GILBOA QUARRY FIRST DAY DIVES AND CHECK OFF'S

Ok, the day has come. Rain was predicted all weekend and it was cloudy out but still hot. Yep, THUNDERSTORMS were in our forecast. We were hoping for the best.

The hotel offered a free hot breakfast so at least we were saving on that. We ate, packed our things needed for the day and headed on our 20 minute drive in the country winding our way around corn field after corn field. I couldn't help think about watching the movie Twister when there were corn fields with streets on the sides you couldn't see as you come up on them. You really had to slow down when the GPS told you to turn and I'm like "Where? In the corn field? Oh wait, there it is". Fun times!

We had finally arrived!

Sakari and I grabbed a wagon and unloaded everything into it and off we went to find our group "Base Camp".

We make it down to our area and then we discover we have a blown out tire. Like the entire side of it was blown out. Don't it figure we would pick one like that. Of course you couldn't tell when we grabbed it. Only after we had piled it so high with all of our heavy equipment was it noticed. Sakari's reply "Oh well, I'm not reloading it into something else at this point." One of the staff members at the quarry noticed and they decided to fix it on the spot for us. How nice.

Yep, in all of these wagon's we picked the wrong one...

It was time to check this quarry out. It looked beautiful and so clear. We could even see some fish down there.

So, here is a map of the quarry. There seems to be a lot of neat sunken treasure's under there and I had hoped to see as much as I can on these dives. I love doing dives with things sunken in the water. It makes it so interesting.

Some of the interesting fish you may see down there:

Then we were told we needed to check in at the office, pay for admission to the quarry for the dive, then get our wrist bands. So, this would be another $171.20 for the 2 days. Ugh!

Some of the main instructors had everyone gather around to tell us how the day usually goes. You do a dive, we break for lunch (provided by the quarry) then another dive or two depending on your instructor. We were assigned instructors and told to go with them. Our main instructor (divemaster) had a camper there and was staying on the property so we met at his place. There was supposed to be 3 of us students but the third person did not show up. I guess we were getting a private class. Thank goodness I didn't pay for another private class for check off's.

They would also have another instructor plus two other people that were doing their check off's to become instructors. So, still a total of 6 people in our group. We were told we would be doing 3 dives today and that would give us the opportunity to just do 1 dive on the last day and be able to get out of here at a decent time to drive back home.

We went over the skills, how to do them, and what dives we would be doing them on. We were also told that we were diving until we used up all of the air in our tank. This was going to be a long dive. Every time we have ever went diving we come back with at least 1000-1500.

(Now just a note here, ALL pictures were taken on our last day but I'm going to insert them throughout this review. We were NOT allowed to take our camera's with us during the first 3 dives because we were to focus on our skills of course).

DIVE 1:

Well after a long discussion during the morning hours, it was time to get in and do some skills and a dive. We put our gear together (probably the easiest skill involved...we're still on land and breathing air that we are comfortable with of course) and then we did our pre-dive safety check with our buddy. Remember the BWRAF (BCD, weights, release, air, final check). The first instructor from our confined water gave us something about "Bruce Willis Retired....something something" which I couldn't remember. This DM said remember "Big White Rabbits Are Fluffy". Ok, got that one.

Then it was time to head down the stairs to the water and it was so refreshing after standing out in the heat for so long. We hung out on the platform with a little more discussion and then came a skill to check our buoyancy and how much weight we needed at the surface. We did not end of having to do the giant stride entry (which would require us to swim across the quarry to a different area that was actually lifted above the water, unlike where we were entering at each time) because we have done it so many times from our DSD boat dives. We did assimilate it going off the submerged deck we were standing on for shits and giggles even though it was already in 2' of water.

Then time to go out and down to the first platform 30' below performing a controlled descent using the line. 👎 I had difficulty getting down and more weight was added to my bcd weight pocket. Diving in the quarry compared to diving in the ocean is of course different when it comes to buoyancy. We also had a different mm than what we had used in the pool because the water was cooler. And by cooler I mean we might as well been in Alaska is all I can say. All these factors play a part in the weight needed. The weather was off and on dark skies and cloudy.

