Final days in the deep

Location: Mexico

Date: October 13th, 2012

Day 5 & 6

On day 5 we started preparing the "big dive" . Today was also the day the concept of ratio deco was thoroughly explained to me. The coolest thing was that i understood it. We also looked at the various digital planners that exist in the deco world and they sometimes give you outputs that are difficult to remember so basically I learned a little bit of Kelvin, deco planners and ratio deco. Put that in a mixer et voila! our deco plan is born. The plan needs to be simple because remember this is all in my head no slates or wetnotes what so ever. And even at depth where you have lots of shit going on in that teeny bit narced out brain of mine i need to be able to focus and most important remember.

The dive today was all about putting the line in so once again i tied into the tree at 27m ( i am beginning to talk to the tree now cuz he has been involved in my course so much hahahaha) then to the 1st nipple ( actually for me it would be a penis) and the 2nd penis...uh nipple. We basically call it that because the 2 stalacmites are well.. sticking out on a formation ;). his time however we did not stop at the second nipple we actually went through and connected to the cave line at 48M. COOL!

On our way back we actually had some real things happening. Franks tank clip of his oxygen tank broke and off course Kelvin took the opportunity to take the tank away from him which basically menat we only had 1 deco tank (mine) between the 2 of us. On top of that He also decided to run out of air ( this was simulated don;t worry). So we started our ascend which I know had to adapt slightly because we had only 1 deco tank.

In the evening I had homework and I had to plan the dive for the next day to 60m in the cave of Cenote the pit. This is slightly tricky cuz remember this is not just a dive that goes down and then up. Lots of thinking about how to attack the dive and lots of math!! guess what ... i liked it :)

here is the proof:

Day 6

Today is the big day. THE dive.... EXCITING!!! So first I had to present my plan. Kelvin drew it out on the board and guess what.... IT MADE SENSE. happy me. So today I would be diving on a proper helium mix. for the ones who understand it my mix was 18/45.

so slightly nervous (well me) we headed to the Pit one more time. Today would be the dive to 60m and I would finally be able to go into the cave. I mean I had been teased for 5 days now and finally I could get in. 

We set-up our gear and I briefed Frank at the beginning of the dive what our dive plan was. So we were both clear on the hows, what and when's. Well me being the students you are actually never sure what they are going to do to you (every time I see kelvin go behind me i prepare myself for the worst. Which cable will leak now or what is he signalling to Frank e.g. out of air or whatever. Once we were both clear on the plan we descended to ... guess what.... my tree :) we followed the line, dropped our deco bottles and FINALLY went into the cave. The cave was a bit blurry in the beginning as lots of bacteria had formed over the last couple of weeks. The bacteria was orange and looked like little tear drops in the water. Really cool effect. I cleaned up after we penetrated the cave deeper. Our turn around point was either pressure, depth or time. In this case it was depth, the line was going deeper than 60m so unfortunately we had to turn around. Narcosis was affecting my awareness ... by  me being super aware and constantly looking for Frank behind me. haha 

Back at the reel I now had to reel in the primary reel and we picked up our deco tanks. Once we arrived at the my tree we were perfectly on schedule and we ascended. We completed our deco plan  , which basically means that you hang mid water whilst going up level by level ( shallower depths). 

This course has been unbelievable ( i know i say that after every course) and I learned tons! I actually have realised that that little brain of mine is capable of remembering more than i thought. So after I gained some more experienced I will definitely go on to Hypoxic Trimix. For now I am happy being a normoxic trimix diver (or tecnical cave diver whatever you fancy calling it). 

Thanks to a great Kiwi instructor and a great Guate buddy, who for some reason always seems to be running out of air ;) 

AYO XOXO

Day 4: First dive on helium

Location: Mexico

Date: October 9th, 2012

Whoop, Whoop. Today is going to be my first dive on Helium! oh yeah. so questions is do you think my voice will go squeaky? I'll give you the answer later.

So first Theory. Today it is all about OXYGEN! The toxicity of it, the narcosis effect it has and how dangerous it can be. But also what good it can do. Medical background people that read this will understand vaso-dilation and vaso-construction. Which in short basically means the closing and opening of cells. Like your lungs. With breathing oxygen the little "trees" that grow on you lungs increase. water fills the sides of your lungs making them smaller. So the longer you are on oxygen the smaller they get. So smaller lungs means bad off gassing ( the whole purpose of decompression). So we have oxygen gaps in our decompression dives to open up the lungs again for a optimum off gassing situation. Still following? Well i barely was!!!!! hahaha however it all clicked today and that was a wicked feeling. I actually get it! I get the science behind it and I understand why we are doing all of this!!! YEY.

