August update

Crown #1, oh what fun!

It's been almost a month since my last post and much has happened in that time.  I'll start with where I currently am dental-wise.  After having my wisdom teeth extracted I developed "dry socket" the following week followed by a nasty infection in one of the areas left by the tooth.  In terms of pure pain, this was probably one of the most difficult experiences in all of my life.  I won't go into too much detail here but they had to clean the infected area which included part of the exposed bone left by the extraction.  Even with four separate shots of anesthetic it was still the most intense pain I've ever felt.  After that healed for a couple of weeks I went back to start work on the two crowns that I need so that I can continue my diving.  The first went pretty well except that the first temporary crown popped off and ended up getting chewed up.  I had that replaced when I went in for the second.  Now the second crown, which is on the tooth all the way in the back next to one of the wisdom teeth I had extracted, didn't get as well.  The dentist, try as he might, was not able to get the tooth numb.  I had four separate shots and still could feel cold and sensation in the tooth.  He tried another procedure where he drilled directly into the tooth, jammed the needle into the hole and shot anesthetic directly into the tooth.  Then he pulled it out, drilled a little more, and did it again.  This was not nearly as pleasant as it sounds.  Unfortunately, this still did not completely numb the area and we were forced to give up this time and try again later.  It seems that this particular area is hyper-sensitive right now due to my recent surgery there.  More fun to look forward to later this month.


This month also saw the passing of my grandfather, Douglas Price Hardy.  I'll write more about him later once I've had some time to think about it clearly.  It's still a bit raw for me.  He was an amazing man who led a pretty amazing life.


Onto diving.  While my dental problems have me sidelined for a bit I've had time to think about where I'd like to go with my diving.  I do want to pursue some of the more esoteric aspects of the sport soon, but am going to focus immediately on some practical applications like collecting, spearfishing, and photography.  These alone are enough to keep me quite busy for some time and will allow me to gain a lot more experience underwater which will be invaluable when I move into other, more difficult areas.  This also allows me to fulfill some "out of the water" activities while directly contributing to my diving experience.  Two birds, one stone.  Now if I could just find a way to replace my income with this, I'd have it made, right?


Last, photography.  This month also saw my first non-family photo shoot.  I offered to do engagement photos, pro-bono, for one of my staff a while back and they decided to cash that in now.  I haven't had very much photographic experience working with people, but had recently taken a class on studio work and this was an opportunity to practice that in the real world.  I really enjoyed the shoot and the challenge.  I think that the end result turned out very well and they were happy with it too.  I am not sure if I will ever do this (people photography) professionally but I am certain that I will continue my pro-bono work as it offers so much knowledge and experience; and I get a chance to do something for people that has meaning for them.  If you have a need for photographs contact me and lets work something out.  I probably will not be able to do it for free long-term, but for now it helps me as much as anyone else and I do enjoy the work and helping folks out.


I'll wrap it up here and try to get to more frequent, more singularly focused post going forward.  Until next time...

Tooth tales - Part II

Well, that's the way to do that.  The surgery went off really well and am recovering.  Going to end it here for now, can barely keep my eyes open.

Tooth tales - Part I

While hanging out at the dentists office today (wha? you don't do that?), on a whim, I asked to have someone just have a look at my tooth that has been giving me a problem while diving.  Not sure what I was expecting or what I thought they might be able to do, but it was worth a shot, right?  And what else would I do while waiting for the kids to have their teeth cleaned?  

I noticed after our dive last weekend that my most distant, lower-left tooth was a lot more sensitive and I was having trouble with temperature extremes.  This has been brewing for some time now having first appeared last year; but only when below 70 feet or so.  I would get a sudden sharp pain, turn myself around and ascend a bit until it was bearable.  Eventually the pressure would equalize and I could descend.  The pain, on a scale of 1-10, is enough to make you want to shove that scale up someone's ass - sideways.  I know that broken bones hurt, burns hurt, but this really hurts.  On my last dive it seems like the tooth popped and cracked a bit more than it was before, thus the difference in sensation.

After a couple of x-rays and a visit from the dentist it was confirmed - the tooth is in dire need of repair.  A crown at a minimum maybe even a root canal, who knows?  The damage was caused by my wisdom tooth pushing directly on this tooth from the side, over time it's finally giving way.  I am sure that the drastic changes in pressure have contributed as well.  And possibly all of those beer bottles that I opened with my teeth all those years ago.  But before they can repair it the offending wisdom tooth has to go.

