Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Dear Randy,
I want to thank you SOOOO much for all you've taught Greg and I! We met some "assistant instructors" and some "instructors" yesterday (Tuesday, June 19) on our first two dives. They were not even in the same league as you!
We headed down south to Punta Sur. We thought we were going to Cathedral, our favorite dive. Little did we know that the other folks on the boat had talked Pingo, the Divemaster, into going to Devil's throat instead. We might have considered doing the dive but one of my computers crapped out on Monday night. (Thank gosh Greg is sooo anal about redundancy--we've been diving with two computers!) I'm not as familiar with my backup computer so we didn't want to risk the dive. (Here's some info on Devil's Throat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Throat_at_Punta_Sur)
We all entered the water and headed down to the bottom about 80 feet below. We got to the sandy bottom and played with a turtle for a few minutes before moving on. The others entered the throat while Greg and I followed their bubbles along the topside of the reef. The reef, by the way, was pristine--no one does this dive for the reef! Greg got some great pics and shortly thereafter, met up with the others.
Greg didn't tell me until later that one of the "instructors" didn't double check to make sure his air was on before doing a giant stride off the boat. Just a few feet down, he motioned to his wife to turn on his air. Not a good example for an "instructor."
Anyway, three of the five folks loved to use their hands to move themselves through the water--another "instructor" no-no. And once we hit the surface, two of them were laughing and making fun of one of the ladies. Seems that her computer was screaming at her while they were in the Devil's throat--she hit zero decompression time. Not so good from the safety aspect.
As the boat came to pick us up, three of the five folks bullied their way to the ladder to be the first on the boat even though Greg and I were closest--wrong boat etiquette!
All in all, for the short amount of time Greg and I have been diving, seems that our Instructor taught us well. We always look out for each other and complete our predive check. We NEVER use our hands to motor about; we know how to use good breath control and our fins to get us where we need to be. We're very safety conscious and know our dive limits. We have great boat etiquette and yield to those needing to board the boat quicker than us. And, we also keep an eye out for others!
Thanks, Randy, you've taught us a lot! You're a great Instructor! Keep up the good work! And, maybe someday, we'll become great Instructors just like you!
Always,
Leenie and Greg
We headed down south to Punta Sur. We thought we were going to Cathedral, our favorite dive. Little did we know that the other folks on the boat had talked Pingo, the Divemaster, into going to Devil's throat instead. We might have considered doing the dive but one of my computers crapped out on Monday night. (Thank gosh Greg is sooo anal about redundancy--we've been diving with two computers!) I'm not as familiar with my backup computer so we didn't want to risk the dive. (Here's some info on Devil's Throat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Throat_at_Punta_Sur)
We all entered the water and headed down to the bottom about 80 feet below. We got to the sandy bottom and played with a turtle for a few minutes before moving on. The others entered the throat while Greg and I followed their bubbles along the topside of the reef. The reef, by the way, was pristine--no one does this dive for the reef! Greg got some great pics and shortly thereafter, met up with the others.
Greg didn't tell me until later that one of the "instructors" didn't double check to make sure his air was on before doing a giant stride off the boat. Just a few feet down, he motioned to his wife to turn on his air. Not a good example for an "instructor."
Anyway, three of the five folks loved to use their hands to move themselves through the water--another "instructor" no-no. And once we hit the surface, two of them were laughing and making fun of one of the ladies. Seems that her computer was screaming at her while they were in the Devil's throat--she hit zero decompression time. Not so good from the safety aspect.
As the boat came to pick us up, three of the five folks bullied their way to the ladder to be the first on the boat even though Greg and I were closest--wrong boat etiquette!
All in all, for the short amount of time Greg and I have been diving, seems that our Instructor taught us well. We always look out for each other and complete our predive check. We NEVER use our hands to motor about; we know how to use good breath control and our fins to get us where we need to be. We're very safety conscious and know our dive limits. We have great boat etiquette and yield to those needing to board the boat quicker than us. And, we also keep an eye out for others!
Thanks, Randy, you've taught us a lot! You're a great Instructor! Keep up the good work! And, maybe someday, we'll become great Instructors just like you!
Always,
Leenie and Greg
// posted by Leenie @ 1:48 PM 