We also talked about emergency procedures like what happens if someone drops a deco tank ( besides the fact you think your buddy is stupid you do kinda want to help him). Well you have to start sharing gasses etc etc. 

In the afternoon I did my first proper deco dive on Helium. Max depth was 40m today and i did some line laying at 40m just to see how my narcotic level was. Awesome i did not act too stupid so all good. Today my buddy was Kelvin as Frank did not join the dive. So after fooling around for 20m at 40mtr we did a little no vis exit exercise and reeled in the reel and started ascending. Once we were at 21mtr we switched gases and this time i actually remembered to send up the sausage.  Once we started ascending to the next level, surprise surprise, Kelvin ran out of deco gas. So i had to give him mine and now we were sharing my tank and i had to divert to our back up deco plan. Ok peeps just to let you know. All these plans are in my had I have no slates or anything like that to help me remember it. So plans, times, what exercises we do etc etc. So give me a break for forgetting the sausage hahah

 Tomorrow is the setup dive for the big big dive the day after. SO EXCITING! Sorry mom I know you hate it! don't look down tomorrow or  the day after.... you won't like what you see hahaha

AYO, XOXO

Day 3: that bloody sausage!

Location: Mexico

Date: October 8th, 2012

The morning of day 3. I am physically and mentally tired. Trying to cope with all the information i am getting. And me being tired means i get a little emo(tional), so yesterday all I could wish for is mommy dear tucking me in my bed and just giving you that i-will-always-love-you reassurance. So this morning I was all refreshed after a nice long sleep and left emo-me in bed just where she belongs ;)

surprise surprise... more theory. Today we talked about lots and lots. It was the first day where I actually could not register everything, my brain could not catch up with the info Kelvin was giving me. So I had a bit of a slow start. 

in the afternoon we went yet again to the pit. We dud some skills again and this time we went down with 2 deco bottles. I wish I could take a picture of it underwater but sorry not possible. I won't go into detail of the skills cuz it will only be so boring for you guys. Basically we had a max depth of 30M. we stayed down for about 25 minutes which actually doesn't mean you are in deco however we simulated a deco ascend up. this means we had a ascend time of about 28 minutes where you just float midwater. At 21 meters where you do you gas switch i had to send the sausage up..... fuck me i am ad at that! ahaha bloody reel always get stuck in my short little big fingers ;) so funny how both frank and kelvin are always ready with their knifes just in case i do decide to launch myself to the surface. So far i managed to maintain the problem but not yet to do it perfect. I'll get there.

Our plan looked like this:

Depth	time
3	5
6	5	Gas switch to 100% oxygen
9	2
12	2
15	2
18	2
21	5	Gas switch to 50% oxygen
24	1

This plan is all based on the big deco dive we are doing on the 12th which is a dive to 60m.

I am starting to understand the whole theory behind the deco planning and why. It is pretty cool theory and i am really enjoying it. It is pretty hardcore but i am gaining so much information it is crazy.

AYO,
XOXO

Day 2: counting the minutes

Location: Mexico

Date: October 7th, 2012

Day 2

Like yesterday we started in the classroom. We talked about descend rates, ascend rates and deep stops. I now know how to calculate the needed gas however before you can accurately calculate that we need to know how much my SAC rate is. A SAC rate means Surface Air Consumption rate So basically how many liters you breath at the surface. How do you do that I hear you thinking? Well basically you swim around for 10 minutes at a certain depth and you check how much you breath. Guess what I had to do in the dive that afternoon?

Once the theory session was over ( yet another 5 hours however they fly by because the information is so interesting), we analysed the tanks and got the car ready.

Today we went to the pit. the pit is basically a sink hole ( 110m deep) but there is a deep cave line as well. The upcoming days are all to prepare me for my first 60meter deco dive ( last day of course). At the moment the vis in the pit is not great the first 12m. They have been paving the road and the white limestone sand has been washed into the cenote by all the rain we have had lately. 

