Our Jamaican Vacation

[sinanju]

snippy already described the trip to Jamaica in her LiveJournal, so I'll talk about other things.

We stayed at Beaches Negril (http://www.beaches.com/main/ng/ng-home.cfm). It's an all-inclusive resort, so once we'd checked in, we didn't need money for anything except purchases at the gift shop, or--if we'd chosen--to pay for some of the activities available that were not provided by the resort (jetski rides, parasailing, various tours). It rained heavily for a short while about the time we were checking in, and again the morning that we checked out, but otherwise it was bright and sunny most of the time, though occasionally it was briefly overcast.

I grew up on the east coast, going to the beach every summer for our family vacations. But it had been more than twenty years since my last trip to the (warm) shore. I've been to the Oregon coast, but that's not the same. So swimming in the Caribbean was very enjoyable and a nice reminder of those childhood vacations. My only regret was that the sea was calm; there was no surf, and no chance to go bodysurfing.

On the other hand, Snippy, the boys and several other members of our group all went out snorkeling on the reefs one morning. It wasn't the sort of immense reef I was expecting--expectations raised, no doubt, by seeing the most spectacular reefs on the planet via television--but it was interesting. Lots of smaller reefs separated by patches of white sand. A variety of fish, some neon blue fish, gold fish (not the species--just gold colored), and one hand-sized species with a swordfish-like point. I wondered about those. We also saw a couple of coral-encrusted anchors and a small cannon (no doubt placed there deliberately, but interesting nonetheless).

Later in the week, Oneson and I signed up for the Discover Scuba Diving session. This is not a real certification--just enough training to let you go on a heavily-supervised dive the next day. We first had to do a survival swim, three round-trip laps the length of the resort's main pool without stopping. No time limit, no particular stroke; just keep moving without stopping. If you can't do that, you can't dive. I managed it, though it's more sustained swimming than I've done in a long time. I set a slow and steady pace and was out of the pool long before Oneson, who'd started sprinting at the beginning, suffered an asthma attack and struggled through to the end. The tortoise and the hare, indeed.

After that we sat through an introductory videotape, then went to the dive shack to collect fins, a mask, a BCV (bouyancy compensation vest) and regulator. Then we gathered at the smaller of the resort's two swimming pools, where the instructor drilled us on the hand signals and other information from the video. After that we learned how to attach the BCV to the tank, how to connect the regulator to to the air tank, a line to the pressure gauge, another to the controls for the BCV, how to open the tank, how to purge the mouthpiece and so forth.

We put on the fins, mask, BCV and tank and then went into the pool. We practiced clearing our masks of water, retrieving a dropped mouthpiece and purging it before resuming breathing, offering the secondary (emergency) mouthpiece to another diver, and practiced the handsignals again. We also practiced inflating and deflating the BCV to achieve neutral bouyancy. After that, we swam around in the pool a bit, then we climbed out, got instructions for the next day's dive, and returned our gear to the dive shack.

I wasn't entirely sure I was going to want to go on the open water dive, though. For one thing, my nosepiece kept filling with water. When I mentioned this to the dive instructor, he pointed out that it was due to my mustache preventing a proper seal against my skin. He said I could shave it or try rubbing some vaseline in it to help with the seal. Or live with it. I found it uncomfortable and a little unnerving, at first. And I might also have been experiencing a tiny bit of claustrophobia, I suspect. Depending on a mouthpiece and hose for air, with my vision restricted by a mask, was a little more difficult than I'd expected.

Ultimately I did go on the open water dive the next day. We gathered at the dive shack at 10:30 to collect our gear. A lot people wore wetsuits, including the dive masters--which made me wonder if I should have rented one. As it happened, the water temperature wasn't an issue. When one of the other divers asked me afterward if I'd been cold, I told him no--in fact, I hadn't even thought about the temperature of the water once during the whole dive. He'd worn a wetsuit, but decided that when he went out again the next day, he wouldn't bother.

We rode out to a dive site on a reef, prepping our dive gear on the way. Once there, we stepped off the back of the boat with BCV fully inflated, then swam around to the front to take hold of the buoy line. We were to deflate the BCV, then slowly sink down to the bottom (about 30 feet), holding the line with one hand and using our other hand to pitch our nose and equalize the pressure in our ears and sinuses as necessary. I started down, only to stop less than midway because one ear wasn't equalizing. I signaled this to one of the dive masters (using the approved handsignals!) and went back up to the surface. He verified my problem, then suggested another way to try equalizing; I started down again and this time had no trouble with it. Soon I was drifting just above the sandy bottom, 30 feet below the surface.

I had applied some vaseline to my mustache prior to going into the water, but it made no apparent difference. I still had water leaking into my nosepiece. Fortunately, I'd learned to deal with the problem so it didn't cause me any difficulties. The dive masters (there were three of them) divided us into three groups. We were going to stay down for 30 minutes or until the first diver notified the dive master that he had 1000 lbs of air left in his tank, whichever came first.

The reef we were exploring wasn't particularly colorful, though the fish tended to be. Visibility was good, but definitely limited. When our group had turned around to head back toward the boat and the buoy line, the line was invisible until we were surprisingly close. We started ascending, reached the surface, swam around to the rear of the boat and handed in our mask, then the BCV and tank, and finally our fins and mask before climbing back aboard. On the trip back, we closed the air tanks and disassembled the regulators.

So, how was the experience? It was fun. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think it's likely to become a regular hobby, even if I a) had the money, and b) lived somewhere more conducive to scuba diving than the cold, inhospitable Oregon coast. Being 30 feet below the surface, dependent on a scuba rig to breathe wasn't too bad, but I was all too aware of the possibilities for trouble. Going deeper would have been harder for me. Also, my eyes are very sensitive--if I had gotten seawater in my mask, I would have found it difficult to keep them open even after I'd cleared the mask. And swimming around with my eyes shut would be a problem (again, especially if I was deep enough that I couldn't get to the surface quickly and without having the decompress first).

I'd do it again, though. Perhaps with more practice and experience I'd be more comfortable. But I fear I'm just not terribly adventurous.