The last day of Inner Space, although saddening to see everyone leave, was not my last day in Grand Cayman. Mike had another student, Matt, coming in for the next week to do his recreational CCR course and Mike invited me to stay along for the that week to give me a bit more time and experience diving closed circuit. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to stay a bit longer and do more diving!

Matt came Friday and we started his course promptly on Saturday, jumping right into the action. Mike spent the morning walking Matt through the meticulous process of assembling the CCR unit, while I independently (for the most part) assembled my unit for the afternoon of diving. Because it was Matt’s very first day, he and Mike spent the rest of the morning and the early afternoon doing their pool session and going over basic skills, like I had done earlier in the week. I spent that time catching up on my online course work and completing my TDI exam. After Matt had some time in the pool, we had a quick lunch and surface interval, then kitted up to go diving in the ocean. At this point, I only needed 3 hours and 3 dives to complete my course, plus some skill practice, but diving on the rebreather was already feeling pretty natural for me. The three of us had a nice, mellow ocean dive cruising along the DiveTech house reef, gaining more comfort diving, then practicing some skills at the end of the dive. After a nice long day of training, we cleaned and disassembled our gear, then headed to the condo Matt rented for the week.

The next day I woke up still feeling a bit under the weather from the week before, but excited as always to go diving. We headed over to DiveTech and Cobalt Coast bright and early in the morning to do another day of training, hoping to log about 2 hours of diving. By this time, Mike and I were in a solid routine of getting our kit ready to dive (plus spending some time socializing with the few folks who stayed a few days after Inner Space), and Matt was getting into the groove as well. It was another day of diving and going over skills, another day of me hacking loudly into my mouthpiece during the dives. I guess when you dive on a rebreather while simultaneously being sick it isn’t so silent of diving. But Mike and Matt put up with me and my loud cough, after all, I could still equalize and dive just fine, even if I was a bit noisy underwater. I think today was the day I earned the nickname “Princess”, ironically given to me by Mike, as I like to think I’m anything but a princess. The name quickly stuck, and Matt and Mike referred to me only by “princess” for the rest of the week. I kept threatening them that while I don’t act like a princess now, if you keep calling me that, I may wake up one day and live up to the nickname! But as always, the joking is in good fun, and it’s another nickname to add to my already long list of affectionate nicknames I’ve earned over the years (including, but not limited to: Peppa, snort, giggles, fichele, lil’ feezy, piglet, etc)

Monday and Tuesday were again, more training days for Matt and me. By this time, I was at or just over the 8 hours and 8 dives required for the course, but there is never any harm in doing more than the minimum requirements! I appreciated the chance to get more hours on the unit and more practice with the skills, as it will make me a better diver overall. Monday was fairly uneventful, just the usual 2 hours of diving and skill practice, plus a little experience going “deep” or down to about 100 feet. Tuesday, however, was an interesting day, as the skies decided to dump all the rain they had upon us (and trust me, it was a lot of rain) but the seas were still calm, so we could still dive. Upon arriving at Cobalt Coast, we ran into Chris and Simon, two mates from the UK who had befriended Mike and me during Inner Space and spent a few days after the week diving with DiveTech. It was the day they were to fly out of Cayman, so they weren’t diving, just hanging out and socializing with us. I made the joke that it would be so nice to have a hot cup of coffee after our dive, but wasn’t too preoccupied with it, just wanted to get out of the rain and into the ocean! We kitted up and dove in, spending another 2 hours or so diving, with another 100’ depth. This time, as we were cruising along the reef, as I was fearlessly leading the group (as always) I looked up and lo and behold! A shark! I was so excited; I let out a muffled exclamation through my mouthpiece, which prompted the boys to look up, but also shocked the shark! One of the coolest things about the rebreather is you’re so quiet as a diver without the exhaust bubbles, the marine life isn’t so skittish around you. That is, until you make strange noises through your mouthpiece and remind them you aren’t part of their natural environment! The moment I exclaimed, the shark (which was swimming towards me head on) veered and dove down the reef as fast as his body would take him. It was certainly strange for me to scare a shark. In Palau, the sharks are so used to divers, they don’t give us a second thought as we swim past them on the reef. Usually we can make as much noise and commotion around them as we want, and it doesn’t even bother them. But I guess sharks in the Caribbean can be a bit more sensitive, and I didn’t realize my exclamation would scare it away so quickly. . .oops!

After our dive, we surfaced at the dock, had a nice fresh water rinse as we walked back to the shop (it was still dumping down rain) and we were greeted by the most pleasant of surprises. Chris and Simon had actually brought us down hot coffee! It was the best way to end an already great dive, and I am forever grateful to them for their generosity! They were incredibly nice guys, and I was honored to meet them.

 

Wednesday we woke with yet again, more rain. But thankfully, no wind, so still good to dive! By this time, I was well over my course hours and had completed all the necessary skills, so just needed to take the exam to be a true rebreather diver. Matt needed his last two hours, so we spent the day diving to allow him to complete some skills and finish his hours. By this point, I was finally feeling a lot better and the diving was so much more enjoyable when you only cough 5 times during a 2 hour dive, not continuously the whole dive. I was also feeling really confident in my skills at this point, so the diving was truly enjoyable. After training in the morning, we got back to the condo and I spent the afternoon finishing all my theory (including reading the 185 page manual for the Evolution unit. . .very informative, but very long!). I had passed my TDI course exam and just need to pass Mike’s specific exam on the Evolution unit, which I of course waited until the very last minute to do. We had an early night, as we wanted to get up early and sneak in one last dive Thursday morning before our “no-fly” limits set in.

Thursday was slightly less rainy, and we could actually see glimpses of blue sky heading over to DiveTech. We arrived, quickly assembled our units, and headed out to dive. At this point, Matt was also finished with his skills and training, so this dive was purely fun! We kept it fairly conservative, but it was still an incredibly relaxing dive. At this point, the three of us just cruised along, with me in front (as always. . .I think the guys were scared to be first in line!), observing the marine life and enjoying being underwater. After about 90 minutes, we headed back in, each content with our dive, and I think Mike was particularly proud of how good his two new CCR divers are! We took a bit more time taking apart the units after the dive, making sure they were thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. We loaded all our gear into the car and headed back to the condo. It was bittersweet to pack up from DiveTech. I had really enjoyed diving with them, the staff was an awesome group of folks and were so friendly and accommodating during my training. After laying all the gear out at the condo to continue drying, I finally got around to taking my last exam for Mike, all 130 questions and everything. After a nice dinner at a local BBQ joint, we headed back to grade our exams (Matt and I passed with flying colors!) and finish packing.

 

I have to admit, for all the grief we gave each other during the week, it was definitely a week to be remembered and to be appreciative of! Doing my CCR course has definitely sparked an interest in me to explore this new realm of diving, and I am incredibly thankful to have an instructor like Mike, who was willing to put in some much effort and make the course go above and beyond the bare minimum. I feel that I have left the Caymans as a competent rebreather diver, who still needs (and wants) a lot more practice, but also confident in the skillsets I acquired during my course. I am stoked about the fact I managed to clock in 15 hours and 36 minutes on the rebreather, almost twice as much as is required by the course. There is always room for growth as a diver, but I feel that my time training with Mike really gave me a solid foundation as a rebreather diver, and I know it will open more doors for me down the road. In addition, the generosity of Nancy and Jay at DiveTech enabled me to get in as much diving as I could manage, and it was a wonderful experience diving through their shop, DiveTech, a wonderfully run operation

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