On the practise dive of today we will only go a max of 30m. The goal of this dive was to see how my stops are. To see if i can maintain a certain depth whilst doing a simulated decompression. Once we jumped in the water we got down to 30M where kelvin layed a line for me to practise taking my deco tanks off. We did a little swim and i ow know that my sac rate is 9 to 10 liters a minute. Which is important for the gas planning of decompression diving. Once we were done with the skills, Kelvin asked me to reel in the primary reel and off course just when i was done and trying to clip the reel to my tail D-ring, Frank had a catastrophic gas failure and signalled out of air. SO here I am desperately trying not to drop the $200 dollar reel and giving Frank my regulator asap. Well I managed. PFFFF. Off course this meant the end of the dive and we started ascending. At 21m we did a gas switch to 50% and continued upwards. The shallower you get the more challenging the buoyoncy control gets. I think i did fairly well. At the surface we debriefed and discussed my ascend rate which i kind of adapted a little but because of a misunderstanding. I now know how to do it properly. Hey I am here to learn right? I also forgot to send up my sausage at 21M. for some reason sending a sausage in a cenote just does not register with me ;). So we descended and did a second shallower dive where i shot up the balloon/sausage ( ok so i did it with precious 50% gas but i did it hahahahahah) and 
continued a shorter deco plan up. Pfff first day done which equals me being knackered and ending up in bed by 9.30. 


Tomorrow is another day!

Ayo XOXO,

Going deeper underground

Location: Mexico

Date: October 6th, 2012

Here I am sitting on my bed, socks on, jumper on,......... shivering. Yup winter is coming ;). And we all know how I do with being cold!

I am chuffed to bits with my new wetsuit. It is semi dry and i actually feel warm now when coming out of the caves or cenotes. Which is on its own a miracle. However the fact that it rains a lot and the temperature has dropped significantly does not make me a happy bunny and out comes the jumper! At night it is around 23/25 degrees ...BRRRRRRRRRR

The last 3 days I have assisted Kim who is Jax' cave course instructor. The big difference being with her and my course is that she is doing it in backmount ( wearing two tanks on your back) where I did it in sidemount ( wearing 1 tank under each armpit). So i had to get used to my equipment again. Yes I use it to guide in the caverns but going into the caves I always take my sidemount tanks. It was awesome to see how cave courses are being taught when not being the student. This is my second assist and I hope to get many more in. Love it and i am learning every single day.

Sidemount rig

Backmount rig

Day 1 Normoxic Trimix course

However moving on from the assisting. It is time to be a student again ( why do i keep doing this to myself). I have decided to go for my Normoxic Trimix course. I know very expensive word for introducing helium into your breathing gas mix, next to having regular oxygen and nitrogin. Now of course there is a whole science and bucket loads of knowledge that goes behind it and today after a 5 hour theory session i have only been introduced to the basics. Basically diving on trimix allows you to go deeper. You can go deep on regular air if you want to but you’ll be narked as... F&^%^(). Narcosis is something that we divers are all too familiar with. Narcosis makes you feel.. well drunk. I have seen divers go into complete panic mode, be euphoric and just start to descend more ( not the best version of narcosis), look at you with dazed eyes and not being able to understand simple signals. Now when going deep this is not something you like to experience so by adding helium to the mix (a gas with no narcotic effect) you limit your narcosis to a certain extent.

 My instructor is Kelvin from New Zealand and has thought many technical courses in truck lagoon ( hello bucket list!) and Frank (my cave instructor, who is also a trimix instructor) is assisting as he wanted to see how Kelvin teaches this course. Which I think is really cool. So I have two instructors watching my every move. Not intimidating at all. Great well here we go!

After the theory session, which did not even leave me brain fried. Yey me! we continued looking at my setup - making changes where needed and analysed our doubles plus deco bottle. And around 4-ish it was time to it the water. Because I am a cave diver we are doing all the deep dives in the caves (yey scary dark black holes at depth.......). The plan of action at carwash cenote today was for me and Kelvin to get to know each other as divers. I find that every diver has a regular face and a divers face ;), it is cool to see how people change underwater and it is very important as divers to understand and trust your buddy. During the course Frank is going to be my buddy and Kelvin is going to play a "ghost" which will allow him plenty of time to mess around with me, as no doubt he will simulate many problems that could actually occur. In the water I practised sending sausages up ( boys) which I might add, is not my forte. bloody reels... need to buy bigger hands ;). We practised bouyoncy with deco tanks attached, taking off tanks and putting them back on and doing gas switches. Cool stuff. I felt comfortable and competent and i know now what to focus on and practise more.

