Well the "struggles" of completing my Divemaster certification has finally passed! Now just to get thru the IDC (Instructor 
Development Course), which will commence in mid-March.
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Development Course), which will commence in mid-March.Cold water diving has definately been an interesting experience and as much as I miss the warm waters of the Caribbean sea I'm happy to be completing my Scuba courses here in Canada.
With only a couple of specialties that needed to be completed this term, we're loaded with work.
Drift diving was great!!! Just went with the flow of the current and didn't need to exert any extra engery to swim thru the dive site, with a few exceptions to that. "Losing" my dive buddy because he saw something that intrigued him, there by me needing to attemp to turn around to go to him. The current was to strong to try to swim to him so I had to swim to stay in one spot while he gazed at the passing marine life. The current was great, just the feel of it pushing you along the way was enough to enjoy a nice long dive! I finally reached my first dive, here in cold water, that exceeded 40 minutes! Eric would be so proud!
Wreck diving specialty... wow! Sitting in class during the lecture part of the course... listening to the stories, the equipment, the strategies, the multi-tasking... so much to take in! Realizing that there is so mu
ch that can go wrong and knowing that you need to be fully aware of your surroundings. Come the dive days, just getting to the dive site on day one was challenging enough as it was. It snowed! Accidents everywhere, roads shutting down... the roads were slick and diverting to a different dive site that what was originally planned, we headed t
o Whytecliff Park. Usually only a five minute drive from the ferry at Horseshoe Bay, it must have taken us at least a half hour. Driving at no more than 15 - 20 kmph, we got to a small hill near the end of the drive, I got struck! Fellow classmates jumped out of the cars and came to help push me up the small, icy hill. The last driver in the line got stuck as well... SCUBA SCHOOL TO THE RESCUE! Again one last roundabout and a few of us got stuck again!
ch that can go wrong and knowing that you need to be fully aware of your surroundings. Come the dive days, just getting to the dive site on day one was challenging enough as it was. It snowed! Accidents everywhere, roads shutting down... the roads were slick and diverting to a different dive site that what was originally planned, we headed t
o Whytecliff Park. Usually only a five minute drive from the ferry at Horseshoe Bay, it must have taken us at least a half hour. Driving at no more than 15 - 20 kmph, we got to a small hill near the end of the drive, I got struck! Fellow classmates jumped out of the cars and came to help push me up the small, icy hill. The last driver in the line got stuck as well... SCUBA SCHOOL TO THE RESCUE! Again one last roundabout and a few of us got stuck again! Lost my phone through all the chaos but luckily someone found it at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal! Thank you becasue he just saved me at least $300!
Working on tie offs for t
he first two dives for the wreck specialty, one at Whytecliff Park and the other at Porteau Cove (the original destination for day one and day two). At Porteau Cove, Drew and I did one fun dive and celebrated my 100th dive! Trying to spell out 'happy 100th dive' underwater is challenging and took me a few spell-outs to understand and do a flip in the water to celebrate! ;) The second dive that day was dive number two for the wreck specialty, working again on tie offs and such we also did a simulated silt out... A silt out is something I hope to never have to encounter during my career as a Scuba professional but 
happy to know what it would be like without actually having to be in that situation. Finally, dive number three and four for the wreck specialty took place at the Chaudiere courtesy of Porpoise Bay Charters, always a great boat dive with Kal. The waters were rough for the Inlet but we headed out anyways. Dive one for the day was just cursing along the wreck. Dive number two was time for the wreck penetration... guided in by our instructor and guided out again after we were able to penetrate the wreck on our own in that one area. So happy I completed the specialty and got past the "fear" of it. Although, I still know a lot can go wrong and there's a lot more to learn, I'm glad I took that initial step by getting my Wreck diver specialty course completed.
he first two dives for the wreck specialty, one at Whytecliff Park and the other at Porteau Cove (the original destination for day one and day two). At Porteau Cove, Drew and I did one fun dive and celebrated my 100th dive! Trying to spell out 'happy 100th dive' underwater is challenging and took me a few spell-outs to understand and do a flip in the water to celebrate! ;) The second dive that day was dive number two for the wreck specialty, working again on tie offs and such we also did a simulated silt out... A silt out is something I hope to never have to encounter during my career as a Scuba professional but 
happy to know what it would be like without actually having to be in that situation. Finally, dive number three and four for the wreck specialty took place at the Chaudiere courtesy of Porpoise Bay Charters, always a great boat dive with Kal. The waters were rough for the Inlet but we headed out anyways. Dive one for the day was just cursing along the wreck. Dive number two was time for the wreck penetration... guided in by our instructor and guided out again after we were able to penetrate the wreck on our own in that one area. So happy I completed the specialty and got past the "fear" of it. Although, I still know a lot can go wrong and there's a lot more to learn, I'm glad I took that initial step by getting my Wreck diver specialty course completed. Vancouver Aquarium...
we got a behind the scenes tour of the building which was great. My first trip out to the Aquarium and it was a great experience. They've got lots of different marine species on display from all over the world. Although, the exhibits were small it was fun to be able to have gotten there.
we got a behind the scenes tour of the building which was great. My first trip out to the Aquarium and it was a great experience. They've got lots of different marine species on display from all over the world. Although, the exhibits were small it was fun to be able to have gotten there. Celebrated my 25th birthday this year, and what better way to spend it than with great friends and having your little sister come out for a visit! Jody came out to BC for a mini vacation, I was only able to see her for a few days but I'm glad that she was able to come out and visit the coast and see where I was living while in school.
I took her all around Sechelt... not much to see but it was perfect for the time that we had .JPG)
together. I took her to two of our most visited dive spots - Tuwanek and Coopers Green. We also went for a hike to the Skookumchuck Narrows, its about an hour drive from Sechelt and than an hour hike to the rapids and an hour hike back to the car. I took her to meet my scuba crew and showed her how we "party" on the coast! haha Overall, we had a good time and I know she kinda misses the coast...
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together. I took her to two of our most visited dive spots - Tuwanek and Coopers Green. We also went for a hike to the Skookumchuck Narrows, its about an hour drive from Sechelt and than an hour hike to the rapids and an hour hike back to the car. I took her to meet my scuba crew and showed her how we "party" on the coast! haha Overall, we had a good time and I know she kinda misses the coast... A lot has happened over the past month... but more to come over the next couple of months! Still looking forward to April when I head down south back to Belize!
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