So how did today go I hear you ask, woke up this morning got as far as the terrace and Mandy txt me to stay in bed as she was off out for dinner, so no chat this morning :( Oh well up any way and had a nice chat with me Mum :) Spent an hour visualising the dives today, now this is a technique thats supposed to make you more confident, haha well it doesn't always work! I was feeling a bit 'apprehensive' by the end of it so a large bottle of Gatorade and a doughnut later I was ready :)
We eventually went to Chac Mall again which by the way is called that because the owner once saw a tiger there???
Firstly we did line drills for lost line and then lost diver, lots to learn and obviously both very important. So kit up and wait for Nando to play with his blackberry for a bit longer then into the water, normal routine of briefings reviews gear matching etc etc then the brief for the lost line drill.................... god so much to remember, any how off we go, I'm using a different reel today and at the first tie off the 'knob' fell off..... oh bugger, oh luckily I find it and crack on 4 tie offs later we're at the cave line and in we go, nice formations to see and start to enjoy it, still checking gauges for air, buoyancy and trim etc etc etc. Turn the dive and then.................. drill time, Nando signals lights off and takes my hand and leads me off to hell knows where!! Now all I have to do is find my way back to the line, so safety line out, find a rock to tie off on and I think the lines behind me somewhere so turn using my shoulders 90 degrees change arm position and another 90 degrees, I have let all the air out of my buoyancy device and am now crawling on the floor, I have to lift the reel place it in front of me then crawl forward whilst waving my arms around, keep doing this for 10 minutes and I find it :) all I need to do now is to tie into it with my reel but twice the double ender comes off, oh well third time lucky and I'm back to safety!! Hurrah drill over so nice easy return to the surface but oh no I manage to cock up the safety stop and end up weaving all over the place so pretty pissed with my self then Nando finds a tarantula under the water and shows it to me, and then kinda pushes it towards me and it makes me jump, much to the hilarity of Nando and Jason, so much for the ex commando :) the briefing was ok and I think I did well on the drills.
Next dive, mmmmm Nando says just a nice little fun dive describes it all with all the wonderful formations, stalactites, stalagmites etc etc its called the Cathedral room. Then he casually drops in that on the way back we will see what happens with a big grin on his face :)
Off we go all the normal stuff, and into the cave, lovely formations but I'm expecting something all the time, we turn the dive and 2 mins later Nando starts flashing his torch at me 'out of air' haha I guessed right so hand of my spare reg to him, get into position and oh fancy that both our lights have stopped working and we're 15 mins inside a cave so off I go, pushing Nando hard, but trying to keep my breathing easy, checking every tie off as we go. We're out and at the surface and YEH I have used only the same air as going in so we have SURVIVED!!! :) Last training dive over :)) It seemed to take forever but I'm happy now I can do cave dives with a buddy as long as I stay on the mainline and stick to sixths, back in February to do Full Cave which will allow me to do jumps and circuits, use thirds.
Back to the Hotel and I'm straight of out to celebrate with a Taco Loco from El Fogon and a beer then an Icecream from the Oxxo, as usual an early night as tomorrow I'm off cave diving :)
Well done mate - quite an achievement
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