We also did a little exercise how long we could hold our breath. Great exercises when you have 2 boys with you in the water. Yes i failed miserably!!! Or maybe not fail... i just can't hold it that long hahaha.

Protec Tulums mixing station - photo credit protectulum.com

Tomorrow more theory and a deco dive in "the Pit" :)

Ayo XOXO

Day 9: swimming 9000 feet in 1 day!

Location: Mexico
Date: May 12, 2012   


Day 9

Kim's army style setup

Today is the last day of my certification. Sad cuz it is going to be over and I had soooo much fun. Happy cuz now I can attack these mental caves myself ( sorry mom). So funny to think that dad would probably be thrilled to read all of this and mom would think "what did I do to make her like this???" . 


Today we spoke about Traverses and Circuits. A circuit is.. well a circuit ;) Traverse is basically one way in and coming out another Cenote. The later is something were planning on doing. In order to do a full traverse you need at least 2 dives. The plan was to go in Dive 1 ( also called the setup dive) at the Gran cenote side. We choose that because it needed more works ( 2 jumps including reel work) so it would cost more time and thus more air). We would than swim as far in the caves as our "thirds" would allow us as deco time was not an issue during this dive. Once we would hit our thirds ( basically means you have the same third to swim back and an extra third to,cover any emergencies), we would place a marker on which we wrote "Traverse 12/05/12 K & M" and turn around to exit at Gran cenote. We would get out of the water drive to the other cenote and enter from there and see if we would reach the marker within our thirds. Alrighty then, "game face on" as Kim would say.

the guys looking at the plan.

Calimba cenote at the top and gran cenote at the bottom

So we hit the water and started swimming down the lines. After placing the reels and markers we continued along the cave line. Lots of droopy stalagmites and tites, lots of flat surfaces and different colours in the formations. Flaky salty looking flakes on the bottom made you think you were on a glacier but then you look to another point and you are back in the cave. Amaazing! the inspiration I get from diving in caves is just insane. We had some restrictions but not real bad so we did not have to pull and push to much. There were a couple of jumps to other lines but we did ot take them since we wanted to connect to the Calimba Cenote. I could see loads of tunnels and interesting tubes where you could swim and I was thinking about those guys exploring the caves on their own. That must be such an adrenaline rush. Both Frank and Kim are part of exploring teams and it is really cool to listen to their stories and how passionate they are about it. 


Once we reached our thirds we turned around and swam back. I did achieve the name "tortuga" during my course here since I am just slower than slow however for this dive I picked it up a little bit knowing that at my original pace there was no way in hell we would be able to connect. haha Swimming back we would normally pick up the markers and reels but not this time as we will need them for dive 2. Coming back into the Gran Cenote cavern is just amazing and the light is sooo beautiful. I had to stop to take it in and I was praying that on the next dive I would be able to see this again. At this point i was slightly freezing as well... hey I just spend 100 minutes underwater in 25 degrees. Give me a break!!!!


Once we were out of the water we stowed our kit in the car and drove to the other cenote named Calimba. Calimba is basically a muddy-ish small hole in the ground which is very shallow. you can't see shit, and you literally have to dive under some stalactites to get into the cave where it is super duper clear again. This cenote as a completely different look and feel. It feels a bit more Dracula where Gran Cenote feels more fairytale. I actually preferred this end of the cenote, mainly because of the restrictions - SMILE - . Trying as hard as I could not to bang to much into the formations but I am still getting used to my new "dive size" having tanks dangling from the right.  I saw some funny little white/see through creatures one could resemble a little teeny tine lobster and some crabby-ish things. all not bigger than maybe 5 cm. Bear in mind that these guys have not ever experienced day light. Even the silt on the bottom has its own texture and looks so you don't want to disturb it that much. We reached a T and I knew that the marker was coming up soon and I wasn't even close to my thirds. My heart did a little jump of joy YEY I made it. Once I saw the little Swedish flag reflecting in my light ( Kim's markers are marked in a very swedish way ;) )I knew i was going to exit at the Gran cenote side again. WHOOP WHOOP.


we discussed in our briefing that at "turn around" point Kim would go in-front and I would go in the back which would mean I would stay the leader and pick up the markers and reels. Normally e.g. I would lead in and Kim would be behind me and than when turning around Kim would be in front and I would behind, that is how you would normally lead in and out.
 So now we are doing something I had never done before. Instead of turning around we actually went deeper in the cave to exit. Knowing very well we had more than enough air to do so but the feeling is kind of exiting ;). My awareness has improved lots and i immediately knew where I was and started recognizing when sharp angles to the left or right or even up or down were coming. Yey me! 
The boys heard a lot of Oooohh and Ahhhh's and even some giggles coming from me ( something that will probably follow me the rest of my cave diving career! hahaha) whilst admiring the cave formations. 


