Finished AOW!!

[Zen Diver]

Congrats Loretta! :smt038 After Bob's class you truly are an Advanced Diver.

-Valerie

[Dusty2]

Good show Loretta! Just keep at it and it will just keep gettin better.

[spatman]

yay! good for you! 'bout time, too! :occasion5:

now you need to make sure you keep diving so those new skills don't get rusty...

[dwashbur]

Great job, Loretta! In many ways, I think AOW was the most fun course I did, mainly because of the diversity of dive types.

[Grateful Diver]

Now the instructor's perspective ...

I got Loretta and Cindy in the water just after lunch ... and after completing three dives with another student in the morning. Since I had set the navigation course up for the other student, I figured I'd let them run the course (Loretta had already done this once with Matt, but I thought she could use the practice). I told both ladies to navigate, and to work out any ... differences of opinion ... underwater. Real life, with buddy teams, ya know ... I wanted to see how they'd work together.

So down we went ... after a little bit of an adventure on the descent, we got our stuff together, I pointed out the first flag and signaled for them to begin when ready. Both ladies peered into their compasses and concentrated on getting the appropriate heading. Cindy turned clockwise, Loretta turned counterclockwise ... and as neither one of them had exactly stopped finning I watched, bemused, as they slowly started swimming off in different directions. Then I watched ... satisfied ... as they both quickly realized what was happening and started communicating with each other. Good start ... this dive's about way more than navigation, ya know. Over the next 20 minutes or so I watched two divers who had never met before start to gel as a buddy team ... they were signaling, turning together, even laughing at their own antics a couple times. The classroom discussion about buddy skills and communicating was coming out in practice ... and it was most satisfactory. More importantly, it was evident that they were enjoying themselves ... it was fun to watch.

Then we got to the fourth flag. Since I'd already done three dives with a prior student, I didn't want to have to come back and pull the flags later ... so as they were finding the flags I was collecting them. I watched them start taking their headings toward the fifth and final flag, reached down to pull the flag from the bottom ... and when I looked up I was minus one diver. I figured what had happened, and gave Cindy a few seconds to see how she'd react before signaling her to ascend. Once on the surface, Loretta was dutifully waiting for us ... just like we'd talked about in class. We talked about what happened, and decided that since the dive was shallow, she'd surfaced from only 25 feet, and she was up for it, we'd go back down and complete the course ... which we did. Once back at the buoy line, we did a slow, spiraling ascent up the line ... checking out all the (quite large) opalescent nudis laying eggs on the kelp attached to the buoy line ... and also spotting a lot of skeleton shrimp. It was a very slow ascent, with a couple of stops for midwater hovering practice. And it went quite well. So once on the surface I asked how much air they each had left, and we decided to go down and do a "practice" midwater nav dive at 15 feet. Since this was their first exposure to midwater skills, I'd do the actual navigating, and all they had to do was pace me and maintain a constant depth. I was also looking for those communication skills. I was pleased with how well it went.

Cindy told me after the dive that she had flooded her drysuit, so she was done for the day. Loretta and I went back out to do her midwater nav dive. This time she was doing pretty much all the work ... I was going to time the legs and watch our depth. But there wasn't much to watch ... she made it look easy, staying between 19 and 21 feet the entire dive. I love it when students complete a skills dive and come out of the water with big, beaming smiles on their face ... that's the look of confidence. She nailed the skills, and she knew it ...

We packed up, headed home, grabbed some dinner, and headed down to Redondo for her first night dive. It was a beautiful evening for it, with an exceptionally high tide and reasonably good vis. Saw tons of sailfin sculpins, all the usual critters on the pipe boat, a few octos ... one especially lively one right near the end of the dive. Did our safety stop among the pilings underneath the aquarium ... came up around 10 PM ... 15 hours after I'd started my first dive that morning. Long day ... but worth it. I was looking at a different diver than the one I'd started the afternoon with ... so I told Loretta that the next morning we'd do her deep dive ... then we'd spend the rest of the day just doing fun dives and sprinkling in some skills randomly for practice.

And that's what we did. On Sunday she saw her first lumpsucker, as well as all the other usual Redondo suspects. We did three dives, some OOA drills, shot a bag, practiced motionless hovering (over, and over, and over), and generally just had an awesome day underwater.

Great job Loretta ... you knew what you wanted to achieve, and you did it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Yay Loretta! Congratulations!

