Scuba

Realised I still never posted about scuba. I guess that's cause I'm not really all that excited about it. But it is nice to be taking a class, have something regularly scheduled and stuff, since I didn't do/join anything at the beginning of year. Though it's a little annoying sometimes to have to rush home from work mon/wed evenings when sometimes I really want to stay nearby for a while.

So, what can I say about it? 6 people in the class, which makes it convenient to split into twos. Two young-ish women, two young-ish men, two older men. Instructor's pretty good, a little funny but quite serious when he needs to be. Ummm.. books and some people say "you never forget your first time breathing under water" but I do... I did this in junior high sometime (not a full course or anything, but wearing some scuba gear and going under water) but don't remember any special feelings from then. Didn't have any this time.

Not sure what equipment I'll buy yet. I guess a mask & snorkel are nice to have, especially you can make sure they fit well instead of worrying about rentals. You can get prescription lenses in your mask, but that adds like $100. I'm not sure I want to spend that much on equipment yet. I might go without (things are already magnified underwater so it's not as bad) or I might try getting some single use contact lenses. I'm pretty anti-contact lenses though (mainly just really don't like things going in my eye! I already have huge trouble putting in eye drops) so I'm not that excited about that prospect. Might get fins (flippers) but probably not. Wetsuit maybe, after having to try a couple on each time to find one that fits pretty good, but still not very good, I can see the advantages of having one that fits you well. Of course, then you have to make sure you don't drop some fat or bulk up some muscle, both of which I'd like to do at least a little. Oh other thing with wetsuits, instructor said "there are two types of divers, those who admit to peeing in their wetsuits, and those who lie about it." I can sortof imagine wetsuit coming in handy other times, but maybe not... I once (once only) did (tried) some wake boarding with some cousins who had a boat (I borrowed someone's dry suit).

I'm glad I chose the mon/wed evenings instead of the weekend course. Not like I've had anything better to do on weekends, but the weekday course actually gives you an extra 4 hours, and it's not so rushed as a weekend course would be.

Course would probably be a bit more fun if I had friends there. Maybe with more advance notice I could have got Arnold or someone else from dragonboat to join, oh well.