A Chamber Dive to 165ft "Depth"

We met last week in the physics building on upper campus of UCT. The objective: to simulate a very deep dive (to a depth of 50 meters, or 165 feet "underwater") in the Research Dive Unit's decompression chamber. This would also simulate the effects of nitrogen narcosis, or what they call the "martini effect" or "laughing gas effect" when deep diving. More on that later. My regular diving buddies were also in attendance, ready to do a dive of a different sort this time. One where you didn't have to drive to Simonstown or spend large amounts of time filling cylinders and getting kitted up.

Now, this type of chamber is usually meant to treat people with decompression sickness, or "the bends". If someone surfaces too quickly, the compressed nitrogen in their cells can expand too quickly and cause big problems. A person is then placed back in the chamber to re-pressurize them.

It's safe... climb in.

I was a little worried before we got in. The old man, Paul, made sure we didn't bring anything into the chamber. The extreme pressure is such that even a fault in a diamond ring could cause it to implode or break at depth. I couldn't bring my camera with me, and to be safe took everything out of my pockets. He also said that the depths and time, although conservative, have caused problems for some people. The majority of the dives go fine, but the problems come from people that "aren't normal" and don't say they aren't. Like people that have had surgeries, don't like small spaces, or whatever else. But what an intimate and scary question... "Am I normal?" Will I die in this little pressurized tube? I tried not think about it. He also warned that you'll need to equalize your ears very frequently, because the pressure changes fast. The warning was simple: "equalize your ears before things get very bad, so that your ear drums don't burst." We were also provided with a rubber mallet to hit against inside of the chamber if there was a problem, and he spoke vaguely about firefighting equipment in case there was a fire. I was thinking about other things at that moment.

Getting ready to load in.

The inside of the chamber, through one of the little windows.

The space wasn't that large, as your can see in the photo. It was also pretty dark until small lights were turned on. Six of us climbed in, shuffling around, pressed against one another, as they shut and sealed the huge steel hatch door. They first lower you slowly to the first 10 meters, by pumping air inside the tank to pressurize it. This first stage goes more slowly, since most problems that people experience will happen during this time. Indeed, one in our group had a problem equalizing the pressure on her ears (similar to what you do when going through the mountains), and it was starting to get painful. So we surfaced, let her out, and went back down.

You can see me equalizing as we descend.

Typically when you dive, you equalize your ears every 20 seconds or so, as you descend to greater depths. We were pumped down to the full 50m/165ft over the course of only two minutes, so you need to equalize once per second or more. It is difficult to also breath air when going this quickly, because if you stop to take a deep breath you can feel the pressure building up on your ears. So I just kept blowing out of my ears and taking quick deep breaths every once and a while.

But, we made it to the bottom. This is where nitrogen narcosis comes in, or "being narced". It is where the nitrogen that builds up in your cells and your blood steam reaches your brain and releases endorphins. It makes divers feel drunk underwater, and can make them do silly things like swim off alone or think they can breathe without their regulators. It is controllable, though, since going up makes it go away and there is no hangover or after-effects. We immediately felt so drunk at the bottom that the slightest humorous thing had everyone in the chamber laughing uncontrollably. And at a depth of 165 feet, the air is so pressurized that everyone sounds like they are speaking through pure helium... voices are actually that high. Which is simply hilarious! Needless to say, we laughed a lot, and any anxiety that I had before was long gone.

Narced.

At the very bottom, the pressure is six times what it is at the surface. This also means that you breath 6 times the amount of air to fill your lungs to capacity. We stayed at 165 ft for about 10 minutes, and then ascended very slowly over the next half hour or so. To test the air compression concept, we blew up two condoms at the very bottom, and watched them grow larger and larger as we rose to the surface. By the time we got to the surface, the condoms weren't six times their original size, but a lot larger.