The dental assistant offers to set up an appointment for me to see an oral surgeon - fine, thank you very much.  Now I am thinking that we'll get around to it next week or so until she comes back and asks if I can make it over there today.  Today?!  Ummm, sure.  Surely it's just to meet with the surgeon and talk about my options, right?  Nope.  They're ready to start cutting today.  Well, I'm not - I've been avoiding this for years, I'll need some time to say goodbye.... you know, to my tooth.  Suffice it to say, they gave me the night to say goodbye.  Bright and early tomorrow they're cutting both lower wisdom teeth out.  At least they're going together, I feel a little better.  While sitting there going over the procedure and signing forms and such I ask if I will be able to drive myself or will I need someone to bring me.  They tell me that I should be fine because they have me down for local anesthetic.  On another whim I ask, "Do I have a choice?  Can I opt for a general anesthetic?", their answer: "Sure!".  Alrighty then, let's do this and I want the works.

So this time tomorrow ought to be interesting and painful.  I'll let you know.  

NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver - Part II (read Part I below first)

From my house, Kioni, Jake, and I make the relatively short drive over to Captain Bob's in Bradenton.  We're heading out for the first couple of dives to complete our Advanced Scuba certification.  This will knock out night and navigation.  We load up the boat and depart shortly after 5PM.  We're going to a ledge several miles off of the coast, the trip out takes about an hour.  The waves this afternoon are just enough to keep a constant spray of saltwater off of the bow raining on us in the back.  On a cooler day, this might get annoying after a while but today it is appreciated as the heat index is somewhere between molten shoe soles to spontaneous hair combustion.

It's good to see a couple of people from our class also decided to take this opportunity to knock off these dives as well.  I like diving more when I am familiar with those with whom I dive.  With these two and our three, the charter is rounded out by two singles and a father-daughter pair.  Everyone seems to have a bit of experience and I am looking forward great dive.

Our dive master hooks us in right off of the ledge.  Visibility in the gulf can be poor at times so the closer the anchor is to the objective the easier it is to find it as well as finding the anchor when coming back up the anchor line.  Captain Bob briefs us on what to expect, things to look for, and gives those of us diving for our advanced instructions to determine the direction of the ledge that we are on.  This ledge is an "L" shaped ledge with the anchor positioned pretty much right at the apex of the 'L".

Our first dive occurs in the late afternoon, still ample light to dive unaided by external light sources.  The reason for this is to give you a before-and-after of the same area so that you can see the differences from day into night.  Our instructions are 45 minutes down or 500 psi, whichever comes first.  Go past 500 psi and you're done for the day.  Everyone dons their gear and we start to make our way off of the stern.  In class earlier today, I found that I didn't need nearly as much weight as I had previously thought so this time I enter with only six pounds as opposed to my usual 12-16.  I am number three off of the boat and quickly make my way to the anchor line where I await Jake and Kioni.  I test my weight and it seems right on.  Check viz, about 15-20 feet - not too bad for the gulf but pales in comparison to some of the other spots we've dived.  By this time the rest of my group has caught up and we start our descent.  

My dive profile for the first dive

Jake descends at a rate that makes me think he might be the first scuba diver ever required to wear an auto-opening reserve chute.  Kioni and I head down at a much slower, and, I might add, wiser rate since you never know what you might be dropping in on in this viz.  We meet up at the anchor, 40 feet down, and decide to head left, in navigational terms: 180º or due south, along the ledge.  First part of the navigational exercise complete, I've got my bearing and the reciprocal.  We venture out about 100 yards or so and I notice that I am having to fight a lot harder to stay down.  This becomes even more pronounced as we continue (remember the thing about the tank slowly becoming more positively buoyant?).  I also notice that with my increased activity having to fight harder to stay lower, I am burning through my nitrox much faster.  This isn't helped by the fact that I have a small leak around the "O" ring on my tank.  I signal to Jake and Kioni to turn back, this way if it becomes more of an issue I am closer to the anchor line and can ascend if needed.  By the time we make it back to the anchor line, only about 15 minutes have elapsed but I am ready to call it and head up to work on my weight.  I signal to my group that I am ascending the line.  Kioni and Jake continue on while I make my safety stop on the line.  Three minutes at 15 feet.  Back to the boat.

Jake "the stone" - as in falling like one

Kioni

Jake and Kioni surfacing after our first dive

Captain Bob gets me secured and I start to go over my dive.  Immediately I add six more pounds of weight, for a total of 12.  This gets me back to what I would normally use; I know from our class this morning that it's still not right but I don't want to waste the next dive tweaking it.  Looking back I suppose I could have used our surface interval to do this but it just didn't occur to me at the time.  I came up with over 1400 pounds of nitrox and feel a bit cheated, but that I can overcome.

The dive boat can be a lonely place when divers are in the water.

After an hour or so of a surface interval we're back in the water.  This time with enough weight so as to not have to fight the entire time down.  We shoot the anchor line and head left (180º) just like last time.  However, this time it's dark!  The changes from day to night are stark, not unlike Las Vegas as the sun sets in the west.

