Blog #6

Now that my scuba certification is completed, I am now even more exited for more scuba dive experiences. After going into the cold water of Monterrey Bay, I want to go some place tropical because of the temperature of the water. I want to continue to scuba dive so that I can enjoy the underwater world throughout my life. I am very lucky to have done this early on in life because not many people have the time to do this, or just don't know that they can. This is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. My friend had a go pro and took some videos of our excursion in Monterrey. I will try and put a link to a video that I will make with the footage we took in this blog post.

Blog #5

Our next task in getting our scuba certifications was to go to Monterrey Bay to scuba dive there. There are required open water dives. There was a weekend that we reserved for this occasion but as I was driving to Monterrey, almost there as well, I got a call saying that the trip was canceled due to bad scuba conditions. I was sick anyways so this was lucky for me, even though my parents had already booked an Air B&B for the weekend. We ended up spending the weekend in Monterrey, going to the aquarium and walking around the pier. My sickness kept me at home some of the times and I ended up having a decent time there.

The next weekend was said to have good conditions for scuba diving. I stayed in a hotel room with my friend that weekend, just a few minutes away from the scuba spot. When I first got to the scuba spot there were about a hundred people, all in 4 or 5 person groups, in scuba gear getting ready to scuba dive. I was a little nervous because it seemed to cold that morning and the water was not warm like the pool. About 56 degrees. I had my picture taken, some forms signed, and got my rental gear for two days. Our first dive was the worst. As I got into the water, the cold pierced my suit and I immediately lost my breath. I got used to the cold as my body warmed the water inside my suit. My group swam out a little more and we finally got to descending into the sea. I was not sick this weekend but my sinuses weren't perfectly clear. As we were descending, The top part of my nose, near my forehead, started to hurt. Probably my sinuses not letting air come in. I eventually got my sinuses equalized and continued down to the bottom. If you are ever having troubles equalizing, just stop and take care of it, nobody is rushing you. My group did some exercises at the bottom like taking off your mask and switching to someone's backup regulator. The number one thing to do when underwater is to remain calm no matter what. If a current knocks you over and you lose your regulator or mask, just remain calm and reattain your air source as soon as possible. There is a technique for this. 

The other dives went about the same, but we swam around more. The next day the dives went well and the whole group passed the class. Scuba diving exhausted me and I slept the whole ride home. Scuba diving is kind of like riding a bike. I can now scuba dive up to 60 feet underwater anywhere in America. 

Blog #4

*I forgot to blog the week I did this so I am doing it now.*
The week that I started the training for the scuba certification I was nervous. When scuba diving, there are many things that you have to keep track of and there are many things and factors that can go wrong. Another factor that was nerve racking was that I was starting to come down with a sickness that week. This is problematic because it can be hard to equalize the pressure in your sinuses if they are clogged. The first day, we went to a pool to start getting familiar with the equipment involved in diving. We stayed at the 4 foot part of the pool for the whole time going over various exercises including taking off your mask underwater and taking off your buoyancy control device in the water. I felt myself getting cold during the exercises which was odd because we were in a 80 degree pool. This worried me because we were going to Monterrey Bay where the water would be 55 degrees. I figured that the wet suits that we were going to wear would trap in the heat from my body. My friends and I had no problem with the exercises on the second day, when we went to the bottom of the 12 foot pool. It is a weird feeling being at the bottom of a pool and looking up at the surface.
One thing that I have to say is that staying calm when you think you are falling over, lose your mask, or getting a cramp at the bottom of a pool ensures that you wont panic and lose you regulator(your air supply) or that you hurt yourself squirming around. Controlling your buoyancy takes practice, if you feel yourself falling over on the bottom, just increase your buoyancy by taking a deep breath and you will start to go up. After you have gained control, breath out to lower yourself back to the bottom. Make sure to never hold your breath though, if your feel your lungs expanding unintentionally, you are probably going up and the air in your lungs in expanding. This can lead to lung injuries that can be life threatening. Those are a few tips that I learned to improve your scuba diving techniques and experience. I hope this can benefit your scuba diving experiences too.

Blog #3

When I signed up for scuba diving, I found out about the studying that you had to do in order to know how to scuba safely. When I entered in the information that the Scuba instructor e-mailed me into the PADI website (the online scuba website) and started the modules for the studying, it was actually more fun than I had anticipated it to be. In about an hour and a half or so, I got to the second module out of 5 and am almost half way through the module. One important thing that I learned during the studying period is that when you go underwater, you experience more atmospheric pressure. 10 meters down and you experience one additional atmosphere, every 10 meters, you experience another atmosphere. Another important thing that I learned about scuba diving is that when you take a pocket of air down into the water, It starts compressing and the air gets more dense. This makes it so that you consume more oxygen from your tank at a higher rate than if you were at sea level. If you have any pockets of air in your body, like your ears and sinuses, you have to equalize the pressure by holding your nose shut and blowing until your ears feel at a normal pressure. When coming up from under sea level, air expands, this is dangerous because air in your lungs will expand and your lungs can be injured or popped. This is why they say that you should never hold your breath under water when you have a source of oxygen with you. All of this information is vital to the success of my diving experience. I am excited to go scuba diving and can't wait to go train at the pool.
I learned about the equipment involved in scuba diving during my online course. Here is a buoyancy control device (BCD) , it is the main piece of equipment for scuba diving. It holds your tank, controls your buoyancy, and holds your regulator, secondary air source and computer.

Blog #2

This week, my group and I signed up for scuba diving class that we are going to attend in a few weeks. My school has week long periods where we take time to do our extracurricular classes like film and visual arts. This is a time where homework won't get in the way as much as a normal week at our school. This allows us to study the content we need to pass the test without homework getting in the way. My group needs to practice holding their breath and diving underwater without tanks so we can be prepared for training. I am still excited for scuba diving.

1st Blog

Today I started my Genius project for school. The topic that me and my group have decided on is scuba diving. We will sign up to get our scuba diving certification so we can dive safely in the ocean. I am excited for this project because it will be an experience that will be remembered for all of my life. I will be filling you in throughout my journey to getting a certification for scuba diving.
I made a slideshow with my project group as an intro to scuba diving and the possibilities.