Safety stops were observed at 10 meters and 3 meters, I believe, to be sure we didn't ascend too quickly. Even though it is sort of cramped in there, you're supposed to make sure you don't cross your legs or anything, to aid in blood circulation. It gets sort of cold as you go up, also. I'm not sure why but mist began to form as the pressure decreased, and it got chilly. Luckily, I brought my winter hat and my UW Homecoming sweatband.

Emerging from the deep, like a gila monster!

We were told that decompression illness could still develop over the next few hours, and it would be prudent not to drink very much or take hot showers. Tempered by water, though, we went to the UCT graduate bar and had celebratory beers!

Life List: Panic Attack Deep Underwater? Check.

The interesting thing about going somewhere completely different is that once things start to go wrong, or you feel sick, weird, or out of wack... it's very difficult to figure out the cause. In my case, in Mozambique, I started to feel a bit "off" after about a week. Who really knows what the cause was? Have I been sleeping too little, is it because I'm drinking every night, is it the malaria medicine with all the possible side effects that I've never taken before, is it the water, is it all the different foods that I'm eating, or is it the anxiety that I'm very far from credible medical care or any semblance of "home". It is within this context that you can go a little nutty. And I did.

Before The Dive

As I woke up on Day 9, tired from sleeping only three hours, I was invited on what would be the last deep dive of the trip. At 7:00am, I told Mike a solid no and put my head back into my pillow. A half hour later, though, unable to sleep anymore, I got up to check on the dive shop and get some water. I learned that the dive would be delayed three hours, which likely meant four or even five hours when adjusting for African time. I couldn't go back to sleep at this point (I wasn't sure why), so I started drinking water and ordered some breakfast at the bar. As the morning rolled on, I decided that I would be going on the dive. As you saw in the videos and stories from the last post, I felt like I'd be very disappointed in myself if I missed the last Mozambican deep dive of the trip, only to hear stories and see photos when a jubilant crew returned. So I began kitting up for my fifth trek into the ocean.

Our first dive with the resort.

From the very beginning, this dive felt more stressful than others. Not only was I feeling a bit "off", but it was my first time diving without my instructors Sean and Nick, the two people that have taught me to dive in Cape Town and whom I'd gone out with on all the dives in the last few days. I didn't think it would be a big deal, but just kept realizing, in my head, the difference I was feeling of not having them as calming reassurance. This was because my two new dive masters from the resort we're a bit cold and set lots of rules and expectations for the dive. This shouldn't have stressed me out, because it is how diving works, but for some reason it just changed the mood of getting ready and going out.

On the way out to the dive site it felt like things kept going wrong. We got hit by another big wave and, reminiscent of a few days earlier, it broke a piece of the steering wheel enclosure off. We stopped and tried to radio back, only to find that the radio was not working. As we headed to our dive site I noticed that the pontoon I was sitting on was deflating slightly, which lead them to reinflate it every 15-30 minutes or so. The dive master was shaking some from the wave impact, and the current was so strong that we had to move our dive site from Sherwood Forest to Giant's Castle. With full gear on, we slowly drove for about 20-25 minutes to the new site, while I got a bit seasick in the process. All along I had a million thoughts going through my head, while I was thinking "I don't want to be here right now." Feeling very anxious, I was hoping that once I got in the water things would get better, as they usually do, and I would get it over with and go back to Bamboozi.

Working on our sea sickness.

In The Water

"Masks ON! Regulators IN" 3. 2. 1." Bail.
Except I noticed that two of my friends didn't actually have regulators in their mouths as we fell in, because the staff didn't check that everyone was ready. I fell in the water and realized that I was floating for some reason, despite having sucked the air out of my vest. I began to swim down, kicking harder to get my fins in the water and past the surface to catch up with people. I began to descend, trying to get back into the swing of things. I looked for my buddy Alexei, he gave me an "Ok?" symbol and I reciprocated as we went down 20ft, 40ft, 60ft, 80ft, and finally reached the bottom at 100ft. Once down there, I was still feeling a bit out of it and my heart rate increased. Because we were so deep, air is compressed by 4x and is thus consumed that much faster. "We'll only have a bottom time of about 14 minutes", I thought. "Get past it and we'll be done." I knew my body was starting to freak out, because despite what I was telling myself, I kept thinking, "I don't feel safe right now, I cannot be down here." For about two minutes, I tried to get control of my breathing as my heart rate increased, and my dive masters tried to locate someone that had not come to the bottom with us. It all felt very hectic.

