Drifting Along

originally published November 6, 2017

I'd made my way through the Navigation, Peak Performance Buoyancy, and Search & Recovery portions of my Advanced Open Water training. Will provided some great insight for using breath control to fine tune buoyancy, and also helped me experiment with adjusting my BC for the best fit, until we finally hit on what seemed to be the ideal setup. 

I did a bit better on the Navigation than I had in my Open Water, though I still sometimes forgot to count my fin kicks (how you measure distance traveled underwater). During the Search & Recovery portion, Will had some fun with me and the other student, a county firefighter, having us to perform our knot tying skills behind our backs, under our knees, with our eyes closed. 

   

Back at the shop after a productive day in the water, Chris mentioned they were planning a drift dive at Rainbow River in a couple of weeks. This is a popular spot for central Florida divers and I was eager to see someplace other than Lake Denton, so I signed up for a separate Drift Diver certification. As usual, as the dive drew closer, the nerves set in.

I always get anxious before a dive and this one would have a lot of firsts. First drift dive, first boat ride (albeit a small pontoon boat on a mellow river), first time doing a giant stride off the back of a boat. Firsts everywhere! Then came the burglary (which happened shortly after my Lake Denton dives) and my level of anxiety shot through the roof. I seriously considered cancelling my spot on the boat, I was that overwrought. But, I decided to go through with it, hoping that getting back in the water would take my mind off what had happened at home. 

Up before the sun, I left the house on a chilly, foggy Sunday morn. My navigation skills on land are not much better than those underwater (*rimshot) so I was glad when I ended up encountering Will on the road and was able to follow him to the dive site. I love fog. It's almost like being in a sensory deprivation tank; sounds are dampened, colors are drained out of the world. 

Chris would be my instructor for this dive, along with two other students, while Will took charge of another group. The rest of the crew was made up of certified divers just there for a fun day in the water. Rainbow River is shallow, with a mild but solid current - a crystal clear run of 73 degree water down what is thought to be an immense and ancient collapsed sinkhole. I was mired in a mix of excitement and anxiety - anxieted, I call it - as we headed up river to our drop point. 

I was among the first on the boat so naturally that meant I was one of the last off. I shuffled my way to the end of the boat for my turn to take the plunge. I scooted closer and closer to the edge, BC inflated, reg in and... stepped off. Whoo, that water was cold! I popped back to the surface and signaled "okay", swimming out of the drop zone so the next diver could disembark. I did it! Quick and painless. Yay!

The group gathered near the shoreline out of the main flow until everyone was in the water. Chris gave us one last recap of our pre-dive briefing and then we were off,dipping beneath the surface, letting the current take us away. The sensation of just gliding along was sublime. I didn't have to worry about depth, since the river was shallow. I didn't have to worry about air consumption, since the dive would be short enough that there was no way I'd run low. I didn't have to worry about how fast or slow I was going, as we were all moving together at the same pace. I just concentrated on keeping off the bottom, keeping my hands still, and taking in the sights. I kept my finger off my inflater buttons, instead practicing using my lungs to rise and fall - taking a deep breath in when I skimmed a little too close to the bottom and letting it out slowly, or expelling all the air from my lungs and waiting a few seconds to inhale again when I felt myself drifting too close to the surface. 

In some of the deeper parts of the river, there were small vents in the bottom where the spring water bubbles up through the aquifer. It was fascinating, like little boiling pockets of mud. You could put your hands in the boil and feel the warmer water gurgling up into the river. Water flowing underneath water. 

As we neared the end of the dive, we glided over the top of a vast swathe of tall grasses. They swayed in a constant undulation, like a prairie blowing in the wind. It was hypnotic and beautiful. I wanted to just hover there for a moment, but the river was in control and I drifted over the top of the submerged greenery, literally feeling myself close to tears from the sheer beauty of it all. I'd always wanted to fly... and this was pretty damned close. Drift Diver: achievement unlocked.