Descent into Darkness - Part 3

originally published December 9, 2017

Our deep dive in the books, Will and I started going over the plan for the next, and final, phase of my Advanced Open Water certification: the night dive. He explained protocols for using my light (don't shine it in anyone's face, natch), and how to use it in place of hand signals in the dark (making a circle on the bottom with your light = okay). 

During the deep dive I'd had some minor difficulty reading my gauges and Will's computer. I'm ridiculously nearsighted and wear glasses with multi-focal lenses on land. When diving, I wear single-vision contacts. While this is great for distance and I can see my PSI reading fine, it was hit or miss with other readings, especially as we'd started to lose daylight. So, I decided to pop one contact out and keep one in to see if that solved the problem. 

We made one other adjustment - taking away some of my weights. Will was concerned that I had dropped like a rock during our first descent and, since I also had some trouble hovering at the 15 foot mark during our safety stop, he had me take off 4 pounds from my kit. If only it were that easy to lose weight from my thighs. 

Several other divers were now heading into the darkened grotto. The would-be bridegroom (mentioned in Descent into Darkness: Part 2) wanted to have as much light in the water as possible when he popped the question. Will and I dropped in and headed down. I didn't feel the anxiety or fear I had the first time, and was just focused on completing this last dive of the day successfully. The one contact lens thing was working great. My distance vision was good and I could see close up perfectly by closing one eye. 

Down we went, away from the others and into the darkness. Will didn't have to coax me along this time, I just stayed with him wherever he went. We stopped to perform one of my required skills - Will gave me a landmark and a compass heading. I had to swim away a certain distance (remembering to count those fin kicks), then turn and come back to the starting point. The kicker was that the only light I would have would be my own. Will's would be off and we were in a part of the cavern where no one else was. I would have to be watching my compass and, for all intents and purposes, swimming blind. Ohhhkaaayyy. 

I finned away from our landmark, watching my compass intently to keep on course, then turned and headed back. Boom, nailed it spot on. I scanned the blackness for Will, who popped up from behind me where he had been, out of sight, the whole time. Underwater high five!

We continued our dive until we came across another statue, this one a mermaid. I didn't remember seeing this one the first time. Will pulled up next to me and showed me his depth gauge. Ninety-four feet. We were at the bottom! I had gone all the way down and didn't even notice. Yay, me!

We began to make our ascent, pausing at a spot called Peace Rock to watch the proposal, then made our way to the surface. I'd made it! I was an Advanced Open Water diver! I think I'll take some time to just have fun and enjoy the recreational diving world, get some experience under my (weight) belt and explore the underwater world. Who knows what I'll find there. 

Oh, and she said yes, by the way.