toilets & (best of all), hot showers!!  It was a bit cloudy & chilly on the way out which did nothing for my nervousness.  I think I had the rabbit-in-headlights look the whole time!

When we got to our first dive site the skipper anchored the boat & we had our dive briefing (which just tells you a little about the site & it’s history & what you can expect to see underwater.)  Then it was down to the gear-up area.  Trying as hard as I could to focus on getting my wetsuit on & setting up my BCD & regs & not think about screwing up.  About 20 minutes later I was ready to go & doing my final check with my buddy.  BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, & Final check.  All set!  And one bundle of nerves (that’s me) did a giant stride entry into the water!

At first I was slightly unsteady but got things under control.  Put my face in the water & looked around.  It was amazing!!  The water was crystal clear & I could see schools of fish swimming around under me.  The descent went smoothly & pretty soon we were at 18m.  Looking around I really didn’t know what to look at first.  There was just so much to see.  We swam around for a bit looking for the interesting fish the skipper had told us about.  We saw lots of eels, Sandagers wrasse, scorpion fish (which look like rocks with eyes), schools of juvenile demoiselles & even 2 long tailed sting rays!!  One just floated by in front of us & I had visions of the movie The Abyss (but without all the cool lights!).  The hand signs for all of these are great.  Some are really funny & when there isn’t a sign (or you just plain don’t know it) the made up ones are even better!

As for my bouyancy control it was great!  Andrew (the instructor who was our guide) kept an eye on us first-timers &  let us know when we were about to float away.  By the end of the dive I was pretty stoked with myself & finally happy that I didn’t chicken out & cancel.

Back on the boat the fantastic crew had hot soup & drinks waiting.  How good are these guys!  We had a leisurely two & a half hour surface interval & we sat around in the sun warming up & off-gassing (not as rude as it sounds) before our 2nd dive.

With my suit full of hot water I got back in the water.  This one did not go as smoothly bouyancy-wise as the first for some reason & I randomly shot to the surface twice when I put a little too much air in my BCD.  I think I have it figured out now though.  On the bright side there were lots more fish!  There was a really bright orange starfish (I forget the proper name) & I saw my first nudibranck!!!  It’s a colourful little sea slug & I’d been waiting to see one.

After the dive  it was back to the marina & time for a hot shower & dinner at Schnapper Rock.  And a really good sleep!

The 2nd day saw our group split up.  Some to dive the wrecks nearby & three of us to head back to the Poor Knights.  Cold wet wetsuits are not fun I tell you!!  I did the first dive but started to shiver quite badly underwater & had to cut it short.  When I got out the blueness of my fingers convinced me to stay out!  I spent the afternoon chilling out on the boat & chatting to the crew.

All in all it was a hugely successful weekend!!!  I’m so much more confident about diving & am actually looking forward to going again though I think it’s going to have to wait for summer when the water warms up again.