After 78 minutes we were back at the entrance of Gran Cenote and boy was it a beautiful sight. At this point the snorklers had gone and the light was slightly blue-er. Wow.. mesmerizing indeed! The feeling of accomplishment hit me as well as sadness cuz it was done now..... at the safety stop Kim held up his wetnotes that said: "Congratulations you are now a cave diver ".. Oh Yeah SWEEEEEEET.


Once we gave each other the "up"signal I let the boys pass me so I could just take it all in. 9 days of sweating, frustration but overall one of the best experiences i have had was over. I made it. It was an overwhelming feeling. I am now a good confident cave diver ( well I hope hahaha) thanks to a very tall Sweed and a crazy Guatemalan. Lucky Me :) Thanks guys!


Just today I spend 3 hours underwater and swimming a whopping distance of 9000 feet (2.7 km). Not even talking about the other days. Me carib "tortuga" girl is now Full Cave certified ( sorry mom). 

XOXO

Day 8: crawling like a crab

Location: Mexico
Date: May 11, 2012   


Day 8


Day started off with some more land drills, which basically means a lot of lines between the trees in front of the shop. I'll try to make some pics tomorrow. This time we navigated the different jumps one can encounter ( 4 different types of jumps). It is all about the clear communication and the way you reinforce your lines ( i know repetition!!). After that we headed to the cenote Mayan Blue. The cenote itself has a fairly big open water section and several tunnels. Tunnel A, B and the death zone. We went in tunnel A. As per usual I was leading the dive and after a bubble check, gear matching and an S-drill of we went. Today I was diving with a new configuration which is always a bit tricky in the beginning. STuff feels differently and we took our time tweaking it so that I was comfortable.


The plan was to do the first Jump to the left, first T to the left and if we had the time another T to the right. After I nearly missed the first jump I connected to the new line and off we went. At this time I was still adjusting to my new setup which could add some stress. My stress was limited ( otherwise I would have called the dive). Basic rule in cave diving is that anybody can call the dive for any reason without questions asked. it is just plain stupid to continue diving if you are not feeling it especially when penetrating into a cave system. This dive was also about restrictions. A restriction can be minor ( you will fit but one by one) and Major ( you most likely won't fit through the tunnel wearing back mount but will with side mount. It also means you sometimes have to start pulling yourself up gently using your hands as there is no space for using your fins. I was literally crawling over the rocks like a crab trying not to hit the sides and not breaking anything of my surroundings. So unbelievably awesome! I officially LOVE confined spaces. Once we came close to our turn around time I was kind of getting weary of the space and checking how further along I should continue and being able to turn around as well. Once I came to a somewhat open-ish space I decided to turn around and inform Kim that we were going "up". On our way back off course some drills were added ( did I really think I would have a dive without?). SO out came the blindfold again and I now had to navigate through the small spaces trying to fit through using my memory ( mental note when going in) and my hands. At one point i had to use my buddy behind me slightly and had him push me through since my hands couldn't find any stable rocks to pull me ( remember I could not see anything). 


Once we reached a our T he had left tank regulator free flow and i quickly turned it off. Only then was I allowed to take my blindfold off and all of a sudden it was dark again... grrrr he switched off my main light. Now remember we are very deep into the cave and without light it is absolutely PITCH dark. So using my backup light i continued. I am very aware of my divers behind me so Kim had to pll a little trick on me for him to disappear on me ( basically swimming backwards shining his torch on my but , so i was still seeing him behind me, and as soon as he had hit a corner he switched of his line. GRRRR. So as soon as his light disappeared i went looking for him using the "lost diver" drill. I managed to find my, by now slightly panicked, buddy and directed him to my recovery line that I had laid. He went up front and together swam to the main cave line again. Whilst I was reeling in Kim had quickly chaned one of my directional arrows so it was now pointing out the wrong way. Once I arrived at the arrow i looked an it and though "F&^^& did i do it wrong? Looked at the exit but was sure I came from the other side so I corrected him and said nope we are not following this arrow, we are going the other way. Once i started taking off the reel and arrow i noticed it was well tied up so surely one of my very beloved instructors had turned it around ( thanks boys thankfully I passed the test!). Going back Kim pulled another trick one me when he wanted to go down a wrong temporary T which Frank had placed there. I quickly said NO not ours and we continued using the right one. So my awareness is improving. This cenote was so bloody effing cool that I want to go back and push it more and go a bit deeper ( which basically I need to get my Caribbean ass sorted and swim faster!).  


