That’s right, it was exhausting. I took a PADI Open Water certification class. We spent about eight hours in the pool over two days. The classroom stuff I had no problems with. Most of it is common sense and the ability to read and interpret tables. Alas, what did me in is something I’ve known for quite a while. I can’t float and/or tread water for 10 minutes; not only that I’m not in good swimmer’s shape and I can’t swim 200 meters. There was a time when I was good enough athletically to “gut it out” and just get these two tasks done. Those days are far behind me, however. So while I missed only three questions on the final exam, I didn’t pass the course because I didn’t finish the pool work. The good news is that if I get myself into better shape I can re-take the second pool-day part of the course (the swimming, treading water and 2 simple skills) in the next six months to a year, then I can get to the point where all I need is the open water dives to finish the certification. The open water dives are to be in two weeks at Devil’s Lake in Baraboo, WI. Unfortunately, I will not be going.

Another thing I had problems with was my mask. It kept filling with water. Now I understand that there is always going to be a bit of water, but I shouldn’t have to clear the water (which had almost reached my eye level) out of the mask every other breath I take, should I? None of the other divers had anywhere near as much trouble with water in the mask as I did. The instructor watched this morning while I was in the pool and told me that it was entering around my mustache; he suggested I shave it. Well, I’ve had this mustache for over 25 years and I’m not all that partial to shaving it. There’s a guy at work who has a “mountain man” beard who also dives; I’ll check out what he does when he dives to see if I can do the same. I have the same problem snorkeling, so maybe this will help with that as well.

ZDog took the course with me. He did well on the written test also. And, he’s a good enough athlete to just “gut it out” and get the swimming and treading water part done. Congratulations, ZDog! In two weeks he will be going on the Devil’s Lake trip. KC has signed up for that trip as well, so he won’t be going alone (she has been a certified diver for three years now). AND he’ll be certified for open water dives after that. J (his wife) has been a certified diver for many years, so once he gets the dives out of the way they will have a great hobby to share!