Once we made it down to the platform we did another skill, which was removing the regular and clearing it two different ways.

Ok, time for a swim and off we went. Since we had two people also doing their check off's to become instructors, we would follow one of them on this dive. Our formation was her in front, the DM and other instructor on the sides and following us would be the other instructor in training. We would wind our way around the area and started seeing some of the neat items that were sunken in the quarry.

We came across a boat. It had some type of gargoyle with a US flag on the front of it.

There was also a motorcycle, but the handlebars were no longer on it.

Sakari's new bright yellow fins sure did reflect under water. There was no missing her down there that's for sure.

Well this was a welcome site! If only it was in the Caribbean is all I can say because that water was COLD.

There were a lot of fish down there and they even had albino carp. They were all pretty big. Bigger fish than what we are "normally" used to see when diving.

We seen some of the biggest Bluegill Fish I had ever seen and they had nest all over the place and would just hang out watching you.

A figurine that looked like Dia De Los Muertos

A sunken Ford SUV

Another sunken car, which looked like an old Ford LTD:

This fish was bad mad from the look on his face:

She (the instructor) was a little lost and didn't know her way around the area (first time) and somehow we ended up over by "The Wall", which we weren't supposed to go to. Our DM quickly had her turn around. It was FREEZING over there and I was actually shivering. Sakari was giving me this look of not wanting to be here now. We had discussed our Mexican Riviera dive and how much she hated how cold it was and she was afraid this dive would be like that...and it was, only worse and colder. We had learned the sign for "cold" and we were definitely doing this now...over and over. Our DM noticed and let us go up some. Whew, some relief! We would find anything above 24' was tolerable. Below that was freezing cold and you best believe you knew when you hit that extra foot deeper.

Over by the wall you will find tubes and beside those tubes is....none other than Jason! I did not have a camera with me of course, so here are a few pictures that someone else took:

Yes, he is holding a knife!

We went over to the platforms on the other side of the quarry and practice our buoyancy for awhile. Then we headed back to signal to ascend and we practiced going from our regulator to our snorkel exchange. 🤿 Then it was time to take a break, go over what we could improve and we (mainly Sakari for some reason) were told that we need to stick together with our buddy. Stay side by side. She said he kept giving her the signal when we were in the water. She told him after the swim "I was right there. I kept my eyes on my buddy the entire time".

Now in the past, we were always told to make sure our legs are straight and kick "Don't do any of that frog looking kicks you see beginners do" (This has been said multiple times by different instructors when diving in the Caribbean). This DM told us we should always have our legs bent at the knees. We were also told that we should be doing the frog kick (which was something our instructor told us in the confined water portion as well). Now he did try to demonstrate having the legs bent out like a frog but only using your feet to move you along...which meant a flip at the ankle. Well, I can't "ankle flip" anything. Not with my ankle. But I would attempt looking like a frog that has lost its will to hop the best I can.

Then it was lunch time! I still had 1100 in my tank and Sakari had 1500 in hers. That girl don't breathe I tell ya. She's so calm. She's a fish. I guess we didn't run out all of our air after all. Remember the golden rule "Never hold your breath".

The quarry provided a cook out type of meal with hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and grilled pineapple. It was good and filled us up. Then it was time to get back to it.

I will add that when this entire expedition of becoming certified started, the hubby came to me and ask me did I know that the new Apple Ultra 2 watches are waterproof and you can actually DIVE with them? There was also a program to use for scuba diving. Wait, say what?!?! We immediately checked them out and really liked the way they looked, how big they were, the bright display that's easy to read (because let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and have difficulty seeing in low light) and it gave us everything we needed to know for any recreational diving that we would be doing now and in the future. Ok, SOLD! The hubby and I both bought one. The Oceanic+ app offered a "free trail" for 24 hours. I decided I would put it to use on this dive.