Once outside the we practised some skills again and i squeezed myself through a little hole that required me to take one of my tanks off and keep it in front of me. I LOVE SIDE MOUNT!!!!


Tomorrow we are going to swim from one cenote ( calimba) and connect to another cenote ( grand cenote) using the cave lines. SWEET!!!!!! It is also my last day of training :( well for now ;) hahahah


XOXO


p.s i did pull a typical Marijke today... forgot my wetsuits at the shop!!! WHOOPS! luckily the cenote was nearby *blush blush* 

Day 7: all about the T's

Location: Mexico
Date: May 10, 2012   


Day 7


can't believe that it is already day 7. I have been diving my crazy ass off and looooving it :). The fear of being in the caves is slowly disappearing making place for respect and total AWE-ness.


Today it was all about learning how to read T's, how to properly navigate around them and about the awareness in the cave. I have the biggest respect for caves. I mean in the open water, generally when something is wrong you can go up... not so much in a cave since you will be hugging the ceiling or the stalactites. Now before i go on I will post a picture that says it all:

This sign is for all those divers that are not trained, not respecting the caves and not have the proper equipment. must admit seeing the signs kind of makes you go "oh boy". However I am following this course for a reason. To become a good safe and very aware cave diver. I did admit to Frank today that during dive 2 of the day I had this spilt second of "what the F am i doing". However that quickly went away once i saw the pretty-ness of the caves and remembered everything that I had learned so far. The 2 teachers I have could not be more different but I actually think that is a good thing. I am learning so much form both of them and then translating it to my own language. How do you like your tanks, how do you like your setup, where are your markers etc etc. Off course you do not adapt any of the basic rules. The only thing you adapt is how you wear it but not what you wear. 


Anyway where was I . Oh yeah T's. A T is a just like a T section in traffic. You have a choice and you either go right or left. In cave diving you reinforce your T's by marking it with your own "cookie"or "REM". Everybody's cave divers cookies and REM's are personal and you identify them by looking at them but also by touching them. E.g my name is on my REM and I have made 3 indents in them so that with low or no vis I can feel the cookie and say.. "oh yeah this is mine". Which is like a personal note attached the the traffic sign saying I came from this way. Now you don't want to trust a piece of plastic as my instructors say. My life is worth more than $2. So you need to remember where you went and make a mental picture of the situation. Both going in and looking back ( cave has 2 faces - going in and going out!!!!!) 


After practising navigating T's on land we drove to the Cenote "temple of Doom".  The entrance to the cenote requires a ladder ( yes i hear you - interesting when carrying tanks down!!!!!) Luckily I have 2 make instructors that helped me lower 1 of my tanks down and hauling them up using ropes. I did take 1 tank down the ladder myself because in the end I need to be fully independent ( yes it includes having very bruised shoulders).


The dive plan for the first dive was navigate the first T right, 2nd left and third right. Every T you encounter you communicate with your team mate saying ok we go right here and I am placing my personalised REM here. SO everybody is aware what is going on. I think i am saying this everyday now but I have lengthened my penetration again. We went 40 minutes into the cave now. It was soo pretty that sometimes i just had to stop and look around. wow so gorgeous. Beautiful hailoclines which made you think the surface was right there ( optical illusion), gorgeous decorations, little passages etc etc. It is so difficult to write this down cuz there is just no way to describe it. On the way back we did a blind exit ( surprise surprise!!) whilst airsharing. Which is great when you are upfront and your very tall Swedish instructor is pushing you forward... I'M FLLYYYYING!now remember you now have to navigate T's blindfolded... interesting. Especially when your other instructor all of a sudden introduces new lines which were not there on the way in.......


once the dive was over we got out and changed our tanks for new tanks and had a little break ( i seriously needed to warm up).


