Fresno,CA

Is it really already Tuesday? Where did this past weekend go? We spent the weekend in Santa Rosa,NM with the intention of both of us getting open water certified for scuba diving. Things just didn't go exactly as planned. We finally got in the water on Friday afternoon and only went to a depth of about 10-12 ft as we had to do certain skills underwater before we could go any further. I had difficulty taking off my mask under water. We had to be able to do this as practice because when diving you could get your mask kicked off by another diver. This is why you need to be able to get it back on and get it cleared of water. See, when you dive, your mask blocks your nose so you do all of your breathing out of your mouth and your regulator. Now when you take off the mask, you automatically want to breath out of your nose. Well, as you know, that doesn't work very well in the water. We tried three times for me and I just couldn't do it. Now each person is different on how they do this. My instructor, breathes in through his mouth and out through his nose, and this is the way he was teaching me. My problem was breathing out my nose because of the bubbles that came up my face and blocking my nose after I exhaled so I could inhale through my mouth. Now you may think this would be easy, and I can sit here all day long and do that exact thing when I am not under water. But just try it when it is underwater. There is just a little more pressure on you! At the end of that day I was kind of bummed but I knew I could work on it the next day. So we headed to the hotel, did a lot of studying for our academic part of the course and crashed.

0600 the next morning we are out of bed and ready to go at 0700. First we meet in another room to go over dive charts and planing dives, then we go back to Blue Hole for another round. This day we have Misty with us, whom is our instructors wife. Her and a friend of theirs, Moon (I know, nickname!) got in late the night before because they had to work. We have known Misty for about 10 years. She told me she had the exact same problem. At first, J and I went in the water, and tried to practice and find ways that would work for me, and we couldn't. Then Misty got in the water with me, and did it in baby stages. She also had a few pointers that helped tremendously. First, breathe in AND out, through the regulator, don't use your nose to exhale. And second, tilt your head all the way down making your chin touch your chest. And lean over. When you exhale through the regulator, the bubbles go along your jaw line and up by your ears, never getting near your nose. THAT was the magic trick for me. I had to take my mask off and breath for 1 minute without it before I could put it back on and clear it. And they had watches timing me. He doesn't cut corners because this could save my life. Mission accompolished with Misty and now I get in the water with Riaan to actually be tested on this skill. We head down again and I actually did it! He timed me at 3 minutes before I could put my mask back on. I had my eyes closed, because I was looking so far down and it is hard to see in the water without a mask, but I looked up a few times and he was looking at his watch. I just figured it was the longest minute ever and just seemed that way since we were underwater. By the time he finally let me put it back on and I got it cleared, he gave me a hug underwater and J gave me one also. They knew that was a big obstacle for me. We get done and go up top for J and I to take a break.

Riaan was headed down next with Misty and Moon so they could get one of their advanced dives done. The plan was for us to do our first actual dive when they came back up, unfortunately, it didn't work that way. Moon ran out of air and him and Riaan had to surface faster than they should have. Therefore, Riaan was done diving for that day. Pack it up again, go get something to eat, study some more and hit the sack.

The last day was Sunday. We got up, grabbed McDonald's and hit Blue Hole. I was really excited to get this done, but it wasn't meant to be. We went down for our first dive, and I had to come right back up. I was down for just a few minutes, but I panicked. See, I have done the Scuba Discovery thing in Cancun, so I know I can do this. But that was open water, lots of sun, you would see 40' down as if you were right on the beach. But this is a HOLE in the ground. It is 81' deep and only about 60' across at the top. Therefore, not a lot of light gets filtered down. Picture this. Have you ever seen Titanic? The one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet? You know how they show the underwater wreckage of the Titanic and it is all dark and all you can see if what light the little submersible gives off? That is how dark it was. I have never been claustrophobic, but that is what I felt like. Because we couldn't get the two dives the day before since Riaan couldn't dive, we wouldn't have been able to get open water certified because that requires 4 dives. J was able to get 2 dives in on Sunday and takes his tests so he is Scuba Diver certified, but not open water certified. I finished all the academics and did the underwater skills, I just didn't complete the dives. So all I have to do now is complete the dives. Luckily Misty and Riaan are great and they decided I am just a fair weather diver! This means I need sunny beaches. So we are makind plans to meet again somewhere sunny next spring, on a wide open beach, and get my dives out of the way. Unfortunately I won't be diving on the cruise in October, but that is ok. This is something I have to take at my own pace and that dark hole in the ground just wasn't working for me.

We all said our goodbyes and we headed to the TA there in Santa Rosa to spend the night. We were just too exhausted to head into Albuquerque. I woke up bright and early the next morning ready for a load. He didn't have anything right away so I waited a while then went inside to get some breakfast to go. I said good morning to one of the drivers at the counter, got my food and was back in the truck eagerly awaiting on a dispatch. Finally get a message from my FM that he is going to have us repower a load going to CA but the guy is in Albuquerque and to sit tight that he is sending him to us. After I send a message back stating it would be easier for me to go to him so he doesn't have to backtrack, I get the OK and I am off. I drive 130 miles to the Route 66 Truck Stop and Casino at exit 140 and find the Prime truck. I go knock on his door and guess what? It is the driver I said good morning to when I got my breakfast. Now I didn't know he was a Prime driver, and we didn't say anything more than Hello, but wouldn't you think they could have put two and two together and figured out we were at the exact same truck stop that morning??? We got a laugh put of it, but it sure would have been easier if we could have taken care of it that morning in Santa Rosa! We got squared away and deaded out. Drove non stop and when I took over this morning, I got us to the receiver with 15 minutes to spare. Dropped the 10 pallets weighing only 10K lbs and headed over to the Fifth Wheel Truck Stop here in Fresno where I currently sit waiting on our next load.