Here are my results from the dive:

Dive time: 41 minutes 12 seconds

Max temp: 80 degrees

Min temp: 60 degrees

Max Depth 31 ft

Average Depth 20 ft

That was just a picture of the "main" part I wanted to share. It gives a lot more information and sync's with my phone and logs it into a log book.

Before this dive, we were told with each dive we would need to have our tanks filled in between each dive no matter how much we still had left in them. Of course, another added expense of $10 plus tax for each tank. We went to purchase 4 "tokens" from the shop for both of us ($42.80) and had them filled. Thank goodness for my mini-me. She did all the work.

The one thing I had worried about was the mask removal. Not the removal itself or even putting it back on but the part we had to clear it and my face still being completely wet with water dripping off my eyelashes and running into my eyes. It was TERRIBLE during our confined water. My eyes were burning. I hated every minute of it. I HAVE to wipe my eyes to continue. That's why I wanted to practice in the pool at the hotel prior to coming but didn't get to. I expressed my fears/anxiety. I was looking for the DM for comfort and reassurance...which I never received. This dive was going to be that dreaded dive I was not looking forward to. My heart was racing!

DIVE 2

We put our equipment back together only to find that Sakari's tank had the same amount of air in it as when she took it up to have it filled. Ugh! She had to go back up and have them do it again.

Waiting on her to put her equipment together again, did our buddy check, remember Big White Rabbits Are Fluffy and headed back out to the water for more skills and another dive.

This time we were ascending without using the line to go down. For some reason he told me I could use the line if I wanted to. I have NEVER ascended without using a line on our DSD but the hubby and Sakari never uses it. I was determined to go down without the line. After deflating my BCD, I was struggling to get down. I always seem to struggle at the top. So, I decided to use my hands to push myself down using an upward motion. Hey, that worked!!! I'm going to be doing this from now on...and I did!!!

So now it was time to do the skill I have been most afraid of...mask removal and put it back on and clear. Ugh! For some reason, it was decided for me to go first. The DM was right beside me on the platform and the Instructor in front of me. Ok, I got this. One thing the Instructor told me before going in the water was "Just remember, you don't need to see to be down there, you just need to breathe and you will be breathing the entire time. That's all you need" They did tell me if I did the skill and HAD to go up to clear the water off my eyes, that would be fine. We could do that. That made me feel a lot better.

Ok, deep breath....remove mask. My mind is telling myself "All you need to do is breathe. You got this"...."Wait, I can't remember if they said I'm supposed to keep it off until they tap me on the shoulder like we did in the pool for the confined water skill"..."Am I going to be sitting here forever?"..."Do I go ahead and put it back on?" My mind was talking so loud that I finally decided to make an executive decision to put it back on anyhow. I'm not waiting any longer. I brought my mask up to my face. I put the strap on first with the front up on my forehead. I went slowly as I thought about each step. I brought the mask down. I cleared it. I cleared it again. And just for safety, I cleared it once more then gradually opened my eyes to a small squint. Hmmm, no issues yet. I think the water is out. Ok, opening....YES!! I did it. I shook my head a few times and fluttered my eyes to get the water off them. Ahhhhh, I survived. I turn to my left and the DM is staring blankly at me with the weirdest look on his face. He kept asking if I was "👌" and I gave him 👌 multiple times. He ask 👍. I shook my head no. He did it again 👍. Nope, I was good. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Sakari for her turn. I faced my fears. I did it. I felt comfortable doing it. It was definitely better than doing it in the pool with chlorine in my eyes and it would HAVE to be better than salt water.

We also practiced our Cramp Removal on ourselves and our buddy and then the Emergency Weight Drop. One more skill learning to signal out of air and using an alternative air source from our buddy and also ascending while using the octo and holding onto our buddy while swimming. Accomplished. No issues! Time for another dive.

This time the other student instructor would lead us. He was told to go a little bit slower than the last because she was a bit too fast for the group and hard to keep up with.