The second dive, Kim lead in the cave. As mentioned before - he is Swedish and tall. SO here I come with my Caribbean pace and shorter legs..... bearing in mind that he already slowed down hus pace to accomodate me hahaha. At some point i was just in awe and had to stop and look around to take it all in. So beautiful. This time we took a slightly different route with smaller passages which put my sidemount diving skills to the test. Trying out the different fin kicks etc.  Once it was time to turn around I had to lead us out. off course this is when the fun started for Kim and Frank cuz all of a sudden my equipment miraculous started malfunctioning. I had a hose pop, a free flowing regulator a self inflating BCD and light failure. This is just to test your awareness - to see how quickly you react and if you actually react doing the right thing. which I did.. PFFFFFFFFFEUH!.


after the safety stop we practised some skills such as opening your reg underwater ( e.g. when some silt comes in your reg it cold lead to a free flow so important for you to know how to solve it). after 83 minutes i was cold, had a sore back but was very satisfied. I am happy with my improvements however need to improve a lot still. Something I am happy with and confident in that I will.


Back at the shop we did an accident analysis. We talked about personal experiences, accidents that happened or could happen and how you can prevent them. Which would be a blog post of its own should I go deeper into it.


Frank has been filming lots so at one point I'll grab some video's and post them as well.


Tomorrow we are jumping :) 


XOXO

Day 6 : going deeper into the caves

Location: Mexico
Date: May 9, 2012  


Day 6


Oh my. First day of my full cave training. I was the only one continuing on the full cave course so all of a sudden it was just me and 2 instructors. Yikes! Yes definitely intimidating no way of messing things up now. I had  a little bit of pressure of showing my new instructor that Frank ( my cavern and intro instructor) had thought me well. SO first he needed to get to know me and i needed to get to know him.  First bit of theory went well ( i had to do a calculation of thirds again and my maths skills still suck especially when being under pressure. massive brain black out). 


Once the theory bit was over we went to the cenote called Car wash. Which got its name by... well it used to be a car wash ( sometimes it is just so simple, the way things work!). We started out by doing some line work including some new skills and practising a single tie off by using just one hand. so ok.. i think i got that one down. We geared up and jumped in the cenote. Good thing about this cenote is that it actually is warm water at the surface ( which I can tell you is great after you finish your dive). I will be the leader of all coming dives so I need to lead the briefing, bubble check and gear matching as well as deploying and reeling in the lines. And especially the latter is a test to my non existing muscles ( still waiting for the Yoga practise to help me here.....). After the S-drill ( which is an out of air practise you do before every dive) we penetrated the cave and went in quite far, I think the furthest I have yet been into a cave mainly because all restrictions have now been lifted. Once we reached our time limit we turned around and I had to find my way out blindfolded. I remembered writing all the data down this time and was also able to notice immediately when Kim ( my instructor) tried to "disappear". Pfff that one is in tha pocket. off course when blindfolded I practised the "touch contact" with Kim and all went well. :) Reeling in the reel however i managed to fuck it up slightly  ( whoops!). anyway we got out safe and it was time for the debriefing. I like debriefings it really helps you perfect your skills and think about what you could/should have done different.


After the debriefing it was time for our second dive which was a repetition of the first but then off course taking all the critiques in mind and actually implement them. We had to fix my reel first ( whoops.. blush blush) tho but hey minor detail. 


I feel more and more at easy diving which is why I think it is so good that there is a lot of repetition in this course and doing it "ok" is so not an option. It has to be prefect and everything has a purpose and you always stick to the same sequence. second dive was a bit shorter due to the fact I was on regular air and therefore did not have as much no-deco time available. After the dive we practised the different fin kicks, mask clearing, disconnecting your inflator hose and "feathered breathing". the latter is an exercise i really liked actually. It is basically a skill you would use if for example when  your regulator free flows. Obviously you won't keep the tank valve open at all times as you would lose to much air. SO you close your vale and then slightly open it to breath in after which you close it and you breath out - tank valve open for a breath in etc etc. 


AFter the dives we went back to the classroom and discussed T's. A T section is basically ( like i regular traffic) 2 options.. right or left etc. A cave has 2 faces - one going in and one going out - so your total awareness needs to be spot on ( still working on that - hey I am just girl.... hahah so navigation is tricky!!). You need to remember: ok so I took a T left and then a T right. SO on your way back you go left first and then right. Still following? Anyway lots of stuff to deal with. Tomorrow is the T day including a dive where basically I expect everything will go wrong. No doubt that my reg will free flow, I will have zero vis and i might even have to do a line recovery.


