A productive weekend
After last weekend was a bit of a washout due to the weather, with my 4 open water dives having to be cancelled, this past weekend was a welcome relief. It rained for most of the week (we’re well into the rainy season now) so my hopes weren’t too high for good visibility, but the winds were coming out of the East which was a good sign. So on Saturday morning I woke up at 4am and got myself ready for a busy weekend!
After listening to most of the Wigan - Harlequins Challenge Cup quarter-final (we won, bringing us 80 minutes away from a final at the new Wembley), I headed off to pick one of my students up and then to the Chatan area. Not a good start when I got to her place though - found out that when I was turning the steering wheel on my car, there was a kind of knocking/grating noise at low speeds (i.e. 1st gear). Sounded expensive, and my mind was on that for quite a bit of the day. But I had a big job to do and so I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted. First off was the 200m swim and 10 minute float test for one of my students. She managed that fine and the water was just about warm enough for swimsuits or shorts (around 25C). Once we’d finished that we headed off to the dive shop and waited for the others to arrive.
I had 4 students in my class in the morning, all doing Open Water dives 1 & 2. Two of the students had already done dive 1 before, but they wanted to do it again so that they would get more experience. If they’re eager to dive then I’m definitely not going to deny them. The dives went pretty well all in all; none of the students had any major problems and they managed to do the skills pretty well. One of them was pretty nervous about the mask skills, but even they managed it without any issues. We finished the dives at about 1230 and while the students took a well needed break, I started to prepare for my afternoon class. I had an Advanced Open Water student who had been on the back-burner for quite a while. The initial intention was to go up to Maeda where we could do the deep dive and the other 2 he needed (Underwater Naturalist and Multi-Level), but conditions were looking a bit dodgy. In addition, I didn’t want to drive my car too far with it making this strange noise on turning. So instead, I elected to stay at Sunabe for the 3 advanced dives. Although we only managed to find about 22m of depth at Sunabe (I would have preferred 30m for the Deep dive), we fulfilled all the performance requirements for the dive and made our way back. My student went through their air rather quickly, but they had not been diving for a while, and in the next 2 dives they became noticeable better. The dives passed off without incident and my student really enjoyed the Underwater Naturalist dive I think. They remarked that when they were actively looking for fish, they noticed a lot more of what was out there. After doing the paperwork and signing my student off, I headed back home. I just didn’t have the energy to wait at the garage to get my car checked out, and so decided to do it the next day. I did a little research on the internet though and heard expensive sounding words like “new differential”, “5 hours of labour” and “need to take the engine out to get to it”. I emailed the previous owner though and his diagnosis was more encouraging: “It’s your limited slip differential I think. Change the transmission oil and it should weaken the noise”. I prayed it was that. A 17 hour day was physically and mentally tiring, but I had more on the Sunday and so washed my gear before collapsing into bed.
Sunday I woke up already feeling weary, but I dragged myself out of bed and into the car at just before 6am. Drove up to the dive site for what I hoped would be a relatively simple 2 dives (so we could finish up around lunchtime). But things never work out that easily. First of all, I had a bit of a run in with the dive shop, as they refused to let me borrow a spanner and switch around some hoses on their BCDs. I (and everyone I know) have always had their alternate air source (i.e. octopus) on the right hand side of their body, running under the right arm. In Japan, typically, things have to be different. So we have just the normal 2nd stage on the right, and then 3 hoses coming off the left. This isn’t how my students had learnt until now so I asked them if I could change it. The answer was no, and the bizarre reason was that it might damage the regulator. I know I only dabble in mechanics, but I’m slightly surprised that unscrewing a hose from a regulator can actually damage well-maintained regulators. They were adamant that they wouldn’t change it round and I didn’t have my own spanner with me, so I had to give one of the student my own regulator and take this strangely configured one. The dives weren’t as simple as I had expected either. One of the students just couldn’t equalize on the first of our 2 planned dives. We tried for around 10 minutes and she couldn’t get below about 2m. In the end we had to resurface, swim back to shore where I got out with her and made sure she was OK, before getting back into the water and doing the dive with the other 3. I did the CESA with them all at the start of the dive, and then we had a pretty successful dive. When I got to shore with them, this other student was waiting for us. We took gear off and I went over to have a chat to the student with the equalizing problem. She said that now she could actually clear her ears on the surface, and wanted to try again. So I put gear straight back on, and jumped back into the water with her, while the others took a well-needed break. She eventually managed to get down, and although she couldn’t go below 11m, her ears cleared up OK and she managed to do the skills. When we surfaced, she was visibly relieved that she’d managed to descend. We had a bit of a rest, and then I went back in with all 4 of them for a very successful and problem-free dive 4.
By the time I had signed logbooks and done all the paperwork, time had flown and it was 5pm. So much for having the afternoon to relax and clear up my apartment. I took the car to the garage and got the transmission & LSD oil changed, which seemed to do the trick (despite costing me 10,000 yen - good transmission oil isn’t so cheap here). Eventually got back home at around 9pm, where I proceeded to clean my dive gear and then collapse into bed. It was a very long weekend, but a very productive one. 5 students signed off and completed is a nice feeling. My certifications are still very low, but they are slowly increasing. Hopefully word of mouth will increase my business. Incidentally, one of my students has posted a review of her course in the testimonials part of my site.
And now I’ve got a 7-day working week coming up, with our school festival on Saturday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are our days off in lieu, but I will be working on dive instructing those days too. I did manage a bit of R&R on Monday night, when I dragged myself off to the cinema to watch “300″. I liked it and it is a film that should be seen on the big screen, but it doesn’t really hold up to a second viewing. I was quite amused by the 2 otaku next to me though: 2 grown men in their 30s, who proceeded to play with transformer figures they had brought, right up until the actual film started! I could hear the figures knocking together during the trailers!
But that was my weekend in a nutshell. Another busy one and I’m looking forward to a break some time in mid-July. Will write again soon, but until then take care and dive safely.
or Discuss this Article
Hi Dave,
Nice to see you’re that busy. Having been able to sign off 5 students must’ve felt good indeed. Soon you’ll be able to apply for the MSDT rating!
Good luck with your car and at work!
Dave,
Congratulations on the recent certifications, but moreso for the testimonials you’ve been given. Almost makes me feel brave enough to try diving… I said almost…
Seriously, well done.
Bim
Hi Bim,
Very good testimonials indeed, just think that Course Director bloke is a bit over the top!