Headed along the same path as before but I'll show you some more of the interesting things we have seen while down here on both dives including the fish:

A really huge catfish swimming above us:

Now THIS is the area you want to hang out in. It was a sunken bus (there's actually 2 down there but this is the newer bus) and tons of fish hang out in this area. They will come right up to you. They will swim along side of you. They are looking for a handout. You can buy food at the office and come down and feed them and they all wait for you at this place.

Godzilla was the keeper of the bus. He made sure all the little fishy's were on the bus before it pulls away.

The bus sprung a leak somewhere....

The second bus had been down there for quite some time and was decaying. The keeper of this bus was a dinosaur and Sakari was immediately excited to see that.

This guy adopted us as part of the fish family and followed us around everywhere.

Another boat:

Old Truck:

A hodge podge of stuff: Gorilla, dolphin, crab, octopus, boats and such

When pigs fly they say...

Well, we circled the area's many times, we froze, it rained off and on, then it was time to finish our second dive. We were told this time "When I ask you to tell me your air left, DO NOT STOP TO LOOK AT IT! You should never be stopping. Keep swimming the entire time and stay vertical" Well, having it clipped off to the side is very hard for me to look at it when in a vertical position. Once we got out, the instructors told us what they do is put their equipment on first and then attach it to the front and all you have to do is look down and not struggle with finding it on your side. This worked perfect after we did this on our next dive. Thanks for the tip!

All this diving made us a "tired diver" and we had to practice the skills of pulling and pushing each other with a Tired Diver Tow for 25/meters. Ok, accomplished and checked off.

Here are my results from the dive:

Dive time: 57 minutes 12 seconds

Max temp: 81 degrees

Min temp: 60 degrees

Max Depth 31 ft

Average Depth 16 ft

We got out, we had our tanks filled again and sat down to discuss how we did, what we could work on and the next skills coming up on the next dive. The DM said "I cannot believe you made such a big deal about the mask removal and then didn't even go up to wipe your eyes." He said "For someone who was so afraid of that skill you sure took a long time to do it. We kept wondering why you were waiting so long and if you were going to start shooting up to the surface". He started laughing with the other people and made a rude comment about "I bet you were the kid in school that always complained". Um, ok. It was a legitimate fear of mine. No need to tell me I'm a complainer. He just wasn't reassuring at all. Of course the instructor praised us and said what a good job we did.

So here's the weather forecast... it was looking grim. We had a few sprinkles off and on and it was cloudy most of the day but something was definitely about to roll in soon.

DIVE 3:

Geared up, Big White Rabbits Air Fluffy checks complete and down we went with my arms flapping to get me down. I would have to put air back in my BCD after making it down each time because otherwise I would sink. But, I got the hang of it each time. We also learned the higher we swam to let out the air on our BCD and how it builds air as we dive and I never knew that. Otherwise we would start floating to the top...which I did a few times and had to go back down.

Skills this time around would be practicing our buoyancy with our breathing and using our BDC in order to hover. The DM told us when we got to the rows and rows of platforms on the other side of the quarry, we were to pretend that it was coral and he yelled "DON'T TOUCH THE CORAL! I just want you hovering above it as we glide across the platforms of coral" He said he wanted us as close as we can get to it without touching it.

So, here we go...exploring along the way.

We came across the Sikorsky helicopter. It's a 35' S-56 Mojave helicopter. I wasn't expecting this and something so huge. I was just thinking it was your normal helicopter. With it being our third dive, the silt was getting kicked up on the bottom and things were getting a little cloudier. This creeped up on us rather quickly.

So here is what one of these helicopters look like without the decay (because I had no idea prior to looking it up myself). These are not my pictures obviously. They're kinda large I would say!!!

And just in case you didn't notice the who's in the drivers seat....

Yep, that's a skeleton! They had multiple skeletons down there but the day I took all the pictures I didn't see as many. They were hanging from the trees in a lot of areas. We also looked down in one area and they have Jason floating. It was down in the deeper area and the water was just too cold to go down there. Anything lower than 24' was freezing so we tried to stay above that and believe me...you instantly knew when you dropped anywhere below that! More on Jason later and I'll show you what he looks like.