That being said.... i think it is time for my beauty sleep! night night peeps! tomorrow is another day


XOXO

Day 4 & 5 : intro to cave diver

Location: Mexico
Date: May 8, 2012 


Day 4


Yesterday we experienced our first cave dive. That means you go pass the "peligroso" sign which you cannot do if you are "just" a cavern diver or not trained at all. I the first dive I was second in the group and Angel was leading and deploying the lines. We went to Tajma-Ha a cenote that has 2 different cave routes. One goes a bit more to the eft and one goes to the right. It is very important that you start to memorize the caves whilst going in. I.e. where are the tie-off's, what is the layout, which direction are we going etc. Next to this you also have to keep an eye on your air ( as sidemount divers you have to switch regulators ( thus the tanks you are breathing from) every lets say 200 PSI to keep them evenly heavy or floaty. We encountered hailoclines, silt and beautiful decorations. this was the first time we saw these decorations and it was stunning and i was in awe. Once we reached our turn around pressure we turned around and I was leading the group out. Off course we did some more drills but this was just to get us more comfortable with the exercises. We eventually got out and debriefed.


The second dive I was leading the group in, this time using the other line. Leading a group in always asks more attention and effort which could lead to a bit more stress. so i was trying to be as Zen as possible. it took me some time to go in and tie-off the correct way but eventually we reached the line. We continued for a little bit until it was time to turn around and find our way out of the cave blindfolded. This time Angel was instructed to be out of air and Remco was the donor which let me at the end basically scraping the caves as we went out. The boys have a habit of untying the tie-offs so I was entangled a fair bit. And with my habit of letting go of the line ( not good at all) I put myself in some nasty situations ( where this to be real life). But finally got the hang of holding on to the line... CONCENTRATE.... I am also very happy I have a helmet the amount of times i banged my head fiercely into the cave or into my buddy in front of my is countless. Not to mention the amount of times my instructor hits me on the head with his torch whenever I do something wrong. 


AT the end of the day we practised the lost line lost diver skills in the garden. which we would off course practise in the water on day 5.


Day 5


Would today be the day that we get certified as intro to cave divers? Today we had 2 more dives planned which included the skills Lost Diver & Lost Line. Remco was the first one to lead us in which meant that Angel was in the middle and I was in the end. A position I like as you don;t have to worry about the guys in the back but just about you entering the cave and taking it all in. In the back you do have more silting or moving hailocline issues which could limit your view but that doesn't bother me as much. To be fair all my team mates are very careful with the placement off their fins to keep the silting to a minimum ( this is when we actually have no blindfold on). Anyways, i was just enjoying the views and finally feeling my tanks a bit more and knowing when to switch without actually having to check your gauges and going Oh &^^*&*&  I have to switch. On our way back we stopped mid line where were taken of the line ( blindfolded) and placed somewhere in the cave. I was really sure I knew which direction I had to go so started tying off my spare reel using the Lost line technique to find my line back. Now apparently I did the classic thing students can do. Stop about 10 cm away of the line thinking you have gone in the wrong direction and go back............ haha once I did find the line back eventually I hauled my ass out of the cave and actually found my way out... blindfolded :) YEY ME!

The second dive, I was in the lead again and focussed on the tie-offs once again. Going pass the  skull sign always makes my heart jump a little bit - I am actually doing this :) so kewl :) once I found the cave line we continued and at turn around point the boys had to do the lost diver skill. I had to stay put which gave me the chance to completely freeze to bits. I was shivering so bad my light was actually shaking! hahaha. Anyways once the boys were done they continue to exit and it was my turn. With looking for a lost diver you actually have to think about a lot. What area shall I search, how many air can I "waist" doing it etc etc. I ended up in a very silted out area which is a great experience but found my imaginary lost diver and ended the dive. . At safety stop level ( I now had been in the cave for 53 minutes  bear in mind the water is 25 degrees) I was absolutely shaking. Whilst we were there another student was practising her tie off skills as well which is actually great to observe if it doesn't involve you. 
When i came up I was actually sad that the day was over. So I am now a tired but very satisfied Intro to cave diver. Wednesday I will start my full cave certification. 

XOXO