Certified Scuba Divers

There has been a lot of talk, but not much action.... until last week.  Eric and Luke have talked about getting their Open Water Scuba Dive Certification for a while.  This certification requires several steps including classroom learning, pool skills testing, fitness evaluation, and successive dives over multiple weekends.  The certification takes an average person four months to complete.  With busy weekends, this was difficult to fit into both of their schedules.  That is why there was talk about doing this but no action.

With school out and vacation available, Eric and Luke finally got it done in 4 days.  The first day was online learning while the second day was classroom training.  Here is Eric testing his scuba gear.  The equipment weighs about 40 lbs. 

The third day consisted of three training dives in Lake Jocassee since the swimming pools are not open with the virus.  The first two training dives were shallow in only 10 feet of water.  The third dive was a little deeper at 20 feet.  The training dives tested skills such as water in their mask, the mask falling off their face, a lost air regulator, a safe buddy assent, and an out-of-air emergency surface event.  The air temperate at the mountain lake was 72°F and the water temperate at the surface was 65°F.  Here is a picture of the guys at the lake geared up and ready for their training dives. 

The fourth and final training dive tested all of the skills again, plus a new skill of a diver safety stop.   After this dive, the two were offically certified.  Next, the two went on an exploratory dive with the instructor at a depth of about 60 feet.  The water temperature was much colder and the visiblity wasn't great, so the group didn't stay down there too long.

Certified Diver is now added to their resume. Great job, guys!