Thingys

I had my first scuba class yesterday (Thursday). It is a course designed to get me to be PADI certified after four days. The days don't necessarily have to be consecutive. It's a private course, as opposed to a group or classroom setting. It's just me and my instructor Yohann.


The first class is done in a swimming pool at the Marina Terra Hotel. I had completed the first two chapters of homework. There is a total of five chapters, about 250 pages total, with quizzes and tests to boot. I haven't been a "student" for a long time, but it's coming along and once into it, not as intimidating as I had feared.

I met Yohann at Gary's Dive Shop at 9:00am where I was fitted for my gear. We then drove the five minutes over to the hotel pool and had a short classroom/bookwork session.

And then came the part I was nervous about. Thingys! Switches, hoses, clasps, dials, thing-a-ma-bobs, do-hickeys and watcha-ma-call-its. I've never been adept at anything mechanical. I let Yohann know this right up front. The water part of the course I was completely calm about. I can stay under water, take my mask on and off under water, not have air and not panic. I can twist and turn, dive deep, swim along the bottom, and summersault with ease. I've always been very comfortable in and under water. But when I had to practice taking "thingys" on and off underwater I taxed my instructors patience, I think. Well not really. He was quite patient.

There are three things I will have to re-do on my next class session and they all have to do with "thingys." I will have to unhook and re-hook the hose to my buoyancy control device while underwater, I will have to drop and repack my led weights while underwater, and I will have to take off and put on all of my gear underwater. I think my blood pressure has increased a notch just by writing about it!

That being said, I aced the water stuff. Yohann told me that it takes some people an hour to deal with the mask and that only took me five minutes. The actual scuba part - swimming around under water - piece of cake! I love it. One of my hangups with the "thingys" is my weak hands. I have no hand strength due to a couple of minor injuries and in the past year a hint of arthritis.

After awhile I became tired. Stamina has become an issue for me in the last couple of years due to thyroid and adrenal stuff. When I get tired these days, I can't think straight and I realized after a few hours that I had reached that point. I was too tired to continue. Things that made sense to me at the beginning of the session were now becoming blurry in my mind. Yohann could see that I was fading.

We took a break. I was feeling discouraged. It didn't seem like we'd been in the water long enough for me to be so tired. I looked at the time. It was 2:15pm! We'd been doing water stuff for 3-4 hours!!! No lunch!!! No wonder I was pooped. Suddenly I felt better. Yohann further encouraged me by informing me that if I was taking a scuba class in a city like Tucson, Phoenix, or Sacramento, that the amount of skills we had already covered would take two or three sessions elsewhere. OK then! I'm not doing so bad for an old broad.

Yohann said we could re-do the three activities that I had struggled with in the second session. But he still wanted me to do my first beach dive that afternoon. I declined. I was exhausted. One of the things that PADI and Yohann stress over and over again, is to honor your particular physical strengths and weaknesses and not push your body to do things it doesn't want to do. So I called it a day.

I was supposed to go back this morning for a quick re-do on those three skills, and then a 30-40 minute beach dive. This would qualify me to dive on Saturday at San Pedro Island with the sea lions.

I awoke this morning, still exhausted, with a major stuffed head and a clogged ear. I was stuffed up enough to know that scuba was not an option. So I phoned early and postponed my next session until Monday. I have an appointment with the doc today. I've decided I don't have the stamina for consecutive days of scuba. I guess I've reached the time in my life where I have to start pacing myself. I am, after all, now part of the AARP age group!

In the meantime, Yohann allowed me to take my gear home so I could practice with the "thingys" while wearing my reading glasses and not in the water. I need a little extra time for all things mechanical.


Since first wading into my little paddle pool as a toddler, I have loved and been comfortable in water. Swimming was the only sport I voluntarily participated in during my school years. So, I continue to find ways to remedy both my motion sickness and sinus problems so that I can doing enjoyable activities in, on and under the water.

Speaking of "thingys," Betsy has been busy with thingys of her own. As the countdown to our departure from Mexico commences, she is busy finishing up tasks around the house. Yesterday she put up mesquito netting on the two beds in the guest room.


Ramon - the gardner and all round handyman -


and his helper Miguel, work on painting and fixing up things on both the interior and exterior of the house, braving tall ladders that lean against the window panes.


Since I'm not taking class today, I need to return my "thingys" to the dive shop. Todays boat doesn't return until around 2:00pm though, so I have a little time to do some out of water practice with my thingys. Betsy informs me she saw a giant cockroach scramble inside my thingy bag. Such is life below the border.