This is the first real opportunity I've had to shoot photos with the external strobe I got for my anniversary this year (thanks, hon) and I intend to make the most of it.  Those who know me, know that I have a passion for photography and I believe that my work is at least above average.  But underwater photography presents some very unique challenges.  First, having an off-camera light source is essential for all but the most most forgiving (shallow and bright) circumstances.  To this point, the quality of my underwater photos has suffered to the point of me not making many shots, instead just focusing on shooting video because lighting underwater is so difficult.  I'll not go into that here but there are many more factors to consider and compensate for underwater.  Needless to say, I am looking forward to the possibilities presented by this key piece of equipment.

Our first stop is a hole in the ledge which houses an octopus.  I just happened to catch the movement when the light from my LED hand-light brushed by the hole.  Closing in I could see that this would be interesting.  I got off a few shots and tried to coax him out of his hidey-hole to no avail.  He did keep his eyes on us but never came out to play.  In the distance I could see beams of light penetrating the darkness, we signaled for the other group to show them what we had found.  Moments later we've got almost the entire charter on top of us - time to move on.

ET phone home

My dive profile for the second dive

We head back toward the anchor to see what we can find on the other side of the ledge.  By this time the viz has dropped quite a bit from our group coming through kicking up the bottom.  So we skip over to where no one has been yet and find a few interesting things.  Mostly fish of some sort.  Jake and Kioni spotted a Goliath Grouper tucked up under the ledge but I can neither confirm nor deny such a sighting.  Personally, I think it was a case of mass hysteria started by an ever excited Jake upon spotting a particularly interesting rock.  I, however, am immune to such mental defects and saw only what was truly there - a rock!

The remainder of the dive was much the same.  Fish here, jelly there, oh look - an eel!  I will say that the effort to stay down this time was much less than previous which allowed me to focus more on diving and photography.  Unfortunately, having a relatively new piece of equipment presents some challenges in task management and proficiency.  All-in-all it was a very rewarding day and I am looking forward to our next adventure.  I'll end with a few more photos.  I promise more as I improve my underwater skill, but for now these will have to do.

Parrotfish? My field guide thinks so.

A school of something.

A grouper I think.

Finally, an upside down hogfish showing off.

NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver - Part I

HD Theater

Saturday 7/31/2010 - the day begins

This was one of those days where you're not sure what's going to happen but you know it's going to be one to remember.  The day begins with a wake-up call from my iPod at 7:00AM (on a Saturday? <-expletive->); Fleetwood Mac left over from the night before.  Not exactly the jolt one needs to get your feet on the floor and the rest of you relatively upright, but on this day it was just enough.  Eight o'clock class - NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver - I've been looking forward to this for a while and have been seriously committed to it since the beginning of summer.  

Scuba Quest Brandon, FL

Class Part I - review the training material and practice a few navigation exercises

I check in at Scuba Quest just before eight am.  Something of a miracle if you know how long it usually takes for me to get from the sheets to anything else in the morning.  Here I meet up with my friend Kioni, who's actually the reason I am here on this day as we planned to go through this class together a while back.  

We start reviewing the book and going over some key themes for this class which last for a couple of hours.  We discuss buoyancy control and weight management, navigation, deep dives, photography, hunting and collecting, and other topics.  After the classroom portion we practice some basic navigation and search patterns in the area behind the shop.  Just enough to be able to say you've done it.  Having completed that we load up the tanks and head over to the pool for the practical part of the class.

Class Part II - pool session

Today we are six students, including Kioni and myself, and our instructor, Brandon Brooks.  We suit up, get our weights configured, and head over to pool's edge.  

I should mention that I normally dive with 12-16 pounds of weight depending on my configuration (wet suit, salt or fresh water, other equipment, etc.).  This being pool water (more importantly, non-salt water) and no wet suit or other crap hanging off of me I decide that even 12 is probably too much and drop my 6 pounds of non-dumpable weight.  This is so that if I am still too heavy I can easily drop the remainder.  I really start to question even taking this much as Brandon seems to hang on how much weight we're taking a little too much ("you sure that's how much you need?").  Knowing that our first test (super-secret diving skill #1) is to jump in with all of our gear in hand, sink to the bottom, then don our gear underwater, this seems like a prudent approach as I sure as hell don't want to gingerly drift down while holding my breath for 15'. 

