Lake Pupuke Part 2

I had a couple of little issues yesterday.

I started the first dive with the hood on but couldn't equalise so Marcus (I don't think he's a trained instructor, but he's a very experienced diver and dives with Vaughan - our instructor, all the time. He came out with us both days) suggested trying without the hood, which was a bit better. I made my nose bleed a little bit - maybe I was squeezing it too hard :) I can't remember which skills we did today because there was only one I was really worried about and that wasn't till the afternoon.

I was absolutely freezing for most of the second dive and Vaughan wanted me to come back another day for the mask removal skill cause he knew that was the one I was worried about. He thought I wouldn't be able to concentrate because I was shivering so much. The mask removal thing really frustrates me. I don't know what it is about that. Sometimes it's not a problem and then randomly I'll breathe in through my nose. Taking it off and putting it back on is fine, it's just clearing it afterwards, and not all the time. It's really weird though because it's not a problem when I'm just clearing my mask. It's only random, and it only happens after I've put the mask back on. I had to do the compass navigation underwater, and that was a bit crooked because my hands were shaking so much :) I only had mask removal left to do and we went up so Vaughan could talk to me. I really really wanted to do it then so he said we could have one try. I was rushing and he was right, I wasn't concentrating and had to go up. At the surface I said if I could have one more try I'd get it. I know in my head if I need to cough I can still do that under the water, I know that I can swallow some water and still breathe without having to come up. It's just psychological at the time. Luckily he agreed, but he was serious that I had to go in after this try. Even my knees were shaking. We went back down and the whole time I was thinking in my head there is no way I am not finishing this today. I am not coming back to the lake for one skill. I can do it and I know how to do it. There is no reason I shouldn't get it right. I did everything really really slowly, thinking carefully about every little thing. Mask off, easy. Mask back on head, easy. Mask back over face - almost, not quite, almost, not quite. I didn't try to rush it, I sorted out my hair and made sure everything was right. I took a couple of slow breaths thinking through the clearing part. I did it in two blows instead of trying to do it in just the one. Cleared half my mask and took a couple of breaths before doing the rest. Wow! I was`so relieved. High five under the water!! It was such a cool feeling and I could see that Vaughan was happy too. Yay!! Hopefully I won't ever lose my mask, and if I do, I just have to remember to sort it out slowly, lol!!

I had to go to school afterwards for a meeting which was a bit of a downer but after the meeting I went over to Vaughan's and had coffee with him and his wife, logged the last dive cause I didn't have time earlier, and got my paper 90 day temporary dive card. How cool is that!! Yay, I'm a certified open water diver now!!

Two weeks and we're off to Poor Knights :)