Alexei turned to me again and made a joking face and gesture. I thought, "You shouldn't surface for this. You might shake your confidence diving, and at worst could develop some phobia of diving. Push through it." At the same time, my heart was racing out of control and I was just about hyperventilating as my mind struggled to calmly sort through how to fix my problem. I decided that I would need to surface. I slowly shook my head "No" at Alexei, and the following conversation took place all in diving hand signals.

Me: "I have a (problem). I need to (go up)." Alexei looked at me to see if I was joking. Again: "I have a (problem). I need to (go up)." He grabbed the female dive master (DM) and signaled the same.

She came to me, grabbed me by the straps on my vest, and gave me her best, eyes wide open "What is wrong!?" face. Unable to figure out a way to tell her, I just repeated "I have a (problem). I need to (go up)."

DM: "Where is your (buddy)?" I pointed at Alexei, shook my head about that question, and repeated the only phrase that seemed to make sense underwater. More rushed hand signals... DM: "Have you (lost your buddy)?" I shook my head no. "(No), I haven't (lost my buddy). I'm having a (problem) and I need to (go up). DM: "(Out of Air?)". Me: "(No)." Again, she gave me the demanding WHAT!? eyes as she grabbed me.

I was getting upset with how long the communication around this was taking. I started to think that with how inherently dangerous diving is, you'd think more communication than normal would be needed, but here I practically had none. This turned into a very serious game of underwater charades, where I could not find a way to tell her: I'm having a panic attack, and being 100ft underwater isn't suiting me very well. Not only do I feel like I need to be at the surface immediately, I know full well that if I inflate my vest or begin swimming up too fast, I'll get decompression illness and might die. And there isn't a recompression chamber anywhere near. "Okay, try again." I began to hit my chest with my hand very fast, my best attempt at saying what had happened.

She finally understood and turned to the other dive master. With all the lost buddy confusion, he thought I was without my buddy and proceeded to go through the same confusion that had already happened. About 30 seconds later, I was upset that my highly trained dive masters, whom I didn't particularly trust in the first place, were not effectively communicating while I was freaking out and trying to stay calm to solve my problem. I began to swim up without them, slowly, until she noticed and called me back. After a bit more communication, and after what felt like minutes had passed (they probably did), we began to ascend together. Let me just say, when you're at the bottom and all you want is the top, and 100ft of deadly water is sitting between you and a solution, trying to work the stress away isn't particularly easy. The ironic thing is that while an ascent is the solution, it is also the source of the stress and makes things worse thinking about it. It began to feel like a negative feedback loop, of things getting worse as I thought of them, despite trying to calm down. I just kept breathing, paid attention to the air in my vest so that I wouldn't shoot up too quickly, and held onto her while she controlled our ascent rate. I looked up, could see the surface very far away and just repeated to myself that I'd be up there soon. It felt like a very long time, but we surfaced.

At the top, I was fine. I explained what happened, apologized for making her end her dive, and we clarified all of the confusing progression at the bottom. She said it was the right thing to come up, and it happens even to the best of divers. She also commended me on using my training, because an actual "panicked diver" would have ripped off his mask, pulled out his regulator, and began breathing water while trying to kill the people that were attempting to help. I was now calm, and sat on the boat talking to the skipper until the dive was over. We discussed South Africa, Mozambique, studying abroad, and sunglasses (because he asked why only one of my eyes was open as I looked toward the sun). I responded that I'm a silly Norwegian with blue eyes and can't handle African, let alone Wisconsin, sun.

