At about 11:30am, I got a called requesting me to come in and do 4 x people Discover Scuba Dive.. I hate 4 x people DSD's as its their first time ever in scuba gear, and is a real challenge for me. When I arrived at the dive school, things turned out to be even worse....
Jen (looking rather sheepish) told me that the group were Chinese (who are rarely comfortable) in the water.... and to top that... 3 of them could not swim. In my mind I think its absolute nuts to be able to jump on a boat and go into the ocean with a load of scuba gear when you are incapable of swimming, but the requirements for a DSD do not stipulate that you need to swim.. very odd.
After trying to convince them to have a pool session and then go from the beach for a dive, they refused, certain that they wanted to go on the afternoon boat. I knew it was going to be a hard day!
Once at the dive site, I kitted them all up, and jumped in, dragging 4 x students to the shoreline where they could stand, keeping them as calm as possible...
To be able to do a DSD, you need to be able to do a couple of skills... these usually take from 5 to 10 minutes... It took an hour of panicking etc... In that time, Jen had completed her dive, and came over to help... It was welcome!
Anyway, the dive was manageable with 2 each, unfortunately my ear was blocked, so I suffered 25 minutes of pain (I couldn't abort the dive and leave Jen with 4 people)... Eventually, I had enough and got everyone to the surface.. I then endured 2 hours of agony, due to massive pressure in one of my ears which could not escape... believe me... I was not very pleased with my day. The pressure finally subsided, and now I remain deaf in one ear (temporary)... so no diving for me for a few days :-(
On a lighter note.... we had a request for a personal message to Mr & Mrs Mandry... so here it is!! (Click on the picture to make it larger!!!)
xxx
SD
3 comments:
It sounds like you had a nightmare of a day. Be careful of you ear, you don't want it to go the way it did before. Love and miss you, take care xxxxx
Ear problems AGAIN!!! How frustrating for you.
Frustrating yes... avoidable yes! Just should have refused that course!
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