Now one of the main attractions down there is a 36' Grumman Gulfstream I Airplane. Now that was pretty neat! Also, this plane, even as large as it is, would creep up in the depths and would look like something you would expect in some type of movie. Sitting on the bottom of the ocean and not knowing what to expect inside. You slowly move toward it as it comes into focus and just WOW. It was so neat.

It looks inviting right?

One thing I did learn after this dive was that you are not allowed to enter anything like this or sunken ships anywhere unless you get additional certification and training for it. I guess I never thought about it before because I never had a desire to go inside something like this where it's dark. But, given the opportunity, Sakari would do it in a heartbeat. Speaking of heartbeat, I think mine would pound out of my chest if I went inside. 😂But there are so many safety factors that go into entering something and you need training for that. Good to know...at least for Sakari I suppose.

Our DM did go up to the top of the plane and told me to peek in and look around. That was scary enough...I mean there could have been a skeleton in there waiting to grab me. But, I stuck my camera in more than what I could see physically and snapped a picture of the cockpit and that was good enough for me!

Here's a bridge:

A turtle and a squirrel. (Shouldn't it be the tortoise and the hare?)

Coming to the 5 large platforms to practice our buoyancy going over them.

I will admit, I had to fingertip push over one of them...of course when the DM wasn't looking thank goodness, but when he did look, he started yelling gestures to Sakari because she was just gliding over them within inches and her equipment was dangling and "touching the coral". We both have issues putting our hands/arms under us and diving because we have always had our hands in front of us taking pictures on every dive and it's just natural for us to have our hands out. This took a lot of getting used to and Sakari said she kept having to find something to hold, like her gauges, otherwise she would forget too.

We did stop on one of the platforms and they had us take a breath, remove our regulator and manually inflate the BCD. Another skill that I absolutely had struggled with in the confined water. Both Sakari and I were having problems blowing it up manually. But I obviously had a lot of hot air in me because when I did it this time I floated up...a little too much and they kept signaling me to come back down that we weren't going to the top. lol Somehow I did manage to get water up my nose. I'm not sure how but I distinctly remember this well because it burned.

Bowling anyone? This bowling ball was in the tree however, we came to one of the platforms and they had another sitting on it. I was the last to descend to the platform (for some reason I had started floating higher than I realized and had to come back down) and everyone was throwing one back and forth to each other across it. Once I situated myself on the platform, they threw the "ball" to me. Now mind you I had no idea this was a bowling ball and honestly I pictured a ball in my mind...not sure why because a ball would float up, and it came at me and caught me off guard with the weight and I dropped it onto the platform. Oops! I did not expect it to be as heavy as it was. I picked it up and then noticed it was an actual bowling ball. 😆 (Notice the skeleton hanging from the tree below it)

It was getting real dark under the water. We figured it was really cloudy above. Now it was time to do our Emergency descent out of air skill. Of course I was the first to do this. Why is he picking on me?!? We had to pretend we were out of air, take a deep breath and swim as fast as we could to the top without breathing and him beside us. He had already told us that if we took a breath on the way up, we would continue to repeat the skill until we got it right. Ok, I got this. It's going to be hard with my foot/leg, but I'm not about to repeat this skill over and was going to kick like crazy to make it to the surface and off I went....saying "Ahhhhhhhhh" all the way to the top. No, this wasn't a sigh of relief, but the sound you are supposed to make to exhale gas and prevent lung overexpansion. As he said better to have your lungs explode than dead. 🤷‍♀️

Boom, just like that I was at the surface and manually inflating my BCD...because you know, my tank was empty so I had to blow in order to float at the top (another thing I didn't know you could do prior to taking this class).

Wait, it's DARK DARK DARK out and looks like the thunderstorms were rolling in. It was looking pretty scary out and the wind was picking up. Now it was Sakari's turn and the DM told me to go back down to the platform. Wait, what? We're going back down? We aren't getting out? Look at it outside. He said yep, going back down so down I went. 👎

Then Sakari did her emergency ascent and she said when she got up there she was completely shocked at the weather as well. Then down she went...at this point scared. It was incredibly dark under the water now and really spooky looking. Not that I didn't know this ahead of time, but I know 100% for sure now that I will NEVER do a night dive. No thank you. I don't like not being able to see much when it's dark and cannot imagine it in pitch black with only a flashlight. No sir. No way. No how.