On Shore Aftermath

Yet when we got back on land, I realized that I felt much worse than I had thought. I originally thought the panic attack was just the result of anxiety and feeling unsafe (which was definitely a big part), but now realized that I was going a bit crazy from being awake so long. I recalled my cumulative 11 hours of sleep over the last three days, and wanted nothing more than sleep. In fact, I felt as though I'd been awake for three days straight and now had enough adrenaline in my body to simulate five cups of coffee. As a result, I wasn't thinking straight, I had a million thoughts going through my mind, all while trying to maintain an appearance of outward composure and the ability to hold a conversation. In fact, I thought I might be slipping into a nervous breakdown and thought "this must be what it is like to go crazy. I'm just going to snap soon. I need sleep this second." I was also losing the ability to tune out all the noise around me, and being around just 10 people at once became cacophonous and overwhelming.

Here is a photo of me, taken in the middle of all of this, as I was waiting to be driven back to the resort from our boat landing:

You may notice that my eye is folded over itself.
I'm not doing so good, Pearl.

As you can tell, I'm looking somewhat wily. I immediately went back to my hut, changed, and moved to a more silent place in someone else's room. I was left in silence trying my hardest to "get to sleep", while fighting thoughts of what had happened underwater just an hour ago, reassuring myself I wasn't going crazy and that a few hours sleep would bring things back to normal, while also wondering if I was having a heart attack based on how fast and irregular my pulse was running, and where in the world I would go if that did happen. In my near-insane soul searching, I found irony that my problem was again my solution. I had gotten to this point by not sleeping, and the stress of still being awake and not knowing what was happening to my body and mind was keeping from my solution--sleep. That was a scary feeling.

Admitting to myself that this was some sort of medical sleep deprivation, I sought out my friends and told them how I was feeling. For all I knew, I was going to die in the hut or something from poisonous levels of adrenaline or who knows what (more stress). Alexei, Daniel, and Mike jumped into action and made me feel much better, seeking out some nausea medicine to calm me a bit, while Lauren came and sat with me for over an hour to calm me down and help me sleep. I asked her, "Will I ever sleep again?" I was fully conscious of what was happening and what I was feeling, I just didn't have the means to fix it myself or improve things. It felt terrible. To make things worse, I kept feeling pinches all over my body, which I first thought to be nitrogen expanding from too fast an ascent, but must have been psychological in some way. Anyway, I fell asleep after two hours of laying down in silence, and slept for just three hours or so.

What I hadn't thought of was the malaria medicine, though. I looked at the side effects later and saw that it causes insomnia and lack of sleep. Granted, what happened to me was no doubt a combination of pushing my limits too hard in many ways, but I now know that the malarone was playing a big part. Ironically, drinking at night was helping me get to sleep, because I wasn't able to nap in the afternoons, and didn't feel tired at 4-5am when it was time to retire. Over the next few days I was mostly good, but wavered from thinking anxiously about my dive experience to still being in Mozambique to getting a bit of jungle fever.

Lastly, upon getting home I was supposed to take the malaria medicine for another seven days. I wasn't drinking any alcohol, was sleeping much more regularly, and was eating normally. Essentially, everything was back to normal, but about two hours after taking a malaria pill I would realize that I felt messed up, almost in an altered state of mind and my heart rate would change. After realizing this... I just stopped taking them altogether. I think I'd rather have malaria.

So yes, I think what happened was a combination of the stress of the dive, things going wrong, not having Sean or Nick around for it, and not being able to handle the anxiety due to lack of sleep, being jacked up on malaria pills, working through a hangover, and perhaps dehydration. Who knows? You can't find you're limits unless you pass them. The rest of the trip outside of this day was absolutely phenomenal as I have been saying, and I was even able to wind down on this night by chilling out and pacing myself. My new goal is to get back in the water and dive as soon as I can.

In my next and final post about Mozambique, I'll be recalling the trek home and the rioting at the border post.

