Wet and Rainy Weekend Diving on 4/21/12 part 1

Well this is the first of many updates about our weekend of dives. Saturday the weather was far from perfect. It was rainy, windy, and cold outside, but the dedicated few (JoLeen, Jen, Drew, Francois, and I) toughed it out. It started out with us meeting at the dive centre and loading the gear into the van. We started out, and when we got there we this is what we found. The conditions were less that good, but we decided to see what would happen when we got into the water. We got our gear out and got it on and went into the water.  To my surprise and to the surprise of the others the conditions were actually pretty good for the weather. On our first tank we made two dives the first of the two, we went down around 8m (26ft). The water temp was around 15C (59F), and we were down there for around 23 mins. The visibility varied on where you were in the water. On the left side the visibility was around 2m (6.5ft) and on the right side it was around 1m (~3ft). We came up and chatted for a bit, then went right back down. This time we we went a little bit deeper 9m ~ 10m (29 ~ 33ft). We swam around and on the second dive JoLeen worked on sending her SMBto the surface. Once we got out of the water, we met up with Francois. He was there to work on more of his Advanced Open Water Course. Once we got off the beach we went into the dive centre at the beach and talked about what we were going to do on the dives. We decided Jen and JoLeen would go on to do their own dives and to work on their navigation skills underwater. Once all that was said and done we went got our gear back on and headed back in to the drink. We swam out to the buoys and talked a little more about what we were going to do. Francois had a little trouble getting down the first go, but once he was under about a meter (about 3 feet) he started to sink like a rock and it was all good from there. Once we got down on the bottom Drew and Francois worked on his underwater skills and buoyancy. My main purpose on these dives were to help out and make sure Francois's dive went smoothly, also Drew wanted me to get use to following and making sure the students were doing everything safely and in the proper way. Francois worked on his skills for about 43 mins and then we came up.

Well since that we were down for about an hour, the weather had progressively gotten worse. The wave size had kicked up and the rain seemed to have gotten stronger. Well that made for a very interesting time trying to make it out of the surf zone and onto the stone beach. In normal to ideal conditions you can walk out of the water somewhat easily, but in these conditions it takes a certain finesse. The only good way to describe how it get out of the water is just plant your feet and just take baby steps until you are out of the water. Once Drew, Francois, and I were out of the water. We saw another Korean instructor and her male student getting out of the water. Well the instructor made it out of the water just fine, but she sort of left her student to fend for himself. It was a sight to see. He was on his hands and knees trying to crawl out of the water with his fins still on his feet. So, Drew and I went over to help him. When we got there, his regulator hit the rocks and started to free flow. Well I don't know what it was, maybe it was the sound, but he started scream like a little girl. His instructor seemed to be more worried about getting the regulator to stop flowing than getting her student calmed down and out of the water.

After that Francois went to the centre to warm up, Drew and I waited on Jen and JoLeen to help them get out of the water. We waited with Francois's wife and she took some interesting pictures. Once the girls surfaced we helped them out of the water and we all went back to the centre and got some lunch. After the lunch Drew and Francois went outside to work on his navigation. While they worked on that we got set up and ready to go back into the water. The weather got worse and worse by the moment. The rain was coming down harder and the waves were getting bigger as well. We got in the water, and this time there were no minor hang ups this time. We went straight into the drink.

First Dive of the Year in Busan!!

These are just some photos taken before we went on our first of the year. These were taken on March 24th, 2012 at Taejongdae. This was a good dive, but it was a bit cold in the water. The water temp was around 14C (57.2F). We went down about 8-10 meters (26-32ft), for about about 20 some odd mins. We got to the surface had a chat then went right back down for another 20-30 mins. The weather was really nice out. It was sunny and maybe one or two clouds in the sky. The visibility in the water was pretty good as well, it was about 3-4 meters (9-13ft). While we were down there we saw some wildlife that we don't normally get to see, because of all of the fishermen in that area.

Pictures:
Top
Left to Right - Drew and Rachael
Middle
Joleen
Bottom
Left to Right - Me, Joleen, Drew, and Rachael

Start of a new Dive Blog

Well I am starting this blog in hopes to help promote the wonders and joy of diving in South Korea. To anyone reading this feel free to comment and add to this blog to make it better. I will be updating this blog every week with new dive activities and the activities that we have done during the week.

With all that being said, this is a little bit about me. I started diving with Sea World Dive Centre in Busan last year in September. I have done my Open Water Course, Advanced Open Water Course, and my Rescue Diver Course all with the same instructor and centre. Since then my love for diving has grown, and I would like to share it with the rest of Busan and the whoever would like to learn more about diving. I am currently working on my Divemaster Course. I will be working really hard to obtain this level this summer in the waters of Busan. In the fall I will be going to Roatan to work on my IDC. My hopes and wishes would to become an IDC Staff Instructor someday.

Here is a little information about the centre that I dive with. Also here are some of the things that they do at the centre to keep it fun and exciting. Busan Sea World Centre is located 2nd F 693-7 Jurye dong Sasang-gu, Busan, South Korea. There you will find Mr. Lim and Mr. Cha who run the centre and the foreign instructor Drew Mcarthur. All three of the men that work at the place are very hard working and have grown to become my new scuba family. I also consider these men my good friends and mentors on my journey into the diving world. During the week they are preparing for the dives on the weekends. The dives on the weekends consist of diving from Taejongdae in Busan, but some of the times depending on the courses you are taking they will make weekend trips to Pohang. The guys at the centre are always looking for ways to make diving here in Korea more interesting. They also plan international trips as well. For example, I will be going with them on a trip to Cebu this coming June. We will be there for 3 nights and it will be with all the people from the centre and their friends that also share a love for diving.

Well with all that being said. I hope that this blog helps. Feel free to contact me anytime. Also if you would like to know anything more about the dive centre, I am sure that the people in the centre would be happy to help you out with any questions.