Just before we jump we soak our BC's in the pool and make sure that every last bit of air has been purged so as to not slow our descent.  I volunteer to go in first, it's hotter than two goats in a pepper patch and I am ready to cool off a bit.  I went up to the edge, and I stood and looked down (you know I lost a lot of friends there baby!) - gear in-hand, one.. two.. shit

I've had a tooth squeeze on the last few dives but it only really started hurting me around 60-70 feet, until just recently.  I've noticed that in our pool at home I've started feeling discomfort at about six feet now occasionally.  I am about to jump into 15' of water with no quick or easy way to ascend and relieve the pain if it hits.  Oh well, too late to worry about that now.

...three, splash!  

Normally, at this point my mind would be organizing and prioritizing tasks from most to least likely to cause my immediate death and developing a simple, methodical plan for dealing with each.  Instead, it's focused on what to do if my tooth pain kicks in - a very real worry as that is one of the few pains that cannot be easily ignored, it requires immediate attention.  For those not familiar with this pain, it feels like a dentists drill drilling right through your tooth from the inside out - without anesthetic.   

Falling through the water I am relieved to find that the pain is not as pronounced and completely manageable, however, another problem has suddenly appeared - I need a breath, desperately, and haven't even begun to start the tasks necessary to take that first breath.  My body starts to float upside down as it's positively buoyant and I am anchored to the gear in my hands which continues to sink.  Simultaneously, I attempt to open the valve on my tank and locate one of my regulator hoses.  Without my mask on it's pretty blurry but I am easily able to locate my octo hose as it is bright yellow (now I completely understand why).  I am starting to become even more desperate for air but seem no closer than before as I am still fighting my buoyancy and trying not to drop everything while attempting two different tasks simultaneously.  This is when instinct takes over, I drop everything and swim as quickly as I can for the surface.  I break through - "shit!".  Epic fail.  My concern about my tooth pain proved too much of a distraction that derailed my task management.  The good news, however, was that I now knew what to expect and could put that out of my head next time.  I should have tested my tolerance to the pain before jumping in with my gear, in the right circumstance this could have cost me a lot more than frustration and embarrassment.  Never forget that you are solely responsible for your own safety and should take appropriate steps to ensure that you are 100% ready to dive.

After retrieving my gear and watching everyone else, who all passed the first time btw, I was able to hop back in and complete it, no problem at all this time.  Once back on the surface we tread water for a while holding our regulator and BC inflater hose above our heads.  This is where I start to realize that even cutting my weight in half probably wasn't enough - this is work!  After a while Brandon has me remove the last of my weight and continue.  It's much easier but I am still sinking due to the negative buoyancy of the tank right now.  

The air tank, when full of air, has a negative buoyancy and provides a downward or sinking force.  As more air is used throughout the dive, the tank becomes more and more positively buoyant providing less of a downward force or even an upward or rising force.  This becomes more relevant later, for now staying on the surface is easier than before.

Now Brandon has me use my regulator stop kicking.  Still negatively buoyant, I start to sink.  To my surprise I am able to sink all the way to the bottom without any weight at all!  It would seem that I've been carrying 12-16 pounds too much weight on my previous dives.  Now, I know there are other factors like salt water, wet suit, etc. that would make adding weight necessary but it would seem that I have been well overweight on my dives.  This epiphany becomes a problem later tonight on my night dive, but for now I've learned something that makes me feel like a seasoned veteran and less like the fumbling neophyte in the water.

We next work on lifting heavy objects with the lift bag.  The first lift I swim down to a bag of weight with the bag, hook it up, and inflate the bag with my octo.  This lift is uncontrolled, just fill the bag with air and let it go.  The second lift is controlled, ascending at the same pace (<30'/minute) that I ascend.  This time, instead of just filling the bag with air I give it just enough air to lift the weight bag a few inches off of the bottom.  Now I begin my ascent, "treasure" in-hand.  As I ascend I have to constantly dump air from the bag as the pressure decreases to control my ascent.  This is due to the dropping water pressure allowing the air inside the bag to expand even further thus increasing the amount of surface area exposed to the surrounding water which increases it's buoyancy, left unchecked my ascent would quickly become uncontrolled and very dangerous for me and anyone that maybe above.

This ends our pool work and the instructed portion of our certification.  Now we have to complete six dives, each hitting a different area of diving within six months.  The first three dives are set for us: Deep (over 60'), night, and navigation.  The final three are chosen from a list of other dive types:

• Search and recovery
• Boat diving
• Light salvage
• Hunting and collecting
• Exploration and underwater mapping
• Non-penetration wreck diving
• Research diving
• Freshwater or ocean diving orientation

Kioni and I decide to go ahead and knock out night and navigation today and schedule a trip for this evening with Blue Water Explorers over in Brandenton, FL.  More on that in the next post.

Lightning Crashes

These photos were from a brief storm that we had last night. I love late spring. There's a feeling that you get watching something powerful and cataclysmic; it's palpable, you can actually sense it.