World Class Diving in Tofo

I was told before signing onto the Mozambique trip that diving off the coast of Tofo was world class. Now, I have little to compare my experiences to, but it certainly didn't disappoint. While some dive sites were more shallow, at less than 50 feet or so (15m), I knew that the real action would be down deeper. For this reason, I began my advanced PADI scuba certification just before leaving. This gave me more flexibility on my dives, and I was about to visit some sites that reached 100 feet (30m).

Our resort had a full service dive center, so they were able to provide support and all of our equipment. On a much neater level, though, my scuba instructor and trip leader brought his own boat and led most of our dives himself. This definitely made things more intimate and relaxed, since we knew everyone on the boat. I even learned to dive with many people that we went out with, which made things fun.

Our dive shop. Note the palm thatch.

On Sean's Boat.

We got to really practice our diving and boat skills while there. They use dive boats, which drive right up onto the sand to beach, and can be towed around by tractors without trailers. This also means that you physically push the boat into the water to launch, and need to get past the surf to get out. Our group (myself not included) learned the hard lessons of this on the first day when a huge wave broke the steering wheel console off, and caused some injuries. Ben was hit in the head and thrown from the boat, and Nick sliced his foot open. We also got lots of practice bailing off the boat, backwards, with full kit on to enter the water and begin a dive. I'm sure you've seen this in movies. Everyone has to fall at the same time, or the current moves the boat, and you can fall onto someone. This actually happened, and someone's tank fell on my head. Ouch. Then you do a negative entry, which means that you have no air in your vest and must hit the water and immediately swim down, so as not to spent time at the surface, drifting away from people. As you may be getting, the current can be pretty strong. And it happens very fast.

"Masks ON! Regulators IN! 3. 2. 1." (bail).

Daniel, Me, and Alexei

Anyway, to the depths! On my first deep dive, at Giant's Castle, we dove to 100ft (30m). The visibility was something like 75-100ft (like a gigantic swimming pool with lots of life), and, again, the water was 80ºF. Simply outstanding. Very shortly after reaching the bottom, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and someone pointed to my right. I turned my head, and from the distance saw a huge manta ray emerge. It was easily the size of a car, with a massive fin span, and a lonnng tail. It did a mini-dance as it opened its mouth and started filtering. I widened my eyes and really couldn't believe what I was seeing. It felt like I was watching Animal Planet, but no, on IMAX, except it was actually happening. Here is a video of it.


Other notable sights included a leopard shark that was sitting on the bottom waiting for us when we finished our descent, lots of colorful fish including Nemo and a blowfish (that I gently made puff up with my fin), a disgustingly archaic moray eel, sea urchins, varying types of weird starfish, schools of hundreds and hundreds of fish, and other things that looked cool but I had no idea what they were. :-)

After our second dive, we were headed back to shore on the boat. I was thinking that the excitement was over, but the skipper spotted the tell-tale shadow of a whale shark in the water nearby. I've heard that Tofo, Mozambique is one of the only places in the world where you're guaranteed to see a whale shark year round, and scientists aren't entirely sure why the population is so concentrated in this area. Sean shouted "Masks and fins on!" We quietly approached the whale shark, and the excitement began to build as we were told to make a quiet entry to the water. I forgot for a brief second that I didn't actually have a scuba kit on, and took a mouthful of water. Whoops. I recovered, and began powering with my fins and snorkel after it.

Jessica was trailing with her camera (remember mine was lost to King Neptune):

The whale shark is the largest fish and the largest shark. It's a friendly, gentle giant that is only called a whale because of its feeding technique of filtering. They get up to 12 meters long, but this one was about 6 meters (20 feet). Around the middle of the video, you'll see me at the surface swimming further up alongside it (with the blue fins). I managed to either stay above it, next to it, or in front of it for a full five minutes. It was moving so slow, just about 20 feet below the surface. I was able to swim ahead, and look back as it opened its mouth, and also took a look at me through its eyes on the side of its head. I just couldn't believe it was happening, that I was somewhere out in the ocean, successfully swimming alongside a whale shark. It began to surface, and I didn't really have enough time to get out of its way as it came up. I just kept my pace, and swam with it a bit more. We were quite a ways from the boat, and Jamie and I were the only ones very close to it at this point. It got within a few feet of me, and although I shouldn't have... I thought "this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity... I have to touch it." I reached out, and touched its somewhat rough, spotted skin.

He didn't really like that, and tried to take off. He bent and smacked me with the blunt side of his body as he began to swim off. Jamie, who can be seen diving in the video, was next to him and jumped back. He powered off once more, but this time struck me with his strong, firm back fin. Now that I review the video, it looks quite ominous. I came to the surface, looked at Jamie, and began laughing so hard. I had a huge smile on my face, wasn't hurt, and was laughing about one of the coolest experiences of my life. I rumbled a deep laugh as I whispered "Shhh! Don't tell anyone." We got back on the boat and looked at one another while laughing the whole way back, and I had a smile on my face for hours. So cool.

My whale shark friend. Note Jamie below it.

A bit later, another ocean safari was headed out from the dive shop. Still euphoric about my whale shark experience, I eagerly jumped on board to see another, and maybe a dolphin. I said on the way out on the boat, "Nothing will be able to sour this day for me now." Shortly later, the skipper shouted about another whale shark. We dove in, and I lead the way in the general direction again, searching underwater for the big dark figure to emerge. Suddenly, I felt something like a bug bite on the back of my neck, but quickly realized it was something much more as it starting to hurt on the side of my neck, my cheek, and my neck, as well. I started to swat at whatever it was, knocking off my mask and snorkel in the process. It was about now that I realized I had jellyfish tentacles all over my face and neck. I started pulling them off, while my fingers and face were being stung. Once they were off, I looked into the water to see my mask sinking to the bottom. Feeling like my face was on fire, I gave a distress signal the boat to come pick me up. I fell into the boat, trying to make sense of what had happened, and whether it was going to get worse or better. Luckily, I found that I probably would not need to have my face peed on, and that it would be getting better over the course of the next fifteen minutes.

Shortly after being attacked! Not pleased.

I was told that it was a blue bottle jellyfish, but it wasn't until I did the research that I found it to also be the famed Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish that we talked about so much in biology class in high school. Sure enough, they hurt, and have barbs that attach to you to spread their poison. I still have a line on my hand, a week and a half later, from where a tentacle had me. A few other people in the boat ended up getting stung as well. At first, I felt corrected in a big way, that there actually was something that could sour the day. But after the 10 minutes of pain, I decided it actually made the day better. Not many people can check the life list box of being attacked in the face by Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish. And although a bit tender that night, it didn't last very long.

For those that have made it this far, thanks for reading. Too many big things happened to condense this post, but hopefully I was able to convey how exciting these days of diving were. I also want to send a huge thank you to Jess for letting me use her underwater photos and videos. Much less of this would have made sense without them.

All in all, I did four full dives of the five that I attempted. In my next Moz post, I'll be covering what happens when a combination of things going wrong makes a dive go just as wrong. That would be my fifth dive.

The Shift? 100 Days Remain.

I hope it hasn't arrived, but I think it may have. Today is the first day since I've arrived that the high temperature in Wisconsin is warmer than in Cape Town. It also rained for the third time here yesterday, and I'm starting to get the feeling that we may be headed into the winter rainy season. Coincidentally, today marks 100 days remaining until my journey comes to an end, and I find myself back in the homeland. One hundred days remaining of weather getting cooler and cooler. Nice. If anything, though, it will mean another summer to look forward to as the semester wraps up.

I feel a little bit bad though, my oldest brother Erik and his wife Jana arrived yesterday to visit for a week. I think they missed the hot weather by like a day. Oh well, Cape Town doesn't stop being beautiful or fascinating without the 90 degree weather (though, admittedly, it sure helps).

Erik and Jana at the V&A Waterfront.

We spent yesterday walking around by the V&A Waterfront, and had a nice lunch at the wharf. After a stop back at the hotel, we headed off to my place in Observatory for the house introduction, sightseeing, and a nice dinner with some local wine. Yummy! We also called brothers Tyler and Krisjan, who both had birthdays yesterday. As we walked around afterward, Jana held Erik's hand pretty tightly, probably because of my calm recollections of the crime and such... but she didn't have much to worry about. We were fine!

They are here for a week, and should be hiking Table Mountain while I'm at class. I'm between lectures right now, killing time in the computer lab (while looking at two huge promotional posters for Microsoft Office Professional for Windows 95. UCT needs to get with it. They do, however, have 2007 on even their older computers. Interior design hasn't followed. Or the upgrading of the many beige PC towers and CRT monitors in this room.

Get with the program, UCT.

In other new news (if you haven't been watching my Twitter feed on the side), I'm SCUBA Open Water certified! I did my last two certifying dives last Sunday in Simonstown. We did some more advanced skills like underwater compass navigation, hovering at depth, free descents, controlled emergency swimming ascents, how to retrieve and bring a tired or distressed diver back to shore or a boat, and mask removal and clearing underwater (which really can sting in the saltwater, all while breathing from the regulator). Fun!

I'm hoping to use my newfound Scuba skills over Spring Break, when I travel to Mozambique! That's right, I'm in the process of arranging an 11-day trip to Mozambique for my Spring Break in April. It will include traveling to Johannesburg, Maputo, and Tofo. The great thing is that I'll be doing four ocean dives in Moz, which I've heard to have some of the best diving in the world. Very warm water, visibility for over a hundred feet, and huge manta rays and other aquatic animals. I'm getting very excited.

My trip.

Along with the limited time left on our program, there is pressure to get out and do as much as possible. I don't think anybody wants to leave in June or July feeling like they didn't see enough, or really get to know Cape Town. I'm sure it will all come in time, as more opportunities become available, especially as classes end, but it's still a bit stressful! Around this time in the semester, everyone has set into their routines of class, volunteering, sleep, homework, etc. I'm soo over the Jammie bus drivers on campus, by the way. Just so over them.

Also, this last weekend I went downtown to a restaurant and had my first ostrich burger. There are a number of ostrich farms around, and it comes recommended, so I had to do it! It was very good, but nothing too special. I was sort of just thinking why ostrich is so special, like, considered a delicacy? I don't know. I just reminded myself that it is a very dumb bird and it helped me along.

With the colder temperatures, I'm going to need to get out my Snuggie™ soon! As it gets breezy and I turn to blankets, I will decreasingly want to reach for things and lose my heat bubble.

Trying to beat the heat

The last few days have been scorchers! The temperature has been above 90ºF every day, if not at 100º. I keep finding myself very sweaty from just walking around Obz or campus, which isn't very pleasant. It is actually nice to have all the sun most of the day, but getting to sleep at night has been difficult.  It is now March, so the temperature should start to get more moderate soon.

With the arrival of the weekend, we got a lot of pool time. We've found ourselves getting more creative, and put lawn furniture in the pool to have underwater parties. I was hoping for my scuba gear.

Kara was having a bit of difficulty with her underwater comfort level, as you can see. I also mentioned that I would be going diving on Saturday. We went to Long Beach at Simonstown. It was a gorgeous day, warm, and the water was perfect. I didn't realize at first, but the beach is near the naval base, so you can see ships docked that belong to South Africa's navy. Here are some photos of the bay and my very heavy dive gear after the first dive.

Long Beach, the dive site.

We actually did two dives, which went great. I did some skills tests, and also just some swimming around at about 15 feet depth. We found some smaller kelp forests and a small boat wreck that sunk. Nothing amazing, though.

And yes, I did bring back the mustache. It wasn't for any particular reason, but I suppose I could offer some options.  You decide:

1. For a change of pace this week. 
2. To look more intimidating the next time the burglar comes back.
3. Lyndsey said my mustache was outta control in my last scuba photo.  Had to fix that.
4. Kara encouraged it.
5. I wanted to scare all the other UCT students, that have surely never seen as American of a mustache as mine.
6. To continue to rub it in everyones faces (especially Kyle, David, and Eric) that my mustache is far superior.
   
7. I'm entering a lekker sleaze contest soon.

Actually, they are all true except number seven.  In other news, Daylight Savings Time has begun in the US. The time doesn't change here, but I really like that it has changed at home. Instead of being eight hours apart it is now just seven, and oddly enough, that matters. There is something very psychological about the time difference that makes me feel so much further away.  The limited 'awake overlap' is frustrating at times.  Even an hour less has me feeling closer to home. It means that Wisconsin will be starting their days earlier in the afternoon for me, I'm not sure why I care, I just don't like wanting to call and having to wait until like 6pm so as not to bother someone too early in the morning.

Lastly, I have gotten sick. I'm not sure what it is from, maybe once the temperature dropped after the heat wave left, but I've got some head cold and was up all night with a very sore throat and the such. I need Advil, I don't like the "Compral" that they sell here. I'd rather take acetaminophen than this 'paracetamol' mixed with aspirin and caffeine. I don't even know what paracetamol is.

I'm getting SCUBA Certified!

Over the last week and a half or so, I've been working toward getting my Open Water SCUBA certification, so I can dive here in Cape Town, and maybe some other places as I figure out travel plans throughout the semester.

I first read a 250 page book to prepare for my written test. I guess I didn't realize how much is involved with diving. Like, I knew that there were pressure differences, and issues that could arise with air expansion in your lungs, something called the bends, and lots of equipment strapped to you. Well I'm proud to say that I know all that stuff now.

I took my test, passed, which put me today in line for my confined water dives (in a pool). I wish we could have done them in my backyard (which is where they used to happen, not anymore) so we drove somewhere.

Gearing up.

It is a very cool feeling to be underwater for an extended period of time while breathing without surfacing. I mean... it is an odd concept, that people somehow managed to invent enough safe equipment to put you underwater... rip roarin' to go at the bottom. (which is me below)

I'm happier than I look.
It is difficult to show emotion underwater with a regulator in your mouth.

We did tests from like 11am to 4pm, so we got a lot of pool time. You do tests like how to replace and clear your mask if comes off underwater, you're still able to breathe from the regulator (mouthpiece) for a minute, then replace the mask. Or if you lose your regulator and it becomes filled with water, you need to recover it from behind you and clear it of water. We also worked on out-of-air situations, breathing from the alternate regulator on a buddy's gear, removing and replacing a weight belt underwater (they're heavy), removing and replacing your tank and gear underwater, a controlled emergency swimming ascent in case of emergency, and also how to control your buoyancy with the inflatable vest that you're wearing. That was just some of it, but it was a ton of fun! I've heard of people saying that it was very weird at first, like you don't want to trust the air, but I didn't really have that happen. After all the reading I did, it felt very normal.

The pool we used.

Now that I finished all of those confined water tests, I will do four open water dives in the ocean over the next two weekends, and then I'll be officially certified. Other perks include that the certification lasts a lifetime, it's international, and I'll be cleared to go down to 60 ft. underwater, so I'm stoked. I also joined the Underwater Club at UCT, and they've got a full gear setup for cheap rentals, and they also organize local dives on most weekends. I hope to get involved there and stay busy.

My Obzside dive instructors.
From left: Sean (also my landlord), Richard, and John.

Thanks, all, for continuing to read my blog. I'm now a month into my stay, and I'm still loving this place. It was around 100 degrees today, so being in the pool all day was very refreshing. I'm trying to keep up with the blogging, hoping to share my experiences and stay in touch with you all. Miss you!

Note: No comment about how out of control my mustache is in the first photo. No comment.