We continued below as every so often the water would light up with the lightening above. You could see it was pouring outside and the water was slanting sideways. The wind must have really picked up as well.

The DM asked for our air readings and with my old eyes that can't see in the dark, I couldn't read my gauges now. I tapped Sakari and held it out for her. She gave the hand signals to the DM. He pointed at me again to do it. I had Sakari look at it again and give the signal...tap 1 on arm, hold up 6 in the water...1600!!! At that point I think he figured it out. Yep, that was MY reading, not hers and I could not see them.

We made it back to the umbrella and chair and knew that we were almost back to our platform and the DM turned around and we were heading back out. Seriously? Shouldn't we be getting out? The quarry lit up with light like an explosion was occurring above and here we are...still diving. My foot was aching and I knew it had to be swollen pretty bad at this point. I was getting cramp after cramp. You could tell the instructors in training had that worried look on their faces as well and kept looking at each other the same way Sakari and I was looking at each other. At some point my cramps were so bad and my foot hurt so bad that I had my leg curled up under me, holding it with my right hand, and only kicking and swimming with my left leg. It was the only thing I could do at this point. He had to notice this wasn't normal and sooner or later he did and I gave him the "I'm not ok, something's wrong" signal and pointed at my leg. He motioned 👍 and I shook my head yes and we swam a small distance and went up. So now I know, two dives are my limit. I will not be doing three at any point. My leg just wasn't going to allow it. The dive shop talks about how they go on dive trips (and just came back from Bonaire) and we should go. They said they do at least two dives a day each day. Nope, I don't think I would be able to do that. It would just be too much on my leg. I need to recuperate in between dives at least a day or so after doing two. I guess I'll just have to continue doing what we've been doing. This leg injury has ruined my life in so many ways.

After coming out of the water, it was POURING down. Well, we had all of our bags sitting on the waterproof blanket by the shore, which meant all of our dry clothes and towels and phones were SOAKED. We had nothing to dry off with and nothing to get warm with. This SUCKS!

We started taking our equipment apart and was told to just leave everything on the blanket over night and it would be fine until tomorrow. As I took my wetsuit off, OH EM GEE. Now I'm really freezing! I was shivering and that made it hard to continue to disassemble my equipment and get things situated in the pouring rain. Sakari said I was shivering so much it was almost funny to watch me attempt to remove stuff, tighten stuff, lay stuff down and so on.

Here are my results from the dive:

Dive time: 55 minutes 22 seconds

Max temp: 81 degrees

Min temp: 67 degrees

Max Depth 26 ft

Average Depth 16 ft

There was supposed to be a large cook out and pot luck after our third dive for all the divers. We had totally planned on attending. But, I wanted to go back to the hotel and shower, get dry clothes on, head to the store to get something to bring and then back to eat. However, I can't see very well to drive at night and I can't see ANYTHING in the dark when it's raining. The time it would take us to do all this and it was already dark and cloudy out from the storms that there was no way it was going to be possible. We had nothing but country roads lined with tall corn to make it back and that was going to be tough enough of me to accomplish. I had taken our soaked towels and clothes back to our vehicle and Sakari came after me and said the DM said to make sure we were back here by 8:30am tomorrow for our last dive. Ok, I guess I wasn't going to walk back down there then. I had planned on going down and telling him we probably would not be coming back due to my eyesight and it would be getting darker earlier with the storms and not being able to drive. But, I guess he already figured that.

We headed back to the hotel and couldn't wait to get in the hot shower. Whew! Although not what we were looking forward to, we ended up with fast food for the night and stayed in and took our towels and bathing suits down to the dryers at the hotel to at least have some dry stuff to use tomorrow. Then some more tv and off to bed we went...early We were both so tired and my leg was throbbing. I needed rest!