[Penopolypants]

Congratulations Loretta! I can't wait to see those skills in action!

[Jan K]

Congratulations indeed! Not only you finished your course, you saw a Lumpsucker ! I am so jealous!
Good for you, keep on diving !

[dsteding]

I'll always think back fondly of doing this class summer of 2006 with Chris and Bob. Good times, and a very useful class-I'd consider it the threshold of becoming a competent, independent, safe, diver. Congratulations on getting through it.

You've got a lot of fun diving ahead of you because you took Bob's class, which is really cool.

[LCF]

Loretta, you just finished one of the best AOW classes available anywhere. You got a TON of good information, and got exposed to a ton of good skills. What's really fun is that you'll find what you learned is slowly going to transform your diving, and make it much more FUN.

Lucky you, to do your night dive at Redondo. I'm still ambivalent about the site in the daytime, but at night, it's a FANTASTIC dive.

Congratulations on getting through the nav dive . . . My one attempt at that was pathetic, and I'm not totally sure I could pass it now, despite having my cave cert. Good on you.

[Grateful Diver]

Took my camera on our final dive. Got one decent shot ... this tiny fellow ...



... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[mtnplayva]

Congrats Loretta! I just finished my AOW this weekend too but my training was no where near the quality of what you had. Bob - if I ever get out that way I'd love to take some training with you.

[Pez7378]

CONGRATULATIONS Loretta! It sure sounds like you had a great class. I thoroughly enjoyed the training that Doug and I had. I remember having some trouble on the first couple of attempts at the midwater nav course too!

Lynne, wouldn't it be fun to go out and give it another shot, after all this time and a few dives later, I bet it's not so bad .

[BillZ]

Congrats Loretta!
It was a pleasure meeting you this weekend. Drop Cindy or me a note the next time you are in town so we can get some dives in. If "Casa Bob" is booked for the weekend we have a spare bedroom and can put you up.

Bill

[Scubadubado]

Congrats Loretta! I am so happy for you! It's Cindy, your dive buddy during the Nav course! ;-)

I knew you would do it! Bob told me you did GREAT! It's no wonder with an instructor like Bob and he makes it well worth the drive from Oregon for him to certify you. He is very patient, which is really what I need!

Come back to the NW very soon, so we can dive together again! I had a great time!

[Sounder]

Congrats Loretta!! You came a long way in that class - when Bob told me you passed, I knew you'd put a lot of work into your skills. Bob's class is not an easy pass, so you should be proud of your accomplishment. Great job!

[divernick]

Congrats Loretta, glad you passed and had a good time doing it.

[Sounder]

Congrats Loretta!! You came a long way in that class - when Bob told me you passed, I knew you'd put a lot of work into your skills. Bob's class is not an easy pass, so you should be proud of your accomplishment. Great job!

Thanks Doug, and don't forget that you also taught me alot I'll expect to dive with you the next time I make the long trek your direction, so I can show off what I've learned!

I'm looking forward to it. Congrats again, you've earned it.

BTW - what has come of that hot pink vest BC that was causing you so much trouble in the beginning?

[spatman]

BTW - what has come of that hot pink vest BC that was causing you so much trouble in the beginning?

do you really think it would go well with your black drysuit, sounder?

[Sounder]

BTW - what has come of that hot pink vest BC that was causing you so much trouble in the beginning?

do you really think it would go well with your black drysuit, sounder?

Naah, I just remember the first time I saw her put it on (I was blinded, kind of like Ppant's old drysuit) and how much trouble it gave her in the water. Another DSS convert!!! Muahahaha!!

[Nwbrewer]

If it would help to irritate Doug I could hack it up and make an outter cover for your wing from it. You could have a nice pink wing that would blind you dive buddies on the surface, but make you easily identifiable in the water.....

[Sounder]

If it would help to irritate Doug I could hack it up and make an outter cover for your wing from it. You could have a nice pink wing that would blind you dive buddies on the surface, but make you easily identifiable in the water.....

[spatman]

If it would help to irritate Doug I could hack it up and make an outter cover for your wing from it. You could have a nice pink wing that would blind you dive buddies on the surface, but make you easily identifiable in the water.....

luckily, loretta's not really out to torment sounder. if she were, she would have gotten this.

[Nwbrewer]

Pink or rainbow webbing is always a nice touch.

[Scubadubado]

Loretta - Let me know if you do paint your back plate hot pink; I will loan you my hot